First brew day lessons!

1. I started off with 26.5 litres in the mash tun, but now only have 16.5 litres in the FV. I was expecting it to be nearer 19 litres. Not sure where the extra 2.5 litres went, although item 2 might have something to do with it
   
2. During the boil, I had to leave the lid semi-off the mash/boil bucket, as it would boil over or start spewing hot wort out of the air hole if the lid was left on. Suspect I might have lost a lot of liquid this way. What's the best way to overcome this? Add more water to start with, or get a heating element that can be adjusted for heat output?
   
3. I measured the OG as about 1.045 which is right at the very bottom of the 'expected' OG. Does this mean I pulled the malt out too early?
   
4. The FV bucket seems to have a small hole on each side at the top, presumably for a handle, but no handle was present, so thought these might allow the CO2 to escape, and also let bugs into the liquid, so I've taped them up. Was that the right thing to do? I'll drop Get Er Brewed an email to ask if there's supposed to be holes.
   
5. The instructions for the APA said to put hops in at 60 mins, 10 mins and 0 mins. I couldn't quite work out what effect the 0 mins one would have - I presume that it releases some flavours/aromas during the cold break? And I also presume the hops should stay in the bucket during the cooling phase?
   
6. Speaking of cooling, I was surprised how long it took to cool the wart down. It came down to 35C fairly quickly, but the last 16 degrees took an age!
   
7. There seemed to be quite a lot of gunk/sediment in the wort as it went into the FV - is this normal, and will it settle down before bottling, or will I be picking bits out of my teeth when I drink it?
   
8. I didn't realise quite how messy a job it all is. Now I know why they say it's 80% cleaning and 20% brewing!

1. I started off with 26.5 litres in the mash tun, but now only have 16.5 litres in the FV. I was expecting it to be nearer 19 litres. Not sure where the extra 2.5 litres went, although item 2 might have something to do with it.
   It's hard to predict how much water will be lost first time. Next time use 2.5 litres more.
   
2. During the boil, I had to leave the lid semi-off the mash/boil bucket, as it would boil over or start spewing hot wort out of the air hole if the lid was left on. Suspect I might have lost a lot of liquid this way. What's the best way to overcome this? Add more water to start with, or get a heating element that can be adjusted for heat output?
   You should allow room for steam to escape.
   
3. I measured the OG as about 1.045 which is right at the very bottom of the 'expected' OG. Does this mean I pulled the malt out too early?
   Probably not. It could be that the water shortage meant that there wasn't enough water to effectively remove the sugars from the grain.
   
4. The FV bucket seems to have a small hole on each side at the top, presumably for a handle, but no handle was present, so thought these might allow the CO2 to escape, and also let bugs into the liquid, so I've taped them up. Was that the right thing to do? I'll drop Get Er Brewed an email to ask if there's supposed to be holes.
   You did the right thing blocking the holes.
   
5. The instructions for the APA said to put hops in at 60 mins, 10 mins and 0 mins. I couldn't quite work out what effect the 0 mins one would have - I presume that it releases some flavours/aromas during the cold break? And I also presume the hops should stay in the bucket during the cooling phase?
   You assume correctly.
   
6. Speaking of cooling, I was surprised how long it took to cool the wart down. It came down to 35C fairly quickly, but the last 16 degrees took an age!
   It's wort, pronounced wurt. You've been watching American videos! The last bit of the cooling takes the longest, cos there is less difference in temperature between the water or air around the beer and the beer itself.
   
7. There seemed to be quite a lot of gunk/sediment in the wort as it went into the FV - is this normal, and will it settle down before bottling, or will I be picking bits out of my teeth when I drink it?
   It will settle to the bottom - leave it in the FV at least 2 weeks.
   
8. I didn't realise quite how messy a job it all is. Now I know why they say it's 80% cleaning and 20% brewing!
   Practice makes it much less messy.

kevin1911 said:

Thanks all for the replies, you lot are really very kind and helpful. If only the rest of the interweb was the same!

It turns out that the holes I thought I had on the FV didn't actually go through to the inside of the FV itself - they only went through a bit of the lip of the FV, so I didn't need to tape them up after all. Whoops

This whole waiting thing is torture. I want to drink it NOW! ;-)

Click to expand...

kevin1911 said:

Thanks all for the replies, you lot are really very kind and helpful. If only the rest of the interweb was the same!

It turns out that the holes I thought I had on the FV didn't actually go through to the inside of the FV itself - they only went through a bit of the lip of the FV, so I didn't need to tape them up after all. Whoops

This whole waiting thing is torture. I want to drink it NOW! ;-)

Click to expand...