First brew day - AG - something simple and hoppy

[Kevin Wood]

I'd leave it at least a couple more days to ensure that it really has finished, and allow the yeast to tidy things up. It will also clear further, as you say.

In addition to the yeast, the combination of fermentable and unfermentable sugars in the wort will have a bearing on the FG, so the correct answer is that it's finished when the gravity has been unchanged for a couple of days.

Looking good, though. :thumb:

 

[olriley]

Thanks Kevin. I had a little time last night so looked at it again.

The beer had developed the very slightest sheen on top and smelt and tasted a *teeny* bit funky (like a half drunk can of bitter smells the morning after the night before - but it could have been because it was totally flat), so I decided to bottle. As its my first ever brew, I don't know whether this was normal or not, we'll see I suppose. I'm hoping if it was the start of the dreaded vinegar infection then I've nipped it in the bud by depriving it of oxygen in the bottle. :pray:

Forgot to take another graviry reading (doh). But I primed with 80g sugar made into a syrup by heating with a little water, racked to a clean bucket and bottled using a siphon tube with a tap on the end. Mostly into flip-top bottles but a few old 2L lemonade bottles too.

I'm hoping to reclaim the yeast. So I broke up the yeast cake with some cooled boiled water and bottled most of it. As it seperates, do I just want to take the liquid to keep in the fridge, and chuck away the solids?

I fed the remaining trub solution with a little flour last night, and a bit more this morning, and its now alive so might well be having beer bread later

 

[olriley]

Secondary fermentation has definitely begun in the bottles. When I capped the large plastic ones, I squeezed the sides in a little to push the beer up and expel the top bit of air. Carbonation has now pushed these back out to full shape and they are starting to feel quite firm. Time to move them to the shed I think; no carpet in there :thumb:

 

[olriley]

I couldn't resist a taste of the beer on Saturday when Dad had a BBQ and.....

*drum roll please*

It is delicious! I am chuffed to bits :party:
Excellent supping bitter with a nice hoppy finish.

Its only been in bottles about 10 days so I think it can only get better in terms of flavour and clarity although secondary fermentation has certainly kicked in nicely and sediment has started to settle at hard at the bottom of the bottles. We went through a 2L lemonade bottle between the two of us and got nicely sozzled :

I'm away for a while now but full report in a couple of weeks, when it should have settled down a bit.

Oh and by the way I did make bread, overcooked it a bit, still delicious, more on my blog here...

 

[EskiBrew]

It is delicious! I am chuffed to bits :party:
Excellent supping bitter with a nice hoppy finish.

That's what we like to hear :party:
Well done - what are you planning next :thumb:

 

[olriley]

Oh, and I forgot to say THANKS for the support and advice :thumb:

Well, I am planning another AG brew as soon as I can! which realistically may be toward the end of sept because the diary is full of allsorts. But I would like to make something a bit darket and stronger which will be good at Christmas. Hmmmm

 

[EskiBrew]

Oh, and I forgot to say THANKS for the support and advice :thumb:

Well, I am planning another AG brew as soon as I can! which realistically may be toward the end of sept because the diary is full of allsorts. But I would like to make something a bit darket and stronger which will be good at Christmas. Hmmmm

You could go for a stout - since you want it around christmas, you could throw in some spices and make a christmas pud stout :thumb:

 

[olriley]

Now that sounds good!

 

[olriley]

Okay, couldn't keep hands off so I popped one on the weekend. Then another. And two more!.... :

It is delicious and I am utterly converted to the dark side :twisted: , having never even really sampled the light! Oh well.

It is more or less cleared, the colour is lovely and its slightly biscuity on the nose with a bit of citrus. It goes down absolutely lovely with nice rounded flavour and a really refreshing bitter finish. Even SWMBO loves it :shock:

The carbonation between bottles seems slightly uneven so I probably have to mix the sugar syrup a bit better next time. So, what about the stats... it seems to have fermented out to a FG of 1.005 now. The OG was 1.038 to which the priming sugar may have added 1 point. By my reckoning it is 4.5% then, which tallies with how it tastes and makes you feel :-)

I would like to write up the recipe so I can get used to thinking in the right terms. I will call this one "First Time" IPA. Someone will correct me if I'm allowed to call it an IPA, but there's lots of goldings in it!!! So I had a go at writing up the recipe, id no. 1617
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/recipeview.php?recipe_id=1617

Have I messed anything up? My obsevations: the yeast appears to have attenuated further than expected... down to 1.005. Is this unusual, impossible, explicable or just lucky?

Anyway thanks for all the support and assistance, am thoroughly enjoying it :drink: and will soon hopefully be opening a brewday thread for AG#2 :party:
Cheers - Olly

 

[abeyptfc]

nice one man, I've recently converted to the dark side and recently kegged my 4th AG. I noticed in your recipe it said a 90 min boil but you first hop additions were @ 60 mins, or 30 mins into the boil, any specific reasons for this? were you looking for less bitterness? I'm still a bit hit and miss and 'bung it in' when it comes to hops, on my next brew I might try a good amonut of dry hops to try and get some aroma!

