First AG Brew - Timothy Taylor Landlord

[dharte]

Well today has finally arrived and I've started my first AG brew. I thought it would be sensible to begin with a recipe in Graham Wheeler's book, so I picked TT Landlord as I've had the real thing before and quite liked it.

I began yesterday with this:

I managed to get everything built and ran a couple of tests on the MT and boiler to check everything was working ok. I live about 2 minutes away from The Malt Miller so I popped down this morning to say hello and pick up my grain and hops, they're a great bunch of guys and hopefully I'll be back there soon to get the bits for my second brew.

When I got back I fired up the boiler and got everything ready. I filled the MT with 17l of water, I'm hoping for a boil volume of 30l, so this seemed ok.

When the temp dropped to 72 degrees I stirred in the grist, I was fretting about the temperatures so I forgot to take a picture until after I had sealed up the MT.

There's a mash tun hiding under there somewhere!

Anyway, I'm off to prepare for sparging, have some lunch and check that the dog hasn't pulled the quilts off the MT to sleep on! I will update in a little while.

 

[PD]

Good luck....enjoy the day.


and your lunch

 

[Baz Chaz]

I live about 2 minutes away from The Malt Miller so I popped down this morning to say hello and pick up my grain and hops, they're a great bunch of guys and hopefully I'll be back there soon to get the bits for my second brew.

You're a lucky man :thumb:

Anyway, I'm off to prepare for sparging, have some lunch and check that the dog hasn't pulled the quilts off the MT to sleep on! I will update in a little while.

Hope it all goes smoothly for you, crackin brew that recipe as well :thumb:

 

[Kevin Wood]

Just brewed a Landlord myself so will be keen to hear how it turns out. :thumb:

 

[dharte]

Thanks everyone!

Well the dog behaved himself and left the MT alone, so I got ready to sparge:

I used the jug and tinfoil method:

which seemed to work ok:

Then I fired up the boiler

I checked the gravity at this point and it was 1040, the target OG is 1042, so I assume I'll be close to this after the boil...

Hops ready to go in:

Now boiling away

Nothing major has gone wrong so far, the only thing I forgot to do was to take the temperature of the mash before I started to sparge, but this must have been ok as the wort was as expected.

 

[dharte]

Actually, just thought of something, when I was sparging, I kept pouring water in until I had collected enough wort. This meant that I was left with ~15 litres in the mash tun. Did I do that correctly, or should I stop adding water halfway through sparging?

Also, is there any reason why I shouldn't put the used grain on my compost heap?

 

[fbsf]

You probably added more liquor than was necessary - maybe next time work out what was left and reduce the sparge liquor by the same amount.

Re the compost heap, no reason why not, except rats. They love the sweet smell of the grain and it will attract them from quite a distance. Not a problem on an allotment site, but a PITA in the back garden!

 

[Wendy1971]

Looks great welcome to the darkside :thumb:

 

[mak]

When sparging I don't think it matters how much you put through, so long as it doesn't drop below 990 gravity. So start checking that after the first 10 litres or so, or just taste it and check it is still sweet!

Good luck I hope it turns out well, I'm doing this one next, today I did my 2nd AG (Orfys Hobgoblin) so landlord this weekend or next week :)

 

[Dr Mike]

Congrats on your first AG!

TT landlord was my first too. Will probably crack the first bottle this weekend.

 

[AndyBWood]

Bet you're busy but how's it going ? Really impressed that you've managed to put everything together in one go. I'm on the tipping point of AG but not, as yet, mustered the courage.

 

[dharte]

Thanks for all of the replies :

You probably added more liquor than was necessary - maybe next time work out what was left and reduce the sparge liquor by the same amount.

Ah ok, so I messed up the sparge slightly, it didn't work out too badly in the end though. The other thing I did wrong was after I had finished sparging I questioned the calculations that I worked out before I started brewing and used 27 litres rather than the 30 I had originally planned. After the boil I was left with 20l rather than 23l as a result. Slightly annoying but not the end of the world, and the gravity was bang on 1042 as per the recipe. Is it normal to loose around 7 litres during the boil?

Here are the last few pics:

Cooling:

Got there in the end:

It was definitely a good recipe to begin with as it was fairly straight forward - only two grains and two hops. I read Graham Wheeler's book recently, so used that as a guide and just figured things out as I went along. I tasted the wort before and after the boil and it certainly is tasting good so far!

 

[dharte]

Bet you're busy but how's it going ? Really impressed that you've managed to put everything together in one go. I'm on the tipping point of AG but not, as yet, mustered the courage.

Thanks, I've been gradually buying all of the bits and pieces over the last few months and had a couple of days off work so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it. You should definitely give it a go! :thumb:

 

[PD]

yes you can lose quite a bit of wort during the boil, estimating how much comes with practise, you will soon get an idea and be able to make adjustments.

looks like you had one of those rare occasions..............an uneventful brew day....

Well done.

 

[AndyBWood]

Keep the updates coming and, of course, let us know what the final product turns out like. When I do finally take the plunge I think TTL will be the first AG I'll try for. Nothing quite like hoping the Dewsbury to Manchester train is delayed just enough to sample a quick one in the station buffet ! Excellent drop !

 

[dharte]

Well I bottled this today. I'm not sure how well it will turn out, when I tasted it it was very malty, bitterness was as expected but not as hoppy as expected. I'll try a bottle in a few weeks time and see what it's like!

 

[PD]

there's a huge difference in the taste of the beer after a few weeks in the bottle, usually to the good.
Theres even more improvement the longer you leave it in the bottle.
I've sometimes wondered if its the same beer 4 or 5 weeks into conditioning/maturing.
I'm into drinking my TT now and its a very tasty beer.

 

[dharte]

there's a huge difference in the taste of the beer after a few weeks in the bottle, usually to the good.
Theres even more improvement the longer you leave it in the bottle.
I've sometimes wondered if its the same beer 4 or 5 weeks into conditioning/maturing.
I'm into drinking my TT now and its a very tasty beer.

Ah, fingers crossed then! I've mainly kegged beers in the past, I bottled the last few kits I made before this and they're only just ready for sampling so don't have much experience of how the beer matures in the bottle.

 

[mak]

I don't know if this is relevant but from the AG guide I read on these forums it says to be careful to avoid splashing when you sparge as it can cause off flavours? (hot side airation)... I don't understand it, but noticed you have quite some splashing going on from the sparge, so this may be a way to improve next time?

 

[dharte]

I don't know if this is relevant but from the AG guide I read on these forums it says to be careful to avoid splashing when you sparge as it can cause off flavours? (hot side airation)... I don't understand it, but noticed you have quite some splashing going on from the sparge, so this may be a way to improve next time?

Oh really, thanks. I guess I just assumed that getting air in to it at any point before the end of fermentation was a good thing. Next brew I'll use a long tube as if I was kegging it.

I went for a couple of pints tonight with a few guys from the office and the pub had TT Landlord on tap. I haven't had any for ages so I tried it and mine is much closer to the real thing than I remembered. I'm having a test of one of mine now and it's put my mind at rest! I know it's nowhere near ready, but it was a good opportunity to check everything was ok. :drink: