1st AG Brew: 25th August 2008

[mysterio]

You could have bent your immersion chiller so that the coils were submerged

As BW mentions, refractometers are handy tools, and can be bought cheaply off ebay. They allow you to easily take readings at all points during brewing to make sure your gravity is on track, and they dont require you to cool samples - all you need is a drop.

[Horden Hillbilly]

dr_bob, don't let this put you off and certainly do not throw your brew out!

Even though you only achieved 1032 you will still end up with a drinkable brew which I am sure will be a great "session" beer.

You certainly have had a batism of fire, but it only will improve from now. You will have learned far more by actually doing an ag brew than reading about it. Give it another brew or 2 & you will have it sussed & will be making brews to be proud of.

[ECR]

Sure it will turn out OK, Dr B

[Parva]

However, I've faced another impasse - the Hop and Grape immersion chiller - even with 7 gallons in the boiler, the chiller barely touches the water when hooked onto the side of the barrel, and suspending it in the middle of the boiler runs the risk of the water connections working loose right in the middle of the wort...

I had exactly the same issue! I bought the 10 gallon brewery and never thought about the pipes going uber-soft when I chucked the whole lot into the boil. Result was water spraying all over the place! Not really what I wanted but I guess it helped cool the brew. In this emergency situation I reduced the water flow to a point where it wasn't pissing out all over the place.

Took me about 30 minutes to cool it in this manner but doesn't seem to have had a detrimental effect on the finished product. I'm going to buy some jubilee clips and tighten the pipes on for the next attempt. I may need to buy some piping that's happy with boiling temperatures for doing 5 gallon brews in a 10 gallon boiler eventually but for a £1 or so I'll try the clips for now.

[Chiltern Brewer]

Judging by the time intervals between your posts I would say you rushed sparging and that is probably why you didn't hit your target gravity. Sparging and run-off is a slow process - one and half to two hours is the norm for me. The good news is that this is easy to fix for your next brew.

If you feel your confidence is dented by your first AG experience then might want to consider asking if there is an experienced brewer in your area who is willing to give you a hand next time?