Here we go then.

[fraserjaxx]

I got up at 7am and put the water in the boiler,heated it up and put it in the mash tun.It was steady at 72 after a few minutes so I began to stir in the grain.This took longer than I thought,maybe I was too slow as I made sure it was mixed properly? Anyway after severe arm ache I checked the temp and it had fallen to 58 so I added boiling water and got it up to 65.
Then I wrapped it up in a sleeping bag and thats where I am at now.I shall check the temp again about 8.45 but I reckon it should be ok as the sleeping bag's big and I have a towel underneath the tun.
So far so good,no problems so far and the first stage is done

[itmustbemagic]

Watching how your getting on. This beer lark gets in the way of my work!

[fraserjaxx]

just checked the temp.
its held pretty much the same so the double sleeping bag's doing a good job.

[bitter_dave]

Good work Fraiser

Well done for adjusting your mash temp effectively

[BarrowBoy]

Good luck and have a good brew day. What recipe are you brewing?

[fraserjaxx]

I am brewing Carolines fine ale from G.Wheelers homebrew book.
Just getting ready for the run off.Its exciting stuff!!

[fraserjaxx]

started runnining the wort off the grain and after a 2 L jug its still not clear.? Is it meant to be clear or just not have bits in it if you see what I mean.Its running off clean but not clear?

[prodigal2]

Theres nothing quite like the smell of malt mashing in the morning

[J_P]

started runnining the wort off the grain and after a 2 L jug its still not clear.? Is it meant to be clear or just not have bits in it if you see what I mean.Its running off clean but not clear?

Return the runnings to the top of the tun gently over a piece of tinfoil with lots of holes in it Eventually it will run clear(ish) at the very least the lumpy bits will get out.

Kup the good work

[fraserjaxx]

All seems to be ok and the wort is boiling away now.The only problem I had was that I got all the wort from the grain but it wasn't as low a reading as it was supposed to be.It was about 1020 is this just gonna mean I have to water the cooled wort down to achive the desired SG when done ??

[J_P]

Did you correct the hydrometer for the teperature of the wort?

Personally I'd see what the gravity is at the end of the boil and make the decision then.

If your wort was stronger than expected when you stop sparging that's a good thing, apparently stopping the sparge when the runnings are still reasonably high leads to better beer as there is less likelyhood of tannins being extracted.

[ColinKeb]

good luck fraser , dont stress to much it will be fine

[Vossy1]

Hows it going F

Welcome to the dark side

[BarrowBoy]

It's gone very quiet...............

[fraserjaxx]

ok its done.Everything went ok except I only ended up with just over 4 gallons instead of 5 and I put that down to the dead space in my boiler that I underestimated.But on the whole I was pleased with my first effort,the wort looked good and I got the Sg I was looking for at about 1042.My fears about the boil didn't come true ,it was pretty controllable and it didn't fog the place up too much.
Things I have learned...the whole process took longer than I thought.The boil wasn't as scary as I thought.Pratical is better than theory.
I am gonna post some pictures and although I have a pretty basic set up I would be grateful if some of you experts could give me some tips where I could improve using the gear I have,bearing in mind ,I am spending no more money on kit....