AlderneyBrew's Brewdays.

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Joined
May 6, 2021
Messages
660
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Location
A little rock called Alderney
Tomorrow is the day. First run with the Brewzilla. Watched a few videos, read a few threads and I think I'm ready!
I'm going to do an IPA, inspired by the hops in the MJ Mango kit.
I'm thinking -
22l finished volume.
5kg Maris Otter.
250g Caramunich.
65C for 1 hour.
30g EKG at 60 mins.
20g mix of Citra and Azacca at 20 mins.
20g of same at flameout.
20g of same for whirlpool at 80c.
Then a load for dry hopping later.
Mangrove Jacks West Coast M44 yeast.

Hoping for a 5.5 to 6% finished product so as it's my first time I've got some DME if it falls short.

I'm not advanced enough to play with water profiles yet, so just a campden tablet.
Sounds easy when I type it!
 
Good luck. Don't rush and take measurements at these stages so you can fine tune later:

Strike temperature
Mash in temperature
End of mash temperature
Pre boil volume
Pre boil gravity adjusted for temp.
Post boil volume when cooled
Post boil gravity when cooled.

Easiest way to measure volume is to measure with a ruler down from the top of the kettle to the surface of the liquid then do the maths to get volume later when you've finished and can relax.
 
Sounds a decent brew, Things i learned on the brewzilla first brew, the nut on the bottom of recirculation arm was not tight and weeped a little, when undoing the camlock turn the pump off at the switch and mind you don't burn your fingers apart from that enjoy your brew day o and i find the brew father profile is pretty spot on the mash water looks a lot it is not though the dead space under the mash tube is about 6.75 litre's
 
IMG_20210919_113707.jpg

And we're off! After last night's session on the homebrew with some friends I decided to make this a bit more sessionable, as we were all trollied! 😂
Reduced the grain bill to 4.5kg and aiming for 23 litres at 5%.
 
Well now I know why it's called a brewday! Finally done after 5 hours or so, plus half an hour cleaning.
Ended up with 20 litres, boil evaporation was pretty high at nearly 5 litres, but I did have a boil over.
Lessons learnt -
1. Draining and sparging took a lot longer than I expected.
2. Cooling took ages but I took the chiller thing out at 24c to whirlpool.
3. I dont really understand whirlpooling!
4. I under estimated the amount of sparge water required, those grains are thirsty!
5. The brewzilla is a cracking bit of kit but I need to be patient and realise the non brewzilla elements such as sparging and cooling take time. It's only a water heater and pump after all!

Time for a beer comrades! 🍺👍
 
Well it all went pretty well, no boil overs this time!
My only issue is cooling the wort.
The coil chiller thingy only gets it down to 25C as our cold tap water is 23C!
Outside temp is, today, above 20C too.
So I've put it in a FV in the garage where it's a bit cooler.
Is it OK to leave it like that overnight and transfer, airate and pitch the yeast tomorrow?
 
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