marshbrewers brewdays

2.5% is barely beer, is it? You might like to make sure your water is well stirred to even the temperature then add the grain and stir in well. You want the mash temp. to be as consistent across the grain as you can get it. If it ends up low you would need to use some of your sparge water volume as boiled water to up things, giving it yet another good stir in!
I habitually mash overnight. It saves all that waiting on brew day but brings in other problems. One is that it will often end up drier than expected. you can counter this by starting your mash much higher, like 68C. I also steep grains like crystal, which don't need to be mashed and add the liquor from this. This helps to prevent dryness as well.
I only do one batch sparge (of 6 litres). In my brief trial I found a second sparge made no difference to the results, others may have different experience, though. It may be worth posing the question in Brewing Discussions to see what people say.

When Mashing I use the following as a "Rule of Thumb" with variations depending on what I am brewing and what I want out of the Mash:

BREWING TIPS
Strike Water = 2.6 litres per 1kg of grain.
Mash for one hour at:

• 55 to 66 degrees (High Alcohol - dry) or
• 68 to 72 degrees (Low Alcohol – sweet)

DO NOT exceed 75 degrees.
Stir after 20 and 40 minutes.
Heat Sparge water to 80 degrees.
Lauter until wort runs clear and then Sparge at one litre per minute.
Stop sparge when runnings reach SG1.008 / SG1.012 or Boiler is at 30 litres.
Enjoy.

PS

Because I drink a fair amount of beer I try and keep the ABV below 5%. It decreases the Kcals and properly stored (i.e. somewhere cool and dark) it will still last at least a year.

Took a sample of 'Kitsters Last Stand' today. Its dropped to 1011, which is around 80% attenuation, and over 6.2%. Once it's bottled and primed, its going to be knocking on the door of 6.5%. Gulp. The sample looks pretty clear already.

The sample tasted fantastic. Really malty, slightly bitter, with caramel and almost sherry overtones. If it's still at 1011 this weekend, I'll bottle it. No blackcurrant bramling cross flavours I can detect as yet.

Really happy with this one.

No brewing this weekend; just bottled the Kitsters Last Stand (what a faff bottling is), and racked both my WOW ~ one to clear, one to carry on fermenting.

jjsh said:

No brewing this weekend; ........... (what a faff bottling is), ....

Click to expand...

I have a funny feeling that it's going to be too cold to sit outside, so ditto on the "no brewing" for a few days!

The reason I have 2 x 25 litres, 2 x 10 litres and 9 x 5 litre kegs is that bottling is a real bind! However, there's nothing better for those brews that you want to store for a few months and the high ABV brews that you will drink in small amounts! :thumb:

First ever full all grain brew day. Graham Wheeler's Bateman's Dark Mild. Didn't get the strike temp right, so had to adjust with boiling water ~ my mash tun appears to hold temp well, but initially seams to be a temperature sucking vortex, lol. Now mashing away happily.

No turning back now! Happy brewing.

jjsh said:

my mash tun appears to hold temp well, but initially seams to be a temperature sucking vortex, lol. Now mashing away happily.

Click to expand...

Your grain will initially cool the strike water but if you use similar volumes of grain and water you'll quickly get to know what temperature to heat the water to before adding the grain. Just keep notes of such details especially if you vary your brews. As a BIABer I get relatively little cooling of the water because my grain weight to water volume ratio is lower.

Quick update; I need to check my maths, but I've got an OG of 1040, which gives me an efficiency of over 80%, which sounds too good to be true.

Sample tasted amazing. Totally different to any modified kits I've done. However, I only got 16 not 20l out of the FV because a drip from the garage door dropped into the boiler as I was draining it so didn't want to risk getting the last few litres. More in a bit...

I've recalculated, and my efficiency was 63.24%, which looks more realistic. Still a big improvement.

Quick update ~ I've checked my equipment profile on brewers friend and I hadn't allowed any dead space in the boiler. I remember now; I was thinking of siphoning the brew out for some reason when I set up BF, so didn't allow any dead space. I actually use the tap, so have adjusted appropriately. However, it looks like I need to increase my boil off rate, as even allowing for the dead space I lost more than expected. I've done this, and the calcs look a lot more sensible now.

MJ's Liberty Bell yeast has been its usual reliable, rapid starting, nice smelling self and the brew has a nice head on it.

The mild is down to 1009ish after 4 days, and almost clear. Tastes good already, bit I'll leave it for the usual 2 weeks before packaging.

Can't wait to get going with my next AG brew, not sure what it is going to be yet, possibly another mild.

I've also finally bottled my two WOWs that took an age to clear. They have some promise.

Barreled today; that was 16 days in the FV. It's as clear as a bell and tastes great. I'll give it 10 days or so to carb up at 20c then chill to real ale serving temp and sample.

Don't know what's up next. Might be another mild.

Sounds great. I had a pint of mild in my local this afternoon and it was great.

Today's brewday was Graham Wheeler's Hop Back Summer Lightning clone.

Bit if a calamity at mash time; after 90 mins I turned the tap on to get a rush of wort then... nothing. I didn't think I could have a stick mash at 3L per Kg, so I investigated and found the bazooka filter had come off the inner barb of the tap, and the tap had blocked. So, it was a case of taking all the grain and wort out into an FV, unblocking the tap, refitting the filter, putting it all back in, then proceeding as normal. I need to look at that to try and stop that happening again. Anyway, the sparge went fin, but I was so anxious to get the bloomin wort out I didn't lauter that well, so we will have to see if that effects final clarity / taste. Cooling took longer than in colder weather, obviously, but other than that, all went well. Oh, apart from me touching the cooled wort with the tip of my unsanitised finger....

I used a crazy combo of 3x Coopers kit yeasts that I had hanging about in the fridge, one was a normal coopers yeast, one came with the ruby porter, and one with the IPA. That was because I realised I didn't have any Nottingham in stock, and didn't want to risk using the CML yeast I had in stock. I had a Mangrove Jacks that I could have used (Liberty Bell) but I need that for my next mild, and anyway, wanted to try the crazy coopers yeast combo. It will either work or it won't (this appears to be a reoccurring brewing theme of mine )

Final gravity was 1046, and I got 17.5 L into the FV, which if it drops to 1009 would mean an ABV of 4.86. That less than I should have got into the FV, and subsequently a higher FG, but I suspect that was due to messing about with the mash extending the mash time and me loosing some wort while transferring it into the FV temporarily.

Mutant Cooper's Tri blend going mental after 12 hours!

Had a peek inside the brew fridge today and..... what a pong! I've had Cooper's yeast give off eggy smells before, but it could be a sign of infection. Time will tell - I can't do anything about it now so I'll see what it's like after a couple of weeks. It does look lovely and golden!

I've got to move the brew fridge today, so took the opportunity to check the gravity. It's down to 1007, so I assume it's done. The sample tasted nice, and not sour / infected, so the stink must have been the yeast. One I've moved the fridge, I think I'll put it back in for anothrr week just to make sure, then I think I'll bottle this one.

On now - Graham Wheeler's Hop Back Mild clone. Mash just on...

Sparge took ages, everything is taking ages, late for the pub!

Having to have a pint of home brew while I wait for the boil to finish....