First AG: 12/05/07 - Looks like it's a go...

[BarryNL]

Well, I think my starter from my six month old Wyeast #1028 finally took off after 48 hours - there's the odd bubble going through the airlock now though its still a little worrying. Anyway, hopefully it's good enough to pitch in about 16 hours time.

(Any advice on whether I should actually risk using this yeast welcome by the way. I do have some S-04 which I could use instead.)

So, I've milled my grain and I'm busily filtering the first 20 litres of water which I'll hopefully rig to start heating about 8am so I can start the mash sometime after 9:00.

Hopefully, comments during the brew, pictures and occasional cries for help will appear on this thread tomorrow...

[roger the dog]

Good luck with it Barry, I found it hard work but enjoyable - hope you have a great brewday.

[BarryNL]

A couple of photos to get going...

Desperately oxygenating the starter in the hope it will eventually show some signs of life:


Must rig up a drill on this thing:


Mmm, yummy grain:

[iowalad]

I have had starters where I saw no activity or any signs of any yet had a nice yeast deposit in the bottom of the container. I can't make out if there is any yeast build up in the bottom of your starter.

If you know what your SG was on your starter you could take a gravity reading and get an idea if it has fermented.

By the way give me my barley crusher back or at least some of the end product. I milled by hand and it takes a bit o work.

[BarryNL]

4.5kW of leccy gets the water nice and hot:


Ready to mash:


Baby beer all wrapped in swaddling:


Well, the first mishap is out of the way. Despite warming the mash tun and using 75deg.C water I still got a temperature of 62deg.C instead of the desired 67deg.C. It took an extra 2 litres of boiling water to get the temperature correct so I'm mashing in 12L instead of 10 - hopefully it won't make too much difference.

[tubby_shaw]

Good work Barry
Don't worry about the extra 2L of mash liquor it wont make any noticeable difference to the finished beer, it's much more important that you corrected your mash temperature
Keep us informed on how it's going and good luck with the rest of the day

[DRB]

have a good one.I cant see the piccies only red xs.

[BarryNL]

have a good one.I cant see the piccies only red xs.

Hmm, can others see the pictures? They're hosted on photobucket.com

[Garth]

piccies are fine, and looking good Barry, have a great brewday

[BarryNL]

Thanks...

And here's the recipe by the way...

[eskimobob]

Great pics Barry

[DRB]

Anyone know why I am unable to see them.

[PieOPah]

Anyone know why I am unable to see them.

Is it all pics or only select pics?
Could be you have images disabled in your browser.
Could be a firewall issue.

Try right clicking the 'x' and selecting view picture

[Frothy]

Looks great Barry, you have some handsome toys

Frothy

[BarryNL]

Well, we're boiling away - about half way through now, so a pause for some more photos...

Mash over:


And we have signs of life in the yeast:


Hot runnings:


Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew (yes, even this early in the day):


Hop it turns out well:


I love the small of Iodophor in the mornings: