Have a go at simple AG

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It did get going again - steadily not frantic, but at least it's going.

...and it's stuck again, despite the heat being on 24hrs and the room at a nice cosy 22C :( Gonna pitch my spare Nottingham yeast in to try to save it, if that dies too I'm gonna bin in - you can generally save/bottle a brew stuck at 1020 but not one that's hardly started and is still at 1040.

And thanks for the heater advice, I'm going to do that. However, I have another brew alongside this one that is still bubbling along merrily, I'm aware of the issues, there's something fundamentally weird about this AG brew that I'm just not getting e.g. when I give it a good stir, it doesn't froth up anything like my usual brews do, but the SG reading is as expected....it also looks a bit starnge, almost like it's separated out - I'm not a newbie, been brewing nearly 4 years, confused :-?
 
...and it's stuck again, despite the heat being on 24hrs and the room at a nice cosy 22C :( Gonna pitch my spare Nottingham yeast in to try to save it, if that dies too I'm gonna bin in - you can generally save/bottle a brew stuck at 1020 but not one that's hardly started and is still at 1040.

Before you dump more yeast in and risk overpitching, have you tried rousing it? You may well just have not had enough oxygen in the wort to begin with, and as long as you still have a fair amount of fermentation left to go (which you do at 40) you should be fine stirring it up.
 
I'd had enough last night, so decided to re-pitch another 11g yeast pack (Nottingham): re-hydrated it over an hour so it developed a very decent yeast cake, and put it in. Beer was still warm around 21C.

Today - nothing, it's all dropped out again, visible trub at the bottom, no evidence of any Krausen, no airlock activity and no bubbles. Looks as dead as a dodo, but smells nice. Did a gravity reading and it has dropped a bit, now down to 1030 after several days of fiddling, but it's fermenting at a snails pace - 5 days in now.

I've run out of ideas. I'm just gonna leave it and measure the gravity again at the end of the weekend, never had a brew do this, can't think what is stopping the yeast working, as I've addressed the obvious things like temp, rousing / oxygen and yeast. :wha:
 
Visitors got cancelled due to ill kids so I'm going for it this weekend. Watch this space. Got to get my spuds and tomatoes in at some point (also Wales Ireland) so might be tomorrow...but can't wait! Going to do cascade /centennial after my hophead experience on Thursday...wish me luck!
 
Visitors got cancelled due to ill kids so I'm going for it this weekend. Watch this space. Got to get my spuds and tomatoes in at some point (also Wales Ireland) so might be tomorrow...but can't wait! Going to do cascade /centennial after my hophead experience on Thursday...wish me luck!

What hops and yeast you using?
 
Well jsut realised that my pain't straining bags haven't arrived so it's going to be next weekend after all...doh

Was going to do (10L) with 1900g Maris otter 100g Cara malt
10g centennial @60
5g each centennial / cascade @15
5g each centennial / cascade @ FO
Sa-05 yeast (5-6g)

What do you reckon?
Also toying with adding a bit of citra as dry hop but not sure what quants or if that's overkill. I am going for something seriously hop heavy.
 
That sounds great. Not got time to check out the hopping rates/IBUs, I'm off to the airport now...
 
If you've made a few kits and/or extract brews, why not have a go at a simple AG brew, to see the difference it makes? A small batch of AG beer is not difficult and you will discover the difference and feel the joy and pride of making it from scratch. All you need for 5 litres is 1kg of Maris Otter, or other pale malt, a packet of hops, and a sachet of yeast. You just need a thermometer, a decent sized pan and something to strain the grain from the wort. A big sieve, or a piece of cloth in a colander.

Recipe:

  • 1kg Maris Otter (about £1.50)
  • One packet of hops (any you like - EKG, Citra, Amarillo, Galaxy, Fuggles, First gold etc) (About £3-4, but you will only use 15g of the 100g, so cost is around 50p)
  • One packet of yeast, 3g dried yeast is enough. (50p ish)

Method:

1. Heat 3 litres of water to 75C in big pan.
2. Pour in the pale malt while stirring - get rid of lumps.
3. Check temp is 65-70C - adjust if necessary with cold or boiling water.
4. Wrap a thick towel round the pot and leave alone for one hour.
5. Strain into a bucket or other vessel through sieve, or colander lined with cloth.
6. Heat another 4 litres of water to 80C and add the grains back to it. Leave 10 mins, stir, and strain the liquid to your bucket. You should have about 6 litres, which will reduce when you boil it for an hour.
7. Dispose of grains, add wort to pan and bring to boil.
8. Add 5 grams of hops when boiling point is reached.
9. 55 Mins later add 10g of hops, boil another 5 mins and switch off.
10. Cool the wort in sink, with lid on, add to sterilised FV/demijohn via sterilised sieve to catch hops, pitch yeast at around 20C.

You should get 8 or 9 x 500ml bottles of lovely beer for about £2.50.

If you've never made an all grain beer it's really worth giving this a go.
I am a total novice to homebrew but enjoying every minute making kits!This really does look a simple recipe that I would love to try.What size stockpot would you recommend to start with?I see wilco do a 12ltr pot for about £15 would that be ok?
Thanks
 
I am a total novice to homebrew but enjoying every minute making kits!This really does look a simple recipe that I would love to try.What size stockpot would you recommend to start with?I see wilco do a 12ltr pot for about £15 would that be ok?
Thanks

I'm just doing a 10ltr recipe like this now. It's my second AG brew and, once you've got a mashtun made, it's much more simpler (and less messy) than doing kits.

I'm also using that very stockpot from Wilko, so I'll let you know how I get on.

Dave
 
I'm also using that very stockpot from Wilko, so I'll let you know how I get on.

It's not a great pot this...

However, I am on a halogen hob with a max ring size of about 12". But I don't think the thin bottom of this pot helps matters. My hob won't fetch it up to the hot break, so I've had to split my batch into two 5ltr demijohns.

Dave
 
@ Crewe let me know your process/volumes etc as I'm going to give this a go but like you only have a 12 L pot. My bags are also taking an eternity to arrive so may make a road trip later to a hbs I've located!
 
Bottled my first gallon batch yesterday mate. I have a two gallon batch that's about ready for the same. I can't believe how quickly it ferments out!

Dave
 
I find some AG beers are ready to drink really quickly too. Others peak later.
 
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