All Grain #1 Tucked Away! (Pics)

[morethanworts]

I'd planned to do an extract version of this Belgian Tripel, but stumbled upon a second hand cool box mash tun, got given some copper at the same time [cheers "Gray"], accidentally built a stir plate using a THBF how-to, got a conical for my birthday, bought a second wilkos 18L (more like 16L) stockpot to match my first... and off I go. Warts 'n' all... :

5.6Kg Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner and 200g Torrefied Wheat:

Hoping to end up with 19L in the FV, after a 22.5L one hour boil. I'm basing this around a 55% mash efficiency, seeing it's my first time. I'd already tested the boil off and cooling rates with water, to get a decent idea of what will happen.

15L of 74C strike water just needed around a 400ml top up with boiling water to get 66C in mash tun, which had been preheated. Wrapped up cosy for a 2.5hr mash:

I'd already realised that I was not going to be able to fit the 6 or 7L of boiling top up in the tun that would be needed to get a 76C mash out, so I got a couple of big saucepans ready to decoct a portion. Made some lunch, did a couple of jobs...

OK. Mash done. Smells great. Has only lost a degree or two in the 2.5hrs. Added a couple of litres of boiling water to loosen things a little and heated 2 panfuls to 76C and replaced. Repeated. Grain bed still nowhere near 76C so I used a further 6 litres of boiling water [EDIT - it did fit after all ], counting it all as the first batch sparge. I took temps as much as I could and I'm not 100% sure I quite got 76C in the whole tun, but close. Recirculated the first runnings until clear and drained into a bucket. I'll be using two pans for this brew, but I've planned to measure the total runnings in a calibrated FV first. I'm aware I've broken away from a few norms already:

Concerned about how cool the runnings are getting, I make mental note of the volume collected and jug most of it into the first pot and begin heating, before putting in the second batch of sparge water at 76C. Recirculated a litre or so and drained. Now I wish I'd left the first runnings in the FV and just accepted that the boil will take longer, because my mental notes have gone slightly hazy I'm sure enough that I'm close to 22.5L not to return it to the FV to check. All into the stockpots [I can see it's close in those too, from a known point] and flames fully up. I jug between the two pots a little, just to even out the gravity in each form first to last runnings, seeing that it was never all in the FV at the same time. Sample jar taken...

35g of Nothern Brewer 9.7%AA go in.

Expecting 1.048 pre boil (and pre-sugar) by my maths, instead of which I get 1.070 (72% mash efficiency?) :shock: , originally temp adjusted, but I let it cool down just to check later. Some Maths to do. I'm guessing I've extracted some unfermentables in there, but time will tell. Long story, but if I add a further 5L towards the end of the boil and reduce the planned sugar slightly to 1.2Kg from 1.4Kg, I reckon I will end up with around 23L at 1.085, perhaps with reduced bitterness. Nutrient and sugar go in at 15 mins, top up follows.

Cooling takes around 25 mins to 18C:

I initially struggled to siphon the wort off the hops and trub with just a hop sock over the tube in the pan, but the addition of a siphon cane cup in the sock helped. Pipes everywhere!

Sure enough, 1.085 and looking just the right colour

I lost more to the trub and hops than I thought, and my doubt in quantities in the sparging are enough to explain why I only ended up with 20.5L or so in the FV, perhaps. Aerated well with spoon. Sample jar sip was very clean: extremely sweet obviously, with the bitterness there too.

I already know my 1.25L of Wyeast 3787 (Trappist High Gravity) is on the small side, started earlier in the week. It was chilled over night, brought up to temp, decanted and pitched. Smells funky. I'd removed about 300ml of wort mid boil, cooled in ice water and used to get the starter going again. It was at high krausen by the time I pitched.

15hrs on, and it's reacted well:

18C for a day or so and then gradually up to 21C.

So that's it. An exhausting four hours or so from the sparge onwards... and all the cleaning up. Hoping it gets down well below basic 75% attenuation, with all the cane sugar for it to eat into. Time will tell if I drew out too many unfermentables, I guess, but I'll just be pleased if I get a decent tasting beer first time out. :

 

[graysalchemy]

Welcome to the Darkside Young Padawan :twisted: :twisted:

Well Done :thumb:

 

[AndyBWood]

That's a great write up MTW.

How long are you expecting to leave this one before its 'ready' ?

A

 

[PD]

er how do you accidentally build a stir plate...... :grin:

Well done sir.

 

[Rolfster]

Looks good. :thumb:

How much sugar did you put in?

 

[morethanworts]

Thanks all. :thumb: I forgot to thank Asalpaws for his inspiration! This is my attempt to create something like I received from him in the summer bottleswap, which I enjoyed greatly.

I will hope to leave this at least 8 weeks in bottles, though a couple may be required for quality control purposes in the meantime! Still considering using secondary vessels (DJs) after 5 or 6 days. Most of my best beers have been through them up to now.

