My First AG... A strong MIld!

[YogiB]

Hi All, I've often looked around the supermarkets with the hope that one day, perhaps soon, they will have higher ABV Milds; a hope never realised.
BUT today I completed my first AG; AG #! Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Recipe From GW's book. A stronger mild at,5.7% ABV. :)

As it was my first AG I started early this morning. The Buffalo boiler,FV MT, and copper chiller were cleaned and set up outside. With a spray bottle of oxy and shed loads of notes from here, my plan was simple; make mild... lots of mild.... well 23 litres anyway!

The target OG was 1058............ :hmm:

I drew off 23 litres into the collection vessel from the sparge and set about the boil.
As it turned out, being my first boil and keen to witness the vigorous boil, I did have more than the odd look under the lid to see what was going on. Yes, I realise some would say keep the lid off throughout but I decided to keep it on and remove it just for the final 10mins (well that was the plan anyway. :grin: ) I started with 23 litres and lost during the boil and to the hops........5 litres! Maybe keeping the lid on until the final 10 mins next time!
Chiller worked well and cooled the wort down to 23 degrees C very quickly. Thanks goes out to BigYin :thumb:

My 18 litres has 1072 OG.
So, what to do next? Pitch the Nottingham yeast, or, add treated water to incease the volume and reduce the SG? :wha:
I decided to keep the brew as it stood and pitch the yeast; 2 x 11.5g dried Nottingham yeast pitched at 18.9 degrees C.
I decided on Nottingham but it could just as easily have been Windsor. Does anyone have a preference for yeast with this recipe??

Not sure if this will ferment down to 1015 but if it does then a mild with over 7% ABV sounds good t'me.

Excellent weather today and the AG brewing was great fun; thanks all for the posts and advice so far.... I plan tackling the Summer Lightening next, or maybe the same recipe with less lid raising and perhaps a different yeast...any suggestions? .

YogiB

 

[graysalchemy]

I like the sound of that one. It should do fine with notty I would have thought 2 packets in that volume would be fine. Juist try and keep you temp below 21 especially in the initial stages.

 

[gurtpint]

Congratulations for your first AG Yogi! Trust me, won't be your last either... I should have my boiler checked since I find it hard to control the boil. Thus I tend to keep the lid partially on for all but the last 15 mins.

 

[YogiB]

Thanks Gurtpint.

Yes I liked the sound of it graysalchemy, too.

:idea:
:hmm: As I watch the wort I wonder whether this would be a "mild" or not? It will, I presume, taste malty yet take a while to condition at this strength so won't be "young", it's not dark, and, although with a strength more akin to 19c "milds" it would be unlikely to find such strengths in shops today!
:hmm: What ever it is; it was fun to make and I look forward to tasting it!

YogiB

 

[YogiB]

Hi All, Your help would be appreciated on a querry that's been brewing (!)

If I had wanted to add "treated water" to the wort to increase the volume and reduce the SG to something approaching the target, is there a way of determining how much water can be added to alter the SG........ in other words...how many SG points does 1 litre of "treated" water reduce the SG by?
I'm sure it isn't merely trial and error using the hydrometer! Or is it??
:wha:

 

[Runwell-Steve]

It's nice and simple to work out.

Multiply your current SG with the current volume so if it's 1.060, use 60, ignore the 1. section by the current volume say 20 Litres for example.

so 60 x 20 = 1200

Divide this number by the Gravity you want it to be, so if you want it at 1.040, divide by 40

1200 / 40 = 30

So your final volume needs to be 30 Litres, so you need to add 10 litres of water.

Having just read your example

You ended up with 18 Litres at 1.072, and your target gravity was 1.058


So 18 x 72 = 1296, divide that by 58 = 22.3.

So if you added 4.3 Litres of water it would be 1.058, and be close tou your expected volume.

Next time leave the lid off, but put more water in the boiler in the first place.

 

[YogiB]

Thanks Runwell-Steve :thumb:

I look forward to my next AG... :hmm: a mild mild (!) which can be drunk within a couple of weeks.

 

[jampot]

I have a buffalo. Yep keep the lid off. You really need to have the boiler almost full before boiling the wort. I tend to lose about 22% on a 90 min boil and 15% on a 60 min. What kind of hop strainer are you using?

 

[YogiB]

I used a ss hose for the hop filter which worked really well. (I'll look to see how to upload a photo).
I've a teflon plastic false bottom in the MT and the runnings flowed steadily well past 23 litres whilst above 1.008 SG so I'll defo put more runnings into the boiler.

With a 22% loss, I make it about 30 litres you're putting in for the boil (edit: for a 23l brew), is that about right?

Does keeping the lid off your Buffalo affect the thermostat/controller's habit of switching on/off during the boil as it tries to keep at 110 ? EDIT: Ahh.. seen the thread covering safety cut-outs etc for Buffalos

 

[YogiB]

After 7 days in the FV the SG dropped to 1.014 and remained there.
Day 8 transfered to plastic barrel without priming and stored in warm area for three days
Day 11 cracked open the lid to release gasses before topping up with squirt from CO2 bottle before placing barrel in cooler area.

Have I understood this correctly..... without priming the barrel the yeast would still generate CO2 in the warm conditions so by releasing the cap a little to expel some of the internal gases (which I think would be air rather than the heavier CO2) the mild will be safe under the CO2 layer generated during the three days? If so, should I have added that squirt from the CO2 bottle or was I being overly cautious?