Completed 1st AG last night, but

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Poshlloyd

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My efficiency sucks!
Not sure of the percentage, but I was aiming for a OG of 1.069 and ended up with 1.058.
My first go, so I'm not gonna beat myself up about it.

With further reading I picked up a few points I did wrong.

1 I didn't evenly distribute the heat after doughing in. Most places were 68 but I found quite a few hot spots as I dipped my probe after 30 mins.

2 I think I drained my first running far too fast. Probably over 15 mins. 7.5l

3. I didn't mash out (although I hadn't planned on it)



4. My batch Sparge strike water was 76, however after I added it, I measured 68-70 in most places. I panicked and rather than add more hot to bring it up, I started with the second runnings after 10 mins, and again drained my further 18l in about 15 mins!

So I've got a lot to work on for my next go.

Good points :

My homemade chiller dropped the temp to 18 degrees in 20 mins!

My buffalo boiler kept a rolling boil on 25l of wort for the hour.

I was able to use my HLT as the boiler by utilising a FV as a middleman.

I can't wait to see how the batch turns out as 1.058 should still give me a pretty decent abv.

Fingers crossed it tastes nice.
 
And I didn't get any leaks on the ball valve taps I'd added to the mash tun and boiler.

I think I'm gonna buy another FV, so I can have a second go this weekend.
 
Well done posh Lloyd.
The first AG is always nerve racking but looks like yours didn't go too bad and you have identified issues and come up with good improvements.
Don't worry the beer will taste great...
 
Thanks man.
I'm just trying to get my head around the Brewsmith app at the mo, so I can tweak recipes to suit me.
Going to have another go next week, got some magnum, Amarillo and simcoe left, so just need some grain which I'll order now. Oh and maybe some cascade hops.
 
I reckon a longer sparge should make a difference. And maybe a slower first run off.
 
Well i went for it last night, cant believe how simple the process is although sure i made plenty of mistakes. I have just acquired an old baby burco boiler so going to give it a trial run today as i doubt its been turned on for 30 years. How was it making your wort chiller and where did you get your copper from? Thanks
 
I bought my copper from BES. 10m of 10mm (inside 7mm) for about £20.
I wrapped it around a paint can to make a coil, then got some pvc hose, about 1.5m and two jubilee clips. if you pm your email address I'll send some photos.

I actually have a spare coil of 10m 10mm copper. If you live anywhere near Bury you can have it for £10.
 
So, I'm now a little worried about fermentation.
I thought I'd learnt my lesson about panicking from my last two brews.
But obviously not!

I'm fermenting at 19 degrees using Nottingham that I rehydrated.
No action from airlock, although this doesn't bother me as I know it's not a text book sign. However there doesn't seem to be much Krausen. Just the light remainder of a ring that I can see on the fv wall, that has been there since day 2.

So day 5 I had a sneaky look. Looks like some yeast particles floating on top. There is the smell of beer, which says to me fermentation must have started, but also a slightly unpleasant smell too.

Well I panicked. Forgot to take an sg or a photo and just pitched another pack (dry this time) of Nottingham.

Then I ran away!

Day 6 now and I'm worried about what I will find when I get home.

It's all a learning curve so I'm not disheartened. We shall just see what happens.
 
Krausen's are a law unto themselves. You can do two identical brews and have two very different acting krausens. It's entirely possible your krausen came and went overnight without you even seeing it.

I wouldn't worry about any unpleasant smells yet as yeast can give off all kinds of compounds - just wait to you use a particularly sulphury yeast and your whole house smells like the dog farted. When you have three consecutive days of the same gravity reading, then draw off a sample and taste/smell. Even then, if there's an unpleasant smell/taste still bottle it. Don't underestimate the magic of conditioning

As for pitching the second packet of yeast, the worst that will have happened is that you over pitched. Tbh I don't think that second packet with do anything because a)dry pitching yeast can kill up to half of it b) there's no oxygen left in the wort because the first lot of yeast will have consumes it all.

Basically, relax and have a home brew! It's surprisingly hard to make undrinkable beer, even when you actively f*ck up!
 
Thanks MyQul,
Every brew so far has had very different fermenting actions, but they have all turned out ace.
I shall take your advice and relax.
I'll check sg on day 10 and take it from there.
Og was 1.058 and I'm aiming for FG of 1.016. So I'll see what happens.

Cheers.
 
Ok, so I've no idea what's going on but it seems to be ok.
12 days in I gave just had a peek and taken a sample. Gravity is down to 1.012. I was aiming for 1.016 so I'm confused.

It tastes ok, it looks ok. After dry hopping and carbonation this will be drinkable and possibly pretty nice.

Gonna leave another couple of days then check SG again and if it's still the same add my dry hops.

I hate the way all my brews ferment differently, it's turning me grey!
 
Looks like a great first brew to me.

Did you use any software to estimate your FG?

I've had a brew with nottingham yeast ferment down to 10.08 from 10.42 before, so i think 10.12 is probably about perfect from your SG :cool:
 
FG is hard to predict. Don't worry about it. Experience with a particular yeast helps. It's a learning curve.
 
The recipe used S05, that's what the fg was based on, but I ended up using Nottingham.

So that's part of what would cause a different fg.

Thanks guys, I'm learning all the time.
 
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