First AG brew - brewstews Rauchbier

[mak]

About to sparge soon and I'm proper worried about it lol.....

First ever AG brew here are some pics will update as I go along assuming the panic doesn't take hold too strongly and I forget to snap photos

Very sophisticated thermostatic hob setup...

Ingredients (missing the bloody irish moss because I was drunk when I ordered it - ok, I didn't order it)

Grains ready to be mixed up.

They are now into the mashtun. Damn they smelt nice almost upsetting to have to put the lid on it! At this point I panicked as my electronic thermotat was giving wild readings leading me to add a little cold water then realise it was probably ok and just a cold spot (or a **** thermometer) so I had to add a little from the kettle. Pffft!

Any tips on this part? Do I need a better thermometer? :) Off to the hombrew shop once finished sparging to get some irish moss! doh! (it's miles away!)

First ever sparge... went ok I think, though the beer seems a little dark compared to the picture on beersmith!

The awesome spinning sparge arm. So glad I bought it, it doesn't spin at all lol. (well it does if you sit there flicking it all the way through :hmm: )

Couldnt be bothered to jug it back into the boiler..

It seems extremely dark compared to beersmith!

Beer smith colour example....

OG before boil 1051 so I'm happy with that. BeerSmith estimated OG 1055 so I'm not too far off?

Do you guys use the foil approach that BrewStew recommended? I'm just wondering whether to bother with that next time. Assuming I can get the sparge arm to spin (WTF stupid thing) maybe that isn't necessary...?

Almost at boil now, Mr Excited! Time to finish off the last 2 nut brown ales! :drink:

 

[Kevin Wood]

'twas my first AG brew too. I don't think you will be disappointed. :thumb:

I also panicked about the mash temperature and cooled it down, only to find it then dropped too low. I think the answer is to give it 10 minutes to settle down after doughing-in before worrying about it. It doesn't seem to have done my brew any harm. Only 4 bottles left now. Guess it's time to brew some more when I have an empty vessel to put it in.

Have fun!

 

[calumscott]

I concur with that!!!

Dough in, wait... wait... (if you are BIABing, give it a stir)... then decide if you need to do anything with it!

 

[calumscott]

Oh, and enjoy the rest of your brewday! :thumb:

 

[mak]

Thanks guys. I did panic at the doughing in stage. I will take your good advice and let it settle for 10 mins next time, would that be with the lid down? (guessing so?)

I just got flustered and shut the lid :lol:

Have updated with more pics - apart from the not spinning at all sparge arm and inability to order irish moss whilst drunk, I think it has gone ok so far.

Managed to visit the "local" homebrew shop whilst the wort heats back up for the boil - took me an hour and its still not at boil yet

 

[mak]

In the end I thought it had an incredable taste compared to a tin kit at this stage, though it had a very bitter aftertaste which I expected as I targetted the hops for the higher end of the IBU scale as I think that's what brewstews recipe was doing... he had 130g of hops, I used 65g, damn glad I didn't use 130 it would have been horrible. He must've had the lower aa% hops....

Will be trying this again with perhaps 35g hops. From experience is the bitterness in aftertaste likely to get a little less sharp with fermenting+conditioning? It is definately the best beer I've tasted at this stage.

AG converted! :drink:

 

[PD]

well done on your first brew. I ran from disaster to chaos on mine. I'm just starting to drink the result. Very nice.
Bitterness and taste will mellow in the bottle don't worry about it.
Have a look at the process of batch sparging if fly is giving you problems, I've found it an easier and more relaxed method while learning the art.
Best tip I can give you for your next brew...is to keep off the booze while ordering your ingredients and while your brewing. Time for booze when its in the fermenter.

again well done

 

[Baldbrewer]

Well done and welcome to the dark side
I use the foil method when I sparge, 5 AG brews and not one stuck yet.
I don't bother with the sparge arm I just use a bit of hose and maintain about an inch of liquor about mash bed.
1st time is always the hardest good luck :thumb:

 

[mak]

Cheers guys. The hardest part now, waiting :cry:

Perhaps I'll stick with the tin foil then :thumb:

Hobgoblin clone next, then Timothy taylors I think! :

 

[31bb3]

Nice brew pics congratulations on breaking your ag cherry i also find beersmith colour tends to be different to the actual brew ????

