Mini Stove top/AG #2/Mosaic SMSH

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AdeDunn

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Ok, well I didn't realise that doing a small 5 litre stove top brew would turn out to be more work than a 19 litre one.... Especially as like a muppet I did this yesterday whilst deep in the midst of a migraine! I was in bed in a dark and cool room by 9:30pm and couldn't even manage to eat 1/4 of a pot of yoghurt....:doh:

Anyway, rubbish efficiency once again. Pre-boil SG 1.032, into the demi-john at a rather bonkers OG of 1.070. Beersmith 2 gave me an efficiency of 52.03%.:doh: Starting to think the only way I am going to be able to do this long term is with a proper mash tun. Also made the decision to purchase a peco boiler. My wife has had enough of me hogging the stove, and my diabetes would prefer it if I stopped messing meal times up.... :lol:

Anyway, recipe was one I found on Beersmith 2 app, and scaled down:-

Grain:-

1.78kg Pale malt - used IREKS Pale Ale Malt

Hops:-

7.7g Mosaic at start of boil (90 minutes)
3.9g Mosaic at 20 mins
6.8g Mosaic at flame out.
3.4g Mosaic dry hop.

Yeast: 1 packet CMS US Pale Ale yeast (dry, as I did re-hydrate a packet and just as I went to give it a stir ready to pitch a fruit fly appeared from out of nowhere and landed right in it.... :doh:). Pitched at 24 degrees C (head was hurting too much to wait longer).

Mash: Strike temp 72 degrees, then held at 66.7c for 75 minutes (been a small amount of grain I had to add heat a couple of times). Then mash out, raising temp to 75.6c over 7 minutes and holding there for 10 minutes.

90 minute boil left barely enough wort above the trub to fill the demijohn, so need to tweak the equipment profile for a bigger trub loss.

Poured it into the demijohn (well, siphoned...) via sanitised funnel. Gave it a good shake to aerate, pitched the yeast. Bung and blow off tube fitted (good job too...). By early am was fermenting like a beast blowing foam down the blow off.

My wife agrees with me that this had best be an amazing beer, the effort that went into it and the pain it caused me. :doh: It's nice to be able to see the yeasties at work though, our youngest sat watching it for at least 10 minutes this morning. :thumb: A good educational aid (we home ed DD no 2 and DD no 4. DD no 3 goes to and autism specialist school, DD no1 has her own place with her fiance and is expecting grandchild no1 in March. lol).

IMG_20171022_103151.jpg
 
PS. If anybody has ideas to improve efficiency I welcome them. Different crush not an option, as I have enough malt already to last a while... lol
 
Did you sparge? As that would increase efficiency. It takes me 1 1/2 hours to do 5L stove toppers as I only do 30 min boil and 30 min mash. I get 80% efficiency (but think the fact I mill my own grain helps with this)
 
Not for the stove top no, needed to get out of the way. I did however pour the wort through the grain whilst transferring ready to boil. I sparged (dunk sparge) with the full BIAB I did and got very slightly higher efficiency of almost 60%.... lol

To be honest, my equipment is sub-par and needs some upgrading. A better boiler and a better bag just to name 2. Seriously considering going with a mash tun too.

That's a LOT faster than mine was bud, as did 90/90. Less and I suspect my efficiency would have been even lower. Or have I got it wrong? Is a shorter mash better for efficiency? Logic says not, but heh I'm new to this. The boil for example, I started at nearly 14 litres of liquor to get down to 4.5 litres into the DJ (I only just managed that to be honest, as was pretty much into the trub to get a decent level in the DJ..)... I actually had to use my 30 litre pan to do a diddy stove top... lmao Something just isn't right here.

Oh well, our pooch is going to enjoy the dog treats my wife is planning to make with the spent grain...... lol

Wondering, does anybody who uses MaltMiller/GetErBrewed know if they have a different crush for BIAB brewers maybe or something? Wondering for future reference.
 
Wife has banned me from using the oven. Pan won't fit anyway, it's wider and taller than or oven. Lol

I have her support to buy a peco though, she wants to ban me from using the hob.... Lol

Long term, I need to move outside. Heat gives me migraine (summer is always fun...).

Sent from my NEM-L51 using Tapatalk
 
My kit is very basic (cant afford any thing else). 15L & 5L pot, mash bag, bucket FVs and thats it really apart from a few other bits and bobs such as a hydrometer, turkey baster, syphon, etc.

Your right, potentially you can get a lower efficiency from a shorter mash but I seem not to.

Have you tried stirring during the mash? That's another tip I read about when I first started AG as I too was only getting about 60% efficiency. I stir halfwaythrough, after 15 mins but if your doing a 90 min mash, give it a good sir at 30min,60min and 90min. I think stirring can really help efficiency.
 
