Back to Basics 2 - the 80 shilling kitchen special
- Thread starter BigYin
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Hi Big Yin,
Quick question, as Iâve been thinking of stepping up from extract to full grain, and quite fancy doing a small batch of âback to basicsâ style brew as my first one, so I can get my head around what happens when, without the pressure of doing a full 23L batch.
So, once the mash is over, and the sparge starts, how do you know how much water to use? I can see that youâre fly sparging, initially using the water from the mash, but then the next pic seems to show you using new (i.e. fresh/clear) water to finish off the sparge â are you just using that to get back to the same amount of water you started off with pre-mash? (as I assume some water will stay soaked up in the grains), or are you topping up to get to a level specified by the recipe?
Any info would be great!
Quick question, as Iâve been thinking of stepping up from extract to full grain, and quite fancy doing a small batch of âback to basicsâ style brew as my first one, so I can get my head around what happens when, without the pressure of doing a full 23L batch.
So, once the mash is over, and the sparge starts, how do you know how much water to use? I can see that youâre fly sparging, initially using the water from the mash, but then the next pic seems to show you using new (i.e. fresh/clear) water to finish off the sparge â are you just using that to get back to the same amount of water you started off with pre-mash? (as I assume some water will stay soaked up in the grains), or are you topping up to get to a level specified by the recipe?
Any info would be great!
BigYin
Regular.
Normally I would sparge until the hot runnings reach 0.990 SG, but in this case I didn't worry about that and just sparged until I had plenty for the boil :thumb:
BigYin
Regular.
Cracked open the first of the bottles last night - nice and clear, lacking a bit of carbonation, and probably a bit thin for an 80%, but still a damned nice beer to drink :drink:
Vossy1
Landlord.
Missed it first time round, great post and pics BY...helps demistify AG brewing :clap:
BigYin
Regular.
First bottle I supplied to Dunfie sat in my office for nearly 3 weeks and then was a right 'gusher' when Dunfie opened it 
Supplied another one to him last week, suspect the sediment issues won't have been helped by bringing the bottle in on the tank bag on my ZZR1100 :lol:
Here's the feedback from our very own beer judge :drink:
Supplied another one to him last week, suspect the sediment issues won't have been helped by bringing the bottle in on the tank bag on my ZZR1100 :lol:
Here's the feedback from our very own beer judge :drink:
Colour and Clarity
The sediment came up in clumps which made the beer cloudy. There was a haze but I am not sure if that was to yeast deposit or if there was also a haze (I'll come back to that at the end).
Head & Retention
Plenty of CO2 but not real head retention.
Aroma
There was a sweet malty note but no hop profile really evident. As it sat the yeast was coming through but that was to be expected.
Flavour
Decent malt character and a light bitterness to balance. Slightly lacking a body but delivering a clean finish. However the sediment was distracting. My view is that it was closer to a 70/-.
I wonder if the haze was to do with not managing to get a decent boil?
However it was very impressive that you managed this in the kitchen. :
