AG 3 Brew Day - Pic Heavy

[MaltyMat]

Hi,

Just finished off my 3rd AG yesterday, and managed to take some photos along the way.

At the moment I am just trying out my own recipes using basic grains and single hops. The idea is so I can try and see what the different hop characteristics are. Eventually I would like to try and work out my own clone of a common NZ beer that I used to drink back home.

Here is the Brew Recipe:

Grains:

4.4Kg Lager Malt
0.5Kg Dark Crystal Malt 200-400EBC

Hops:

10g NZ Southern Cross (Bittering - 60min)
10g NZ Southern Cross (Flavoring - 30min)
10g NZ southern Cross (Finishing - 10min) - 7grams in boil, and 3grams for FWH (30%)

Yeast:

White Labs Pilsner Lager WLP800


Here are the photos (hopefully :pray: , this is my first time using photobucket)

The hops all measured out (will split these in half for the boil, as I boil in two pots 15L each):

The grains:

Mashing, I use a 3 step mash.

First step between 110 - 120oF for 30min:

Second step between 130 - 140oF for 30min:

Third step between 145 - 155oF for 60min:

After 60min I check for starch conversion, all good :

Now the "Mash Out", I add the dark crystal at the same time to steep the grains for about 30min between 160 - 170oF

Ok ready to get the first running's (I recirculated it twice, before sparging), and sparge the grains.
My insulated sparge box:

grain in for first running's:

Have the sparge water up to temp, and off we go:

I get 30 Liters in total, Gravity reading at this stage was 1.040

Totally forgot to put in the FWH hops before I starting sparging :x , so added them just after for about 10min:

Split the 30L into two pots 15L each, brought to a rolling boil and added the 60min Bittering hops:

Then added the flavouring 30min in then finally the 7g of finishing:

Now put it all through my Cross Flow chiller, adjusted the cold water flow to get the wort out at around 11oF (the fermenting temp for the lager)

F.G. was around 1.050 for 24 Liters (the brew software was set at 75% efficiency to get 1.042 for 25Litres) - might need to adjust my brew house efficiency on the software :)
Pitched in my starter (was left at 11oF ready to pitch), and all left to ferment at 11oF. Hopefully all is ok, as the starter smelt a bit off (I should have tasted it to make sure, but didn't ). In a couple of weeks when I move it to a secondary fermenting vessel, I will know if it's ok

 

[prolix]

well done mate, love photos of brew days, far too unorganised to take them myself

 

[Sean_Mc]

I'm totally out of practice when it comes to Brewdays, but that looks spot on :party:
Like the look of the chiller and I've never done starch conversion test.

Great pics hope its a goodun :thumb:

 

[Good Ed]

Nice looking brew and set up, well done :clap:

I've used NZ Hallertau, it has a nice lime citrus flavour :thumb:

 

[MaltyMat]

Thanks for the nice comments.

There was a lot of mess to tidy after it all, and was pretty much a full day of work. Hopefully as I do more AG Brews and stop changing my methods between brews, I can get everthing done a bit smoother.

Cheers. :