AG1 - Darkness Falls......

[AndyBWood]

Evening All,

Sunday was a fairly eventful day; it’s the first time I’ve ever made an AG beer, the first time I’ve ever had a sauna in my kitchen and definitely the first time I’ve ever done these two things at the same time !

( note to self : hop scented steam rooms at the gym to encourage brewers to exercise ? I’ll run a business proposition past the bank manager……... )

I chose to conjure the Timothy Taylor’s Landlord recipe from Wheeler’s book. One of my favourite tipples and was always earmarked to be my first decent into the murky depths of the Dark Side.

So, for anyone along for the ride, this is how the day went.

HLT on with 36 litres or so of water with a pinch of sodium metabisulphate which I’ve read helps to eliminate chlorine flavours.

Then, the first outing of the newly built mash tun and the required amount of liquor added; this is were the fun started.

Was aiming for a strike temp of around 73 degrees which I hoped would give a mash temp kicking off at around 66 to 67 degrees. Also, I wanted to pre heat the tun as advised so I added the liquor at around 84 degrees which I thought would be enough…. None of it, temp plummeted into the low 60’s as the tun sucked the heat out of the water.

The process of removing cooler water and replacing with hotter then began an went on for a fair while. To be honest, it would have probably been quicker just to dump the liquor back into the HLT and start again.

It certainly has been cold and it was only 12 litres or so of water added to a 32.5 litre vessel. Next time around I’ll certainly kick off with hotter liquor and I feel with these quantities on a cold day something towards boiling point wouldn’t go amiss.

Ok – finally got to 73 degrees and it was time for the grains and mash salts.

Bang – temp right down to low sixties as soon as added to the tun ! Had to then stir in a couple of litres of boiling liquor to get back up to temp. I finally settled on between 66 and 67 degrees for my starting point. Again, I think this drop was down to the cold grain and another learning point noted.

This extra liquor also resulted in soup as opposed to the porridge like consistency I’ve read about. Not sure, however, what this means in terms of the mashing process itself ?

Ok – lid on and a Vango 4 season sleeping bag for that little extra…… I decided on the one and a half hour mash that Wheeler recommends but believe this may not be strictly necessary ( when all the starch turns to sugar its done when its done ? )

An hour and half later, temp had dropped to about 64 degrees so I think I lost maybe 3 degrees or so. This is probably down to the headroom in the tun and I’ll design something to fill the airspace on top of the grain for AG2.

Next came the sparge; the words ‘patience’ and ‘saint’ immediately spring to mind….. I went for a really slow sparge as recommended and used the tin-foil method for my first attempt.

This was really interesting, unexpected and at one point I thought wort and outside grid were going to become friendly. Basically, my runnings were down to 1.010 and I still had litres and litres of liquor remaining. First thoughts turned to complete under efficiency and I’d got no where near what I wanted. Hey ho; first attempt and all so into the boiler, up to temp and hops added; what a divine smell…..

Good rolling boil on the go :

Maybe too vigorous as I was losing litres of liquid to evaporation ( hence my comments surrounding the sauna ) Not sure of the wisdom of this but I kept topping-up with boiling water as the boil progressed as I didn’t want the wort to become too concentrated.

Ok – 10 mins to go and last hops plus Irish Moss tablet hit the liquor.

Chiller gets in on the act too.....

Down to 20 odd degrees and the drop.

The moment of truth.......

Almost 1.070 !!! I've invoked a demon !!!

After a slight mishap and losing a litre or so to the bottom of the boiler I ended up with 17 litres or so of rocket fuel. A quick 'liquor back' calc followed and I settled on around 23+ litres of something a little less 'challenging'.

Not sure how this came about really; Looks like I managed to strip the sugar from the grain with a relatively small amount of liquor…. Due to the very slow sparge perhaps ?

Sorry, no yeast shot but I used a Whitelabs Yorkshire Square liquid yeast that I had split into 6 a few weeks ago and grew a starter from one of the small bottles collected. Never used liquid before; this went off like a madman, thick krausen within 8 hrs. Superb !

So, AG1 all tucked up with my caffeine powered fermentation control unit; we’ll now have to wait and see………

Just to close; a huge thank you for all the help and guidance provided by the members of this site. A great community and an enormous bank of knowledge and expertise.

Thanks again – can’t wait to try this.

Cheers :thumb:

 

[tazuk]

welcome to the dark side no going back now :thumb:
as you have a stc1000 you thinking of getting a fridge and making it in to fermenting fridge :thumb:

 

[evanvine]

Well done ABW + excellent pics.
Learning your strike temp is part of learning your brewery.

 

[prolix]

excellent photos excellent prose.

looks like a winner there

as to strike temp I missed mine by 6c as well so I feel the laws of physics went out for a quick mid morning pint or three on sunday.

well done, once you have bottled or kegged you get to the serious bit :

 

[PD]

re strike water temps I suffered from this with a coolbox mash tun with ss false bottom during the cold weather. My solution was to half fill the mash tun with hot water the evening prior to brew day. On the morning of the brew I emptied the water out and saved it for washing vessels etc. It worked very well and enabled me to hit and maintain strike water temp easily.

However you look to have had a good brew day and a successful beer at the end.....Well done.

Edit..added.

During the cold spell I also weigh out all the grains into a bucket and bring them into the house overnight. That has raised my grain temps from 5-7degrees in the garage to around 12-13 degrees after being in the house overnight.

 

[cnelsonplumber]

You certainly have the measure of your first AG well done.

