AG2 well hopped best bitter

I made my second AG BIAB brew this weekend. A best bitter/ESB with lots of late hops.

The recipe for 23 litres is:
4.3kg Marris Otter
300g Amber malt
200g Crystal 113 ECB
100g Crystal 250 ECB
100g Torrified wheat

20g Pilgrim - 60 min
20g Fuggles - 15 min
40g EKG - 15 min
40g EKG - 0 min
50g Pilgrim - 0 min

Young's (brewery not brewing supplies) yeast harvested from bottles.

OP - 1.056
Expected FG - 1.016
43 IBU
ABV 5.2%

I started the brew quite late in the day as I had to get my son in to bed. I was milling the grain at 8.30 and doughed in at 9. I didn't get to bed till 3AM. The mash went well. I screwed up the water chemistry on my first AG but got it spot on this time. I mashed at 65oC and hit a mash pH of 5.3.

I managed to slight screw up my hop additions. I chucked in my flame out hops at 15 min. I realise my mistake an fished half of them out before I stirred them in. I wanted to get the flavour/aroma of the Pilgrim, otherwise I wouldn't have worried. I then chucked these slightly soggy hops along with the 15 minute additions at the end of the boil.

I was really pleased with the OG of 1.056. This equates to an efficiency of 82% which was higher than I predicted... Oh dear, stonger beer!

It's my first time using liquid yeast and it is really reassuring to see the blow-off tube bubbling after 6 hours instead of wondering whether it it is going to get going. I don't know if I'll need a blow of tube but as there isn't much info on this yeast I'd prefer I didn't end up with a mess all over my brew fridge.

The sample I took for a gravity reading was deliciously malty and hoppy. Hopefully it will still taste great when it has fermented.

It really is so much fun creating everything from scratch and I'm already planning my next brew. I've learned so much from this forum and can't wait to try out more things.

I'm like drunk kid in a sweet shop.

Its a great forum for help and its better to fit a blow off and not need it rather than having to clear up a mess, good to hear it all went well.:thumb:

I came home from work today and was a little worried that I couldn't hear any bubbling front the brew fridge. When I checked inside I found this.



My paltry 500ml bottle I was using as a blow of was full of yeast and beige gunge was now covering the fridge.

I had no idea a top cropping yeast could produce so much krausen. I thought it would just dissolve once it touched the water in the bottle but I've ended up with a full bottle of liquid yeast. It's really thick and gloopy.

What size bottles do people usually use for blow off tubes? I think I'm going to need at least 2 litres.

mess eh, me n my big gob!

Ouch!!

Having seen that mess (and looking forward to when I get my free secondhand fridge) I now plan to lead the blow-off tube out of the fridge via a small hole ...

... and sit the blow-off bottle in a washing up bowl until the really aggressive fermentation has finished.

The hole in the fridge will be plugged when not in use.