AG#2 Supposed to be a Tribute clone :)

[sjw7]

After six months of doing kits i finally decided to jump in the deepend and give all grain a go. Its alot more fun and AG#1, while a bit on lite side has gone down well so I decided number2 would be a bit more adventurous and decided to try the St Austells Tribute clone here (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=21016&p=237896#p237896- thanks Mauri).

3.7kg Maris Otter
1 kg Munich
250g T.Wheat

Willamette (6.6%) 90 mins 13g
Fuggle (3.6%) 90 mins 20g
Willamette (6.6%) 15 mins 18g
Fuggle (3.6%) 15 mins 32g
Styrian Goldings (4.4%) at 0min 25g

With AG#1 i didnt manage to get the mash temperature right but this time it was bang on 68C and only lost a degree in an hour and a half. Sparging took about 45mins as run off was slow but thankfully very clear. I didnt get as much wort as i expected but boiled it up with the hops at the times mentioned above although i dont have very accurate scales so the weights will have been off by at least a few grams. After 90mins of boiling i was left with 20L so was happy with the result although i will need to adjust my equipment in beersmith as i was aiming for 23L.

I think the very cold weather on Saturday helped my immersion cooler as i was down to 28C in under 20mins. I added the yeast and took the OG which came out at 1060 which was a big suprise as i was hoping for 1050ish. Probably had alot to do with not getting enough wort out originaly.

Its been in the bucket now for four days and has got down to 1014 so its all going well.

I have some questions though

To make a Tribute clone in the future does anyone know which yeast i should get? I used Gervain English Ale yeast this time round but i have no idea how it will come out.

Also its still quite cloudy but seems to be fermenting a bit. Should i syphon it off to a second fermentation barrel and add finings before bottling? I wont be able to bottle it until after boxing day so im not sure if its best to leave it where it is or move it.

Now all i have to do is convince the wife that i need day to do another brew before the new year

cheers

Simon

[OldSpeckledBadger]

Also its still quite cloudy but seems to be fermenting a bit.

That's because of something called YEAST. It makes the beer look cloudy whilst it's fermenting the sugars to alcohol.

Should i syphon it off to a second fermentation barrel and add finings before bottling? I wont be able to bottle it until after boxing day so im not sure if its best to leave it where it is or move it.

Gervin is just an expensive way of buying re-packaged Nottingham. Nottingham is extremely flocculent and shouldn't need finings. Finings are a no-no anyway when bottling as they result in an unstable yeast film (didn't you learn anything from your kit brewing?). I'm getting very good results by leaving the beer in the FV for an extra 3 days after FG has been reached. Most of the yeast settles out in that time and I get a very thin, compact and stable yeast film in the bottom of the bottle.

[SiHoltye]

I'd suggest leave it 10 days and bottle it from primary. Looks like a tasty beer. Well done!

[sjw7]

Thanks for the replies chaps. Im very much new to all of this so there is some good info there. I will leave it in the Fv until next monday before bottling and from now on no finings

Cheers

Simon

[Deebee]

Now all i have to do is convince the wife that i need day to do another brew before the new year

I tried to convince her to let me brew before the new year. I got shot down as i hade used up my goodwill quota by brewing 4 batches in november ( not for me though honest!!)

roll on January!