First AG (mini mash)

[nik_g]

...or, to be accurate, first and second AG attempts (more on that later)! After a few kits and a successful 2 gallon extract brew, I decided to have a go at an all grain brew. A full AG playset isn't really practical at the moment so I've decided to go for mini mashes for the time being to get my technique sorted, and then when the time comes it should be fairly simple to graduate to 5/10 gal batches.

The first problem was deciding what to make - I'd narrowed it down to a couple of recipes from Graham's new book, Old Speckled Hen (request from my old man) or Flowers IPA (good session beer available in a couple of pubs round here). Then I came up with the bright idea of doing both in one day. My reasoning being that all the equipment would be out anyway, and that I could overlap them - do the mash for the first one, then while the first one is boiling do the mash for the second etc.

Anyway enough talk, on with the pictures.

Grain bill for the first brew, the Flowers IPA:


Mash pH (no water treatment apart from Campden tablet this time round, to get an idea of how things go with the water straight from the tap). Looks a little on the high side?


Sparging:


Full boil and 10 min hops:


Boil on:


Cooling down:


Bubbling away nicely this morning (brewday was yesterday):


I did take a couple of pictures of the other brew, but to be honest they're just the same as those above so I'll leave them out! You'll notice from the pic above that with the Flowers IPA (on the left) I ended up with less in the DJ than with the OSH - this was due to me not paying enough attention during the boil and not topping up the pan as necessary. Still, I managed to hit the volume and OG bang on for the OSH - so my technique was clearly improving as the day went on!

Overall I was very pleased with how it all went, dead easy once you get into it. Was it a good idea doing two brews in one day on my first go? Possibly not, but given that the only problem was the low volume/high OG on the IPA, I don't think I did too badly. Can't wait to see how these turn out - and to get on with the next lot! (maybe three beers in one day next time? )

Oh and last (but definitely not least) thanks to Chris for the excellent instructions, and to everyone on here for the great advice - I found the answers to all my questions (and much more besides) from browsing the forums, cheers !

[Long-Haired_brewer]

Well certainly looks like you have had a great brew day, now is the real hard part- waiting for it to be ready

[J_P]

Nicely done there, I did a double batch on my first time too be warned though it's a slippery slope from here on in

[nik_g]

Quick update - bottled both of these last weekend, first time bottling in glass bottles (using my 'new' Boots two-handled bottle capper, 50p from a car boot, can't say fairer than that!). I also put one from each batch in a 500ml PET bottle to check carbonation.

Before I put the bottles in the cupboard under the stairs to condition, I thought I'd better have a bottle of each last night for quality control purposes I drank the two PET bottles, and couldn't believe my tastebuds - both were incredible! Obviously loads better than kits, but also a very noticeable step up from my extract brew. The hydrometer samples I had last week were great too, but with the samples being so small I wasn't sure if they really were that good or if my parental instincts towards the beer were clouding my judgement

I'm chuffed to bits with how these have turned out, so much so that I've got the mash on for another mini-mash as we speak! I'm going for GW's Summer Lightning this time, and I'm stepping up to a 2 gallon batch (stretching the capacity of my pots and pans to their very limits!). Brewday post to follow...

[OldSpeckledBadger]

Glad to hear it's turned out well. 2 gallons sounds like a more useful volume to brew.

[adm]

Glad to hear it's turned out well. 2 gallons sounds like a more useful volume to brew.

Good stuff!

You'll be yearning for longer brew lengths soon, mark my words.... and a 10G electric brewery set up like the hop and grape one will only take up 3 feet of kitchen worktop when in use....

[CyberPaddy66]

Looking forward to my 1st Mini-Mash as well, just getting to the buying the ingredients stage at the moment, poor health and money problems have stalled my efforts so far.

Thanks for showing your method