Nice looking false bottom to your mash tun . :-D

 

[LeedsBrewer]

well done on the brewday. :thumb:

 

[Wendy1971]

Welcome to the dark side :clap: Brilliant photos :thumb:

 

[Dieseljockey]

Well done.. :clap:

My solution was to half fill the mash tun with hot water the evening prior to brew day

+1 :thumb: It helps.

I also weigh out all the grains into a bucket and bring them into the house overnight. That has raised my grain temps from 5-7degrees

Same here..makes a big difference..

 

[Vossy1]

Well done Andy, welcome to the shiny illuminated dark side :lol:
When you said

Basically, my runnings were down to 1.010 and I still had litres and litres of liquor remaining. First thoughts turned to complete under efficiency and I’d got no where near what I wanted

I thought....no...just a bloody good sparging technique, you will probably have to alter your efficiency to your process...all part of the learning curve which never ends

HLT on with 36 litres or so of water with a pinch of sodium metabisulphate which I’ve read helps to eliminate chlorine flavours

Yep, VIP and don't forget if topping up the fv either.

This extra liquor also resulted in soup as opposed to the porridge like consistency I’ve read about. Not sure, however, what this means in terms of the mashing process itself ?

Don't bother yourself with it, it's far too complicated to consider for 1st brews, and your beer will still be great :drink:

Bet you can't wait to try it :P

 

[Asalpaws]

The consistency of the mash won't be a big issue, with BIAB you add all the water to the mash, this usually results in quite a thin mash. However it usually hits the gravity target in the end.

TT from GW's book is a great choice one of my favourites that I've done.

Is your brew name a Kill Switch Engage reference ?

 

[artyb]

well done ... :clap:

the second one will be a breeze now you have some reference points.... :thumb:

 

[jonnymorris]

Congrats on #1. Great pics.

Basically, my runnings were down to 1.010 and I still had litres and litres of liquor remaining.

Did you correct for temp, i.e. stop at 0.990 rather than 1.010?

 

[Dr Mike]

Congrats on your first AG.

Great pics too. Look forward to hearing how this turns out. My first AG was the TT landlord recipe and it has matured into a nice beer, all be it one that doesn't taste that much like the real thing. You're using a much more authentic yeast than I did (S-04) and that should make a big difference !

 

[Baz Chaz]

Well done buddy :thumb: the next one will be very different already with what you have learned and the next ones as well etc etc

welcome to the fascination of the dark side, good here innit :thumb:

 

[joe1002]

Congratulations :thumb:

It's a steep learning curve at first, as I'm finding out.

 

[rich27500]

Excellent work

 

[Abiruth]

Hey and if the beer making doesn't work out, you could always turn to the seemingly lucrative world of vampire novel writing.

:drink:

 

[AndyBWood]

Evening All,

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement; appreciated and apologies for the delay in replying. Re some of the specific questions;

as you have a stc1000 you thinking of getting a fridge and making it in to fermenting fridge :thumb:

Would be nice tazuk but simply don't have the space. Will need to stick with my expresso coffee joby at the moment. I've thought about trying to construct a take-apart box construction, maybe out of Kingspan or similar, with velcro holding it together.

Having said that..... if I'm brewing every few weeks it would become a permenant structure anyway !

re strike water temps I suffered from this with a coolbox mash tun with ss false bottom during the cold weather. My solution was to half fill the mash tun with hot water the evening prior to brew day. On the morning of the brew I emptied the water out and saved it for washing vessels etc. It worked very well and enabled me to hit and maintain strike water temp easily.

However you look to have had a good brew day and a successful beer at the end.....Well done.

Edit..added.

During the cold spell I also weigh out all the grains into a bucket and bring them into the house overnight. That has raised my grain temps from 5-7degrees in the garage to around 12-13 degrees after being in the house overnight.

Thanks PD - I'll deffinately try both of these solutions for AG2

Is your brew name a Kill Switch Engage reference ?

Sorry, afraid not but.... brewing to music could be a very good idea :thumb:

Congrats on #1. Great pics.

Basically, my runnings were down to 1.010 and I still had litres and litres of liquor remaining.

Did you correct for temp, i.e. stop at 0.990 rather than 1.010?

This is interesting...... I cooled the hot runnings to around 20 degrees before bobing in the hydrometre. Following your comment, I have now found the conversion calculator at the top of the forum

Another learning point for next time - Cheers :thumb:

You're using a much more authentic yeast than I did (S-04) and that should make a big difference !

Thanks Dr M. The White labs Yorkshire Square set off like a madman being chased by a bull in china shop full of abattoir workers..... 3 inch of crust in 8 hours....... more on this below.

Wellcome to the fascination of the dark side, good here innit :thumb:

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Hey and if the beer making doesn't work out, you could always turn to the seemingly lucrative world of vampire novel writing.

Yeah, that's a thought :hmm: - to be honest, dragging a 25kg bag of malt across a deserted car park on a home made sledge of cardboard did remind me of someone trying to dispose of a dismembered body..... :shock:

Bet you can't wait to try it :P

Too right Vossy - thanks for all your help and advice :thumb:

Ok - we are now 72 hrs from port and making good progress through a churning and turbulent sea of froth, foam and indescribable yeasty goodness. As above, never used liquid before and this Whitelabs Yorkshire Square seems to be a winner. I did presume, however, that "Yorkshire Square" related to the practice of having to keep the yeast on the move by a good n' regular rousing. This appears to be a top-working demon.

Anyone out there used this and like to comment ?

Cheers - thanks again for all the input; appreciated.

:thumb:

 

[carl_saint]

Great stuff! Keep us updated as to how the WLP037 performs! Got one on the go too!