First AG brew...

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Granarian

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So, I've bought some kit, found a nice simple recipe (thanks Tubby_Shaw for "A Dace Twirls More here) and got up early this morning to start first AG brew.

An hour and a half in, and I'm already learning! It takes ages to heat the water in the boiler! There is quite a lot of temperature loss between boiler and cold plastic mash tun.... Already slightly worried half an hour into the mash that it's cooling too quickly. Have gone from 67degrees on doughing in to 62degrees after half an hour. I don't know if this is a problem? What's the optimal temperature range? My recipe says 67degrees for 90 minutes, so I'm already below that.

Anyway, too late now, will keep ploughing on!!

Anyone have any other tips for me before I make a major mistake later today??
 
You don't want it below 62. But the half hour above 62 will probably have done the job of starch conversion. Is your tun not insulated on any way? Maybe add a kettle of boiling water if you have space and wrap fleecy quilty towelly things round it.
 
Seems to be holding at 62' so far. I've got an Igloo cool box, not wrapped and the ambient temperature is only about 10', so that won't be helping. Good idea about a kettle of water, thanks. Just about to add that now! Does a low mash temperature mean I should aim for a different temperature for sparge water?
 
Think my cheap electronic thermometer is wonky! Now reading 66' after an hour!!
 
Aha. An igloo should hold temperature for an hour. Sounds like all is well.
 
So, ended up with 20L, 3L short of the length I was after, with OG of 1.047 vs target 1.045. Not too bad a start, so will have to see what fermentation brings...
 
So having finished by brew this morning, feeling pretty pleased to be almost on target OG and reasonably close to brew length, I've had no fermentation action yet....is this normal?

Using Danstar Nottingham and rehydrated 5g in a glass of water before adding to the FV. It looked like it was starting to froth by the time it was added. The temperature of the wort was pretty close to the glass, so I didn't expect any osmotic shock.

Any tips on how to get fermentation going? And is there a critical time after which I lose the wort?

Thanks!
 
It takes a while for the yeast to multiply enough to provide visible signs of fermentation. Generally 12 to 24 hours, yeasts vary. That said, 5g is a low amount to pitch into 20 litres, even though many kits come with 6g. I'd have used the full packet, you could add the rest.
 
Granarian English Bitter!

4.3Kg Maris Otter Pale

50g Fuggles (10 mins into boil)
50g Styrian Gold (40 mins into boil)
20g Bobek (50 mins into boil)

5g Danstar Nottingham


Start time 0600, ambient temp 8'

Boil time 55m, 20L

Mash: strike temp 75'
Post doughing in 67'
60 minutes 65' (thermometer issues in between!)
90 minutes 64'

Sparge - start 0830
4L - 1.070
8L - 1.048
12L - 1.030
16L - 1.015
20L - 1.008
24L - 1.002

Boiler refilled at 0920 - 24L; boiling at 1010 for 60 minutes;

20L wort residual (I think c2L lost to hops/dead space, 2L evaporation)

Chill began 1110; 35' at 1135

OG 1.047
 
Only had another 1g, but have added that. Will now have to wait and see! IS there any merit in adding more yeast later in the week if I can order more? I guess it's not great to take off the lid? What will the consequence be of only using 6g? Lower alcohol content, anything else?
Thanks!
 
Sounds like it went great, and a nice recipe. I would just leave it as it is now, 6g will cope, Nottingham is a robust yeast and will finish the job ok, shouldn't be less alcohol. It might take a little longer to get going, but the final product is unlikely to suffer I think. Many 5 gallon brews have been made with 6g dried yeast packs, even though pitch rate calculators tell you to use 11/12g.
 
Thanks. Am pretty happy with the results so far, will have to wait and see what happens over the next week or so. Hadn't appreciated the amount of washing up to be done! :-)
 
Granarian said:
Fermenting, albeit slooowly!!
Click to expand...

OK, so still fermenting - SG this morning was 1.014; my OG was 1.051 when temperature adjusted. Now, given that I only used half the yeast, is this even possible in six days??

Two questions:

1) When I get to 1.010, should I keg it even if there is some fermentation still to go? (and I'm assuming I should wait until 1.010?)

2) Secondly, the beer is pretty cloudy (see photo - I can't read my test jar markings through it). What should / could I do about this now?

Thanks
G

IMG_0315.jpg
 
Last edited:
1 - only keg it once fermentation is complete. You can tell by measuring the gravity again in a day or two, once it's been the same for 3 days it's finished and you can transfer.

2 - That's pretty normal and it'll clear quite significantly in the keg. If you want to help it along you can add some finings a few days before you move to the barrel. In future, irish moss or protofloc can be added to the boil to help clearing.
 
Ended up at 1.010 for three days. 100g of dextrose added to the keg & sitting nicely waiting for secondary fermentation to kick in! Planning to cold crash in my garage in a few days.

Really light colour, so will be adding more to the Maris Otter next time round. Tastes quite good, quite a citrusy flavour; is that hop-driven? Anyway, first batch is a qualified success - will find out what the final look and feel is in a couple of weeks!
 
Yes, the Styrian and Bobek hops will provide the citrus flavour.
 

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