Hi,
Bought some new (2nd hand) kit. A large white twin element boiler an igloo mash tun and a diy wort chiller. Have made various kits over the last few years as well as making cider from apples most years.
Decided to try the "get er brewed" crisp - session bitter as in my packet mix kit experience, lower abv brews tended to be more forgiving.
Went ok, i got the initial water temp to 80c and then by time i had added the grain it came out at 65. When the 60 min mash had finished I was down to 64c.
The recipe said 13l of initial water but i ended up with 14. I thought i had added a further 16 during sparging, but ended up with 23 after sparge, so something went wrong, probably my brain with all the new/different steps to take! Was tricky with only one boiler and a jug for sparging slowly down sides of mash tun. The tun does have a mesh thingy in the bottom and only a few drips came out when cleaning so dont think it was stuck.
Boiled for an hour adding hops as recipe said, then cooled with chiller. Unfortunatly the boiler doesn't have a mesh attachment just copper pipe with holes and unfortunatly that did block, tried some spoon stiring persuasion, but my hand had to go in to sort it out.
Ended up with 19l ready for yeast, but decided a campden tab for 24hrs was a good idea, given my arm had gone in.
OG was 1038 with my hydrometer, although the recipe card mentions 37 SG, which i don't know what it means?
My other question is how do you calculate the amount of sparge water?
It says liquor/mash ratio 2.5:1 does that mean i need 67.5 litres of water minus initial mash of 13, means 54.5 litres of sparge? Seems like a lot.
My last question is yeast packet says 100ml of water at 30-35c for rehydration process, that seems high? Packet mixes have always said mid 20's. Don't want to kill the yeast, i don't supose using lower temp will matter too much, maybe longer fermenting?
Have attached the recipe card for anyone interested.
Hopefully will turn out ok.
Bought some new (2nd hand) kit. A large white twin element boiler an igloo mash tun and a diy wort chiller. Have made various kits over the last few years as well as making cider from apples most years.
Decided to try the "get er brewed" crisp - session bitter as in my packet mix kit experience, lower abv brews tended to be more forgiving.
Went ok, i got the initial water temp to 80c and then by time i had added the grain it came out at 65. When the 60 min mash had finished I was down to 64c.
The recipe said 13l of initial water but i ended up with 14. I thought i had added a further 16 during sparging, but ended up with 23 after sparge, so something went wrong, probably my brain with all the new/different steps to take! Was tricky with only one boiler and a jug for sparging slowly down sides of mash tun. The tun does have a mesh thingy in the bottom and only a few drips came out when cleaning so dont think it was stuck.
Boiled for an hour adding hops as recipe said, then cooled with chiller. Unfortunatly the boiler doesn't have a mesh attachment just copper pipe with holes and unfortunatly that did block, tried some spoon stiring persuasion, but my hand had to go in to sort it out.
Ended up with 19l ready for yeast, but decided a campden tab for 24hrs was a good idea, given my arm had gone in.
OG was 1038 with my hydrometer, although the recipe card mentions 37 SG, which i don't know what it means?
My other question is how do you calculate the amount of sparge water?
It says liquor/mash ratio 2.5:1 does that mean i need 67.5 litres of water minus initial mash of 13, means 54.5 litres of sparge? Seems like a lot.
My last question is yeast packet says 100ml of water at 30-35c for rehydration process, that seems high? Packet mixes have always said mid 20's. Don't want to kill the yeast, i don't supose using lower temp will matter too much, maybe longer fermenting?
Have attached the recipe card for anyone interested.
Hopefully will turn out ok.