 

[tazuk]

have a look here this one looks dark like yours ???? i do like the look of this one http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/ ... -smoke-ipa mmmm

http://beersmith.com/blog/2011/01/20/ge ... r-recipes/

 

[Baldbrewer]

Try orfey's hobgoblin recipe for your AG #2

 

[Vossy1]

Well done on your 1st AG mak :party: ...and for taking the time to take pics :shock: ...not easy with organised chaos :grin: Foil method of sparging is common place, simple and effective.
Spinny sparge arms are a 'norm' and when they work they're great. You might need a little more distance between HLT and mash tun to get it to spin, have a play before doing your next brew
I think the most important thing to remember with your 1st AG is it's just that, it will take several brews before your familiar with your system and the results are stable ...and the chances are you'll change something down the line and will have to start all over again......it's part of the fun with this hobby ....the benefit...nearly/maybe all will produce better beer than you can buy :drink:

 

[mak]

Cheers! :

Yeah Orfys hobgoblin is my next on list. I just can't decide what to do after that though. Have stupidly missed crystal malt off my order though so now I'm trying to plan ahead so I can order enough to justify the postage!

Any other recommendations? That double smoke IPA looks awesome, 2 pks of yeast too? I will perhaps try that though further down the list - the bitterness value I may need to bring down a bit though

Not sure how to get any more height from the HLT - I'd have to put the cooker on stilts to maintain the temperature and get more height, or dig a brewing hole in the middle of the kitchen. Neither option will be popular with the mrs! Think I'll settle for giving it a flick every now and then :mrgreen:

 

[mak]

This has been going steady now for 4 days, but today there is no activity. So I've taken a reading and it's come out at 1016! Finished fermenting in 4 days... eek! I've put it into secondary FV now... do you think it'll be ok or have strange flavours? All I can think is that the room was too hot... though the extract stout kit I did (with same type of yeast -04) is still bubbling away after 7 days and has been sitting next to the AG brew all the time.... I'm puzzled Need a fermenting fridge pronto I think

I did taste it whilst transferring and it was ok, but not as tasty as before I pitched. I don't really know what to expect from a rauchbier taste wise either, so can't really decide if it has funny flavours :?

 

[calumscott]

It's probably not quite finished...

...just slowed right down.

Have you got it under airlock and you're just seeing no airlock bubbles? What I find with my FVs is that once the rapid fermentation dies back the seal on the lid is less than perfect and the gas just oozes out that way rather than the airlock.

What was your expected FG? Beersmith is giving me 1.010...

 

[Bailey]

Always taste strange straight from the bucket. Once it's had a few weeks in the bottle/keg it will be a completely different brew.
Now for the hard part.... waiting. Good luck and welcome to the dark side. :

 

[mak]

It's probably not quite finished...

...just slowed right down.

Have you got it under airlock and you're just seeing no airlock bubbles? What I find with my FVs is that once the rapid fermentation dies back the seal on the lid is less than perfect and the gas just oozes out that way rather than the airlock.

What was your expected FG? Beersmith is giving me 1.010...

Yeah no bubbles in the FV, so I got worried and took a reading.

The OG was 1057 and I'm at 1016 now. Have just put into 2nd FV (with airlock - leave there a week maybe?)

Here's the beersmith settings I plumbed in:

Thanks guys

 

[calumscott]

Yeah, now you've racked it, keep it at fermentation temp for another few days then test again.

I wonder how my Hooky's getting on... was down to 1.014 on Saturday... should be good for bottling at the weekend!

Exciting times...

 

[jonnymorris]

Congrats on #1. Brewstew's Rauchbier was my first AG a few weeks ago and all I can say on the sip I had whilst bottling is... SMOKEY!

In the end I thought it had an incredable taste compared to a tin kit at this stage, though it had a very bitter aftertaste which I expected as I targetted the hops for the higher end of the IBU scale as I think that's what brewstews recipe was doing... he had 130g of hops, I used 65g, damn glad I didn't use 130 it would have been horrible. He must've had the lower aa% hops....:

I'm now slightly concerned as I used 100g Hallertauer bittering as per the recipe and didn't adjust for AA% using any software. Is there a chance mine's going to turn out to be too bitter? I've just plumbed the numbers into BrewMate and the IBU came out at 60.