My kit is very basic (cant afford any thing else). 15L & 5L pot, mash bag, bucket FVs and thats it really apart from a few other bits and bobs such as a hydrometer, turkey baster, syphon, etc.

Your right, potentially you can get a lower efficiency from a shorter mash but I seem not to.

Have you tried stirring during the mash? That's another tip I read about when I first started AG as I too was only getting about 60% efficiency. I stir halfwaythrough, after 15 mins but if your doing a 90 min mash, give it a good sir at 30min,60min and 90min. I think stirring can really help efficiency.

That's exactly what I did when I did the BIAB, similar for this brew too. Makes me worry about how bad my efficiency would have been if I hadn't.... :lol:

I use a peco and a home made mash tun from a old FV works good get about 75% efficiency

:thumb:
 
That's exactly what I did when I did the BIAB, similar for this brew too. Makes me worry about how bad my efficiency would have been if I hadn't.... [emoji38]



:thumb:
I used to get really horrible efficiency too. Take you time doughing in and keep stirring as you do it. Next stir at 15 mins intervals during the mash. Sparge slowly. All will be good.


Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 
I wont be doing a stove top again I don't think (my wife has banned them... lol) as seriously the 19 litre BIAB I did was less work. :lol:

However I will apply that advice to my BIAB. I will say though, I thought I had doughed in slowly to be honest. I got my wife to gently pour in the grain whilst I gently stirred the pan. That way I could keep stirring the whole time.:thumb:
 
Just a quick update as just drew the first sample for testing of this. Down from 1.070 to 1.010, so 7.9% ABV approx before bottling. :lol: It'll be getting a dry hop with more mosaic before bottling, but tasting the trial jar it's really rather nice. Very smooth, medium level of bitterness, hop flavour is hard to describe, sort of fruity and complex. Not had a mosaic hopped beer before though (not ONLY mosaic anyway) so it's a new one on me. Colour is a nice pale golden shade, a bit darker than straw coloured.

I see what folks mean about all grain been nicer than kits now though. It's very different beer you get.
 
Not for the stove top no, needed to get out of the way. I did however pour the wort through the grain whilst transferring ready to boil. I sparged (dunk sparge) with the full BIAB I did and got very slightly higher efficiency of almost 60%.... lol

To be honest, my equipment is sub-par and needs some upgrading. A better boiler and a better bag just to name 2. Seriously considering going with a mash tun too.

That's a LOT faster than mine was bud, as did 90/90. Less and I suspect my efficiency would have been even lower. Or have I got it wrong? Is a shorter mash better for efficiency? Logic says not, but heh I'm new to this. The boil for example, I started at nearly 14 litres of liquor to get down to 4.5 litres into the DJ (I only just managed that to be honest, as was pretty much into the trub to get a decent level in the DJ..)... I actually had to use my 30 litre pan to do a diddy stove top... lmao Something just isn't right here.

Oh well, our pooch is going to enjoy the dog treats my wife is planning to make with the spent grain...... lol

Wondering, does anybody who uses MaltMiller/GetErBrewed know if they have a different crush for BIAB brewers maybe or something? Wondering for future reference.

14 litres to 4.5 ?
Is that all lost via boil or am I being stupid?
 
..when Myqul says his brewing equipment is basic...he really means it's like something from a Jules Verne novel....knocked up in between beard waxing and knitting a new bicycle.
 
Believe it or not, it was a 90 minute boil.... Try telling me it wasn't vigorous enough. :lol:

I also lost a good 3 litres to basically not been able to get it out of the pan.

My notes I recorded my post mash SG was 1.032, my post boil was 1.070... Yup, I boiled it's brains out for 90 minutes and made crazy beer. :twisted:
 
..when Myqul says his brewing equipment is basic...he really means it's like something from a Jules Verne novel....knocked up in between beard waxing and knitting a new bicycle.

More like waxing my bike and knitting a tweed beard. Gotta keep that whip in top nick as my boiler is pedal powered
 
We finally tasted this last night, and it was absolutely delicious!

Aroma was a huge hit of fruit.

It had a tiny hint of sweetness, maybe a hint of breadyness, with a HUGE hit of fruit!

Mouth feel was good too, nice level of carbonation but a tiny bit "creamy" smooth.

Mosaic is now our favourite hop, glad I tried it in a SMASH first.

Appearance was a nice dark amber colour, with a nice white head. Slight hop haze from the dry hop.

IMG_20171230_111006.jpg
 
Looks good. Mosaic is a good hop

Yeah, it really is. :thumb: Just need to get some flower hop Mosaic now. I'm trying to stop using pellets as they just cause so many problems for me.

I just wish I had made a full sized batch of this, it's seriously moreish. :doh:
 

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