 

[olriley]

Cheers! That indeed was the way I did it (30 mins boil without hops), but there was no actual reason for it and since I had to back-liquour up tp my target volume, I should have just done 60! Perhaps I will put it in the notes.

 

[abeyptfc]

Cheers! That indeed was the way I did it (30 mins boil without hops), but there was no actual reason for it and since I had to back-liquour up tp my target volume, I should have just done 60! Perhaps I will put it in the notes.

yeah either just sparge more or top up at end with cooled boiled water is what people say!, once you've done a few brews you will work out how much wort you need pre boil to come out with your target wort post boil

 

[EskiBrew]

I would like to write up the recipe so I can get used to thinking in the right terms. I will call this one "First Time" IPA. Someone will correct me if I'm allowed to call it an IPA, but there's lots of goldings in it!!! So I had a go at writing up the recipe, id no. 1617
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/recipeview.php?recipe_id=1617

Well done on having a go at entereing the recipe - it looks good. The only problem I can see is that you have not entered anything for the %AA of the hops used hence it cannot work out the bitterness (and is highlighting a bug in my code ). You should fine the Alpha Acid written on your packet of hops. Simply remove the two bittering hops you have entered and then enter them again with the correct %AA then we can tell how bitter the brew is :thumb:

 

[orlando]

I'm hoping to reclaim the yeast. So I broke up the yeast cake with some cooled boiled water and bottled most of it. As it seperates, do I just want to take the liquid to keep in the fridge, and chuck away the solids?

It might be too late now but the answer to this is no. The layer you want is the middle layer. The bottom layer is full of trub debris such as dead yeast cells. The top layer is wort and the less flocculent yeast cells. Pour off the top and try to save the middle layer. Use cooled boiled water and mix with the middle layer, give it another shake and once again capture the middle layer. You should then have a yeast you can pitch into your next brew. If you plan to do this longer than a week from harvesting make a starter from it as yeast cells die off even when stored at 2c. In fact after a month over 50% will no longer be with us. Obviously sanitation is vital and this is one area where sterility is desirable. The difference between the two is stark and is crucial to yeast health.

 

[olriley]

Thanks both. Eskimobob, good call but I have unfortunately chucked the packet as it was all used... I will call the LHBS and ask him to look on another pack.

Orlando, I still have the whole bottle in the fridge, so I can do as you advised. When I have seperated and diluted the middle layer, should I feed the yeast solution now or just leave make a starter when I want to brew (may not be for another month). If so, what do I use to feed/make a starter?

Cheers!

 

[EskiBrew]

Eskimobob, good call but I have unfortunately chucked the packet as it was all used... I will call the LHBS and ask him to look on another pack.

Never mind - if he has a similar packet then that is probably the same. If not, I'd guess at between 4% and 6%.

 

[orlando]

Thanks both. Eskimobob, good call but I have unfortunately chucked the packet as it was all used... I will call the LHBS and ask him to look on another pack.

Orlando, I still have the whole bottle in the fridge, so I can do as you advised. When I have seperated and diluted the middle layer, should I feed the yeast solution now or just leave make a starter when I want to brew (may not be for another month). If so, what do I use to feed/make a starter?

Cheers!

No, don't "feed" it. Keep it stored at or around 2c, not frozen. Another point is to keep the lid just a little loose, engage no more than a couple of threads on the lid, you want to make sure any CO2 is allowed out, bad stuff can't climb so don't worry that it's loose it just needs to be covered. You must make a starter from this as the period of storage is too long for there to be enough healthy cells to repitch. Get yourself some light dried malt extract (you want a low OG wort circa 1.035) rehydrate 10:1 i.e. 1 litre of wort to 10g of DME. With yeast stored this long a smaller starter will work better than a large one. Make sure you boil the DME for at least 15 minutes before pitching the yeast. DO NOT add the yeast until the wort AND yeast are within 5c - 8c of each other. preferably at around the 21c mark. Give it a really good shake and cover it loosely with some sanitised foil and let it ferment as usual (if you get into this then a stir plate is ideal). My advice would be to let it ferment out completely, some think you should pitch at full krausen.

Once it is finished, slowly cool to fridge temperature, pour off the wort and it is ready to use in the usual way.

 

[olriley]

Bang on with the estimate, the hops are 5%. I've added them and get an IBU of 41.5.
Also adjusted the boil length. Recipe is finished I think! :thumb:

Thanks for the tips orlando... I guess its eay enough to tell whether the yeast is still viable when you try to start it, so I think I'll have another packet on standby.

Any views on why the yeast attenuation seems high (i.e. final gravity lower than expected)?

 

[orlando]

Any views on why the yeast attenuation seems high (i.e. final gravity lower than expected)?

Highly fermentable wort you produced. Or a wild yeast infection

Hopefully you screwed up the hydro readings as the latter is more likely if the yeast attenuates significantly outside its expected range.

 

[EskiBrew]

Glad you sorted out the %AA :thumb:

Someone will correct me if I'm allowed to call it an IPA, but there's lots of goldings in it!!!

Can answer your earlier question now. It is a bit low in gravity to be called an IPA - would probably call it more of a Best Bitter. But who cares what it is called as long as you enjoyed making it and enjoy drinking it :party: