My First Full All Grain Stout

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Arggghhh, may have made a mistake in my current brew an may have clarity issues.

I built my current mashtun to cure the problem but I was also worried about volumes not being as they should. I mashed an sparged as usual but I put the grains into a bag an squeezed. I got an extra 2L from the grains bringing my pre boil total to 19.5L but I just realise that the bag was my problem in the first place.

It doesn't look too bad TBH but if I suffer clarity issues then it here where the problem lies. The numbers don't add up on the Wort App, it told me to mash with 22L of water but on the main page it was 24.5. I'll email the author.

I've some pre boil wort chilling in the fridge, I'll take a reading and work out my efficiency.
 
Did you use Irish moss?

Btw you could add a hop tea at bottling time if you decide theres not enough hop flavour.
 
Yes, I never put it in my recipe but I have it sitting beside my boiler.

I also messed up with my hops. I didn't have 10g of Cascade so I substituted EKG, slightly stronger.

Style guide for a Blonde is between 15 an 29 IBU's. I think the beer will be hoppy enough.

I'm also gonna change my yeast to Youngs generic Ale Yeast, I'll keep the Safale for another brew.
 
It will be bitter enough but you need flavour additions late in the boil.
 
Chaos ensues.

Took my wort sample out of the fridge and put it beside the window with a thermometer and then opened the window for to use my wort chiller, smashing the thermometer an having no sample to work out my efficiency.

Numbers again didn't add up but I think the brew will be OK. OG ended up at 1.046 and brew size was 12L, well short of what I expected. Gonna dilute a little and see what we get.

I've a back up thermometer but damage was done.
 
GlentoranMark said:
I boiled 5L of water and cooled it overnight. I just added it to my well bubbling wort. I haven't checked but that should bring the Stout down to 1.040. As I wanted a session beer, this will hopefully end up around 4%.

Really pleased with the way this one went.
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I'm about to keg/bottle this stout, taste's delicious. FG was 1.015 making this a pretty weak brew of 3.3%. I wanted a session brew but not a shandy :) It will still get drunk and as I said the beer tastes great.

I'm gonna ditch the Wort App. I think it's skewing my numbers. I've emailed the author but no response so I'm gonna move to the Brewers Friend recipe builder. I'm a bit sad as I like the Wort App, it's easy to use and the guides are great. The only other software I've liked was Beersmith but I can't as yet justify the price until I get my kit complete.
 
ManseMasher said:
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/20103016/#

Oh bugger. Get yourself to Ikea mate. These are brilliant. They have an alarm too, so when the temp is right, off it goes....
Click to expand...

Thanks to another poker win I got myself sorted with a car (Peugeot 205 diesel really happy with it). It also means I've a bit of transport again to get things done. I bought 2 of those thermometers as recommended by Manse, thought 1 woul be hany for my mash and 1 for my sparge water.

I also came off with a great coup d'etat with my missus. Our tumble dryer has packed in but she's also whinging about the kegs, gas, buckets etc. so I bought her a new dryer but I made sure it had a condenser. This now means we can use it in the kitchen but have a big space where the old dryer was in the back hallway. I told her if she wanted a new dryer then I also must have a brew fridge that will fit in the hallway. BOOM 1 nil me!

She wants me to get a shed and it will happen but like anyone else I have a budget and a brew fridge is a great stop gap. It will also hide the kegs etc and allow me to brew dark lagers which was my intention for coming into brewing in the first place. All I have to do is find a small fridge on freecycle.

I've an ale still to bottle. I raced about a few Tesco's today looking for mini kegs but couldn't find any in Knocknagoney and Abbeycentre. If any fellow local brewers know where to find them I' be appreciated. If not, I'll order from the German beer site listed on another thread.

No brewing this week but I might have a go at something next weekend.
 
GlentoranMark said:
Thanks to another poker win I got myself sorted with a car (Peugeot 205 diesel really happy with it). It also means I've a bit of transport again to get things done. I bought 2 of those thermometers as recommended by Manse, thought 1 woul be hany for my mash and 1 for my sparge water.

I also came off with a great coup d'etat with my missus. Our tumble dryer has packed in but she's also whinging about the kegs, gas, buckets etc. so I bought her a new dryer but I made sure it had a condenser. This now means we can use it in the kitchen but have a big space where the old dryer was in the back hallway. I told her if she wanted a new dryer then I also must have a brew fridge that will fit in the hallway. BOOM 1 nil me!

She wants me to get a shed and it will happen but like anyone else I have a budget and a brew fridge is a great stop gap. It will also hide the kegs etc and allow me to brew dark lagers which was my intention for coming into brewing in the first place. All I have to do is find a small fridge on freecycle.

I've an ale still to bottle. I raced about a few Tesco's today looking for mini kegs but couldn't find any in Knocknagoney and Abbeycentre. If any fellow local brewers know where to find them I' be appreciated. If not, I'll order from the German beer site listed on another thread.

No brewing this week but I might have a go at something next weekend.
Click to expand...
A wee shed is definitely my best brewing purchase to date.....
 
I coul pick up a small shed OK but I'd like to build a small bar I could invite my mates too which is a lot more expensive. In any case I'd still need a brew fridge so that's another thing I'd be able to tick off the list in a month or so. It's all small steps towards an end goal. I will get that brew/ bar eventually.

When I mentioned a fridge a month or so ago my missus cracked up. She just seen it as another thing to clog up the kitchen. That's why I'm so happy with the way today went and she will see the benefits when the kegs go inside it. Trying to coax her before was senseless but a new tumble dryer worked the trick :D :D :D
 
Put a Mocha Chocolate Porter on from a kit just now, OG was 1.039 as I diluted it to 21L, a little over the recommended 17.5L. I don't really like strong beers so I'm hoping to get this around 4%

This is my first kit in a long time an I must admit it smells an tastes delicious. I'll definitely go back to AG next and put on my house stout.

I also brewed Proscetto thanks to this recipe.

The recipe I got from a collegue for 5 liter is:

1.5 liter applejuice
0.5 liter red grape juice
2 liter water
400 gram sugar
fruity white wine yeast

He only adds 2 tsp of sugar in the bottle get a fizzy drink.

I dont have enough space to try it but he said its realy close to a Italian Prosecco

OG was 1.051
 
I took a race up to Geterbrewed yesterday which is in the back end of nowhere. It's basically a farm shop and coffee house with a small brewing section as you enter. Most of the brewing equipment is out of sight in a store. Prices were more expensive than their online site and staff weren't very knowlegable. It took them 20 minutes to get me two 5L Mini Kegs. I won't rush back in a hurry although I won't discount ordering from them online as TBF their prices are competive.

I tried an experiment during the week where I poured a 500g jar honey and 2L apple juice into the remains of a 5L water bottle. Shook well and added a teaspoon of general purpose brewing yeast. I unscrewed the lid slightly and have let it ferment away. OG was very low at 1025 but I'll let it ferment out and see what ends up. If it tastes OK I'll maybe try it again and add some sugar to beef up the ABV.

My Mocha Porter has been brewing 2 weeks. I'm going to mini keg and bottle it probably tomorrow.

I've 1 Corny still to fill so I'll maybe get my house stout on the go again.
 
MyQul said:
As the floury stuff is particularly fine perhaps it's going through your mash bag and ending up in the bottom of the boiler? You could try passing the wort through a paint strainer before it goes into the FV. You'd be surprised how much cr*p the paint strainer will catch.
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Still reading all this thread but what I got from this is you might be squeezing your bag and not light sparging. Squeezing will release a lot of ****.
This issue might have been answered so sorry for the bad timing. Too many beers tonight!!! Haha
 
JapanBrew said:
Still reading all this thread but what I got from this is you might be squeezing your bag and not light sparging. Squeezing will release a lot of ****.
This issue might have been answered so sorry for the bad timing. Too many beers tonight!!! Haha
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Yes. I find if there a lot of floury stuff mixed in with the grain, squeezing the bag can force it through the bag and into the wort/boil adding to the trub.

I tend to just let the wort drain out of the the bag for a long time (I leave the bag sitting in a colender on a bucket) rather than squeezing. Then add this to the boil. I usually heat it up to boiling in a seperate pan though as tipping the colder runnings into the boil can take it off the boil and mess up your hop schedule times as the boil then has to come to the boil one more

Although I think a light squeeze wont do it any harm, it when you squeeze the bag like it owes you money is when the floury stuff can be forced through
 
JapanBrew said:
Still reading all this thread but what I got from this is you might be squeezing your bag and not light sparging. Squeezing will release a lot of ****.
This issue might have been answered so sorry for the bad timing. Too many beers tonight!!! Haha
Click to expand...

I was told to squeeze the life out of the bag to get the last drops out but that makes a lot of sense. I won't do it for my next brew.
 
I was trained and burned in my head to short your mash water by 3 or 4 liters and use that to sparge. But raise your sparge temp to 70 degrees.
Another thing I picked up in your posts, the mash temp is critical. 67 degree mash water and 63 degree mash water will produce different types of sugars. One is alpha and the other is beta. If you like dry type beers, mash low. More sweet or fruity type is higher temp but don't shoot past 68 to 69. But hitting the temp is a challenge. Because putting in cool grains drops the temp quickly. Depending on how many kg you use, raise your temp a few degrees.
Sorry, maybe too preachy but my two yens.
 
JapanBrew said:
I was trained and burned in my head to short your mash water by 3 or 4 liters and use that to sparge. But raise your sparge temp to 70 degrees.
Another thing I picked up in your posts, the mash temp is critical. 67 degree mash water and 63 degree mash water will produce different types of sugars. One is alpha and the other is beta. If you like dry type beers, mash low. More sweet or fruity type is higher temp but don't shoot past 68 to 69. But hitting the temp is a challenge. Because putting in cool grains drops the temp quickly. Depending on how many kg you use, raise your temp a few degrees.
Sorry, maybe too preachy but my two yens.
Click to expand...

I really appreciate it, I was thinking about insulating my mashtun anyway. I know I've done quite a few brews but it's still a learning curve. I still make mistakes in every brew.

One thing I done on my very first brew was make 2 separate brews which was a useful and interesting concept which I may try again.

Brew #1 is the first mash wort, brew #2 is with the sparge water. This way I can try out different hop combinations. Brew #2 still ended up around 3.6% and gave me around 8 pints of decent beer.
 
I'm about to bottle/ mini keg my Mocha Porter and put on a house stout.

3kg Irish Stiout Malt
1kg Flaked Barley
500g Black Barley

50g EKG pellet 1hour
1 Vanilla Pod 12mins

I'm not going to bother with the Gypsum I have Safale US-05 but I'm thinking of pitching onto half the trub from my Mocha Porter. The flavour may add a twist?

Any thoughts?

Recipe was also create on the Wort App. I've been in contact with its creator as I think his numbers are off but I'll maybe work out where my losses are if it's on my end. TBF the creator is giving the program away so it's not as if I shoul complain but I would definitely purchase the app if it were a paid one.
 
GlentoranMark said:
I'm about to bottle/ mini keg my Mocha Porter and put on a house stout.

3kg Irish Stiout Malt
1kg Flaked Barley
500g Black Barley

50g EKG pellet 1hour
1 Vanilla Pod 12mins

I'm not going to bother with the Gypsum I have Safale US-05 but I'm thinking of pitching onto half the trub from my Mocha Porter. The flavour may add a twist?

Any thoughts?

Recipe was also create on the Wort App. I've been in contact with its creator as I think his numbers are off but I'll maybe work out where my losses are if it's on my end. TBF the creator is giving the program away so it's not as if I shoul complain but I would definitely purchase the app if it were a paid one.
Click to expand...

Why not pitch onto the trub? Won't affect the flavour much, but obviously only do it if you feel the yeast is ok. Was it the kit yeast? Have you used it before? What is the Mocha tasting like? If it seems fine, use it again.
 
I was going to rinse out the container the Mocha was in, my other FV is a better seal so I'd rather use it. The Mocha ended up at 1.010, 3.8% but right in the ballpark I wanted.) It tastes delicious, I've high hopes for it even though it was a kit. It's a similar style to my Stout so I think the yeast will work well.

Er indoors has taken the kitchen over so my AG will have to wait. I've my water up to temperature but won't start it for an hour.
 

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