1.2Kg went in, 200g less than planned, adjusted along with the liquor back following the higher than expected pre boil OG. I want this Tripel to dry out without too much body, hence the bulk sugar and hence my concern over the unfermentables I may have sparged. The yeast seems to be known as a beast though, so fingers crossed.

 

[morethanworts]

Just realised my stir bar is in that FV somewhere!

 

[jonnymorris]

... and hence my concern over the unfermentables I may have sparged.

I reckon you'll be alright with a 66degC mash. Congrats on #1.

 

[pittsy]

well done , sounds like it's gonna be a good beer . you may want to take look into candy sugar , it's simply cane sugar than is boiled in water and is better for the yeast , also avoids that ''tastes too strong'' business . It's how the monks brew it etc .

 

[Theakston Tickler]

Well done to a fellow AG newbie. That looks and sounds a good brew and I've definitely got a similar style BIAB beer pencilled in for brewing in the not too distant! Please keep us up to date with progress and tasting notes.

 

[dennisking]

Cherry popped. :

 

[morethanworts]

I appreciate all your encouragement! Thanks :thumb:

Tonight I found maybe 20 tiny thunder flies lurking in the brew fridge. Grrrrrr :evil: I can't see any on the krausen or inside, but I've cleaned the fridge with star san as best I can and hopefully got rid. I'd left the lid loose, air hole covered, until the activity has died a bit.

I'd like to put the airlock in really. I tried. It's a good seal on that FV so it domed and bubbled mega vigorously. Instead, I've ended up clipping most of it down, leaving the smallest section possible loose and draping a clean tea towel over the edge of that bit.

Can it actually blow the lid off with an airlock on? There was a lot of pressure under the top when I tried. [PS - I've seen GA's explosion picture a few times: I don't know if an airlock was involved!]

How infectious are those pesky tiny thunder flies anyway?

 

[brewtim]

Looks like the yeast is going well :thumb:

Listening to Jamil's podcast on Strong Belgian Blondes, he recommends allowing the temp to rise from 18 C to 28 C over a week to ensure you get the max attenuation, you don't get fusels this way because the temp is low in the replication and growth phases.

Might be something to think about if it looks like it might be slowing down too quickly.

 

[morethanworts]

Thanks Brewtim. I listened to one of his podcasts a while back on Belgian beers. Not sure if it was the same one and I may have forgotten that bit anyway, so i will check it out.

 

[Asalpaws]

Yay, well done mate. I think you did really well jumping into your first AG like that! How are the gravities going? I would make sure the gravity is stable for a good 3 days before racking to secondary (which is advisable as this yeast is not very floculant). I doubt the flies will have caused any issues, try taking a sniff from a fermenting FV with the top off almost burns your nose off with the protective CO2! Agree with above letting the FV get warm does help the yeast fully attenuate.

I think you'll be very pleased with this, make sure you prime your bottles for high carbonation (3.5 - 4.0 vol co2) very important IMO. Also warm condition the bottles for a couple of weeks.

Nice one, no going back now. T

 

[morethanworts]

Cheers T. :thumb: Cranking it up 0.5C per day at the moment, may increase that rate as it progresses. Doesn't need any help at the moment though. Looks like clipping even some of the lid down was a bad idea (though it wasn't flipped up at one side as much as in the picture). The airlock is only there to block the hole at the moment. That's 13L of krausen there, plus whatever spilled over. No sign of any more flies though.

Yeh, your bottle did take a good few days to clear. Sticking it in the post is a good test! So DJs planned, to get as much out as possible.

Maybe I should harvest some of that yeast, before it sinks back into a 9% beer? I was planning to wash some from the bottom later.

 

[Asalpaws]

That looks like a healthy ferment! You might get away with top cropping it but any yeast left on the bottom of the fermenter will be knackered! Don't worry it died doing what it loves : ) T

 

[morethanworts]

Took an SG of 1.035 just now, 4 complete days on. OG was 1.085, so it's dropped 50 points in 4 days.

Does that sound OK for progress? It's up to 20C now. Was started at 18 and increased gradually.

:thumb:

 

[Asalpaws]

I think you can safely let it get warmer (up to 24 degrees should be OK), Belgian yeasts seem to like a bit of warmth to fully attenuate you want a dry finish on a triple. Also it seems to take several days to drop the last few gravity points. Make sure the gravity is stable for 3 days before racking to secondary.

How are you sorted for bottles? You need 3 times as many for 330 ml bottles, makes bottling even more annoying : ( T

 

[morethanworts]

:thumb:

To be honest, I've usually racked kits to secondary after about 6 days and let the latter stage of fermentation take place there. I've only checked for a stable SG for bottling, but I will happily take your advice because you've used the yeast before and got great results with it in primary for longer anyway.

Just about enough smaller bottles I think, though some 500s too if I need them. I forced a load of bud around earlier this year and have harvested a few others here and there.

Still got some delabelling to do ...

Going to crank up the brew fridge a bit more in a minute. Smells bananary!