My first all grain stove topper, errors galore

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hornaldo

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Jan 4, 2016
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Well I've just bottled my first all grain stove topper beire de grande (spelling)
I did however feel like i made lots of errors as I had just been brought a brew kettle which for a stove topper is a little big so I had to increase the water to cover the element in the kettle, also i got impatient waiting for my brew bag to come, so i used a pillow case for the grains which i will say gets heavy doesn't drain well and don't like i did try to squeeze it, it goes everywhere
I could not reduce the wort temp very well so i did it the best i could and pitched the yeast. All seemed fine although i was concerned of no bubbling in air lock but i used a 25 litre FV for only about 12litres but lifted the lid and it was bubbling. My errors continued all through the process during the bottling process i used my new bottle washer and draining tree (highly recommended) i then got the biggest bottled filled using syphon tube knocked it over onto the floor the syphon tube came out of my hands, big mess.BUT i had a taste and I have to say it tastes worlds apart from my previous kits and extract brews.
Just thought I would share my experience this has in no way put me off, I have 4 more of these kits to do and I will learn from this.
Also fosters gold bottles are not very good when trying to put new caps on, they didn't seal very wel
 
I wouldn't describe them as errors, just areas for improvement. The only thing in all that that may adversely affect the beer is the temperature you pitched the yeast at, which may be too warm, but I shouldn't worry about it too much. I used to cool my smaller pot in the bath. Also I often (almost always) do 10-16L in a 33L fv, no issues there.

Do a few more, you'll quickly see things you can make better or quicker!
 
All part of the dark art mate. Don't let it put you off. Just work on it. Be more prepared. PPPPPP ;-)

I still knock bottles over, even sober :-)
 
I made a couple of stove toppers before I tried my first bigger batch of all grain. I found them a really good way of getting used to the process. I also made loads of mistakes, however the beer came out far better than any extract kit I'd tried before!

You mention that you ended up with 12 litres in the FV? Did you double up two kits? The Brew UK stove toppers have enough grain to produce a 4 litre batch. 12 Litres will produce a very diluted beer.
 
BUT i had a taste and I have to say it tastes worlds apart from my previous kits and extract brews.
That's what I noticed when i moved to all grain...for light beers I sometimes keep a pint back during bottling, put it in the fridge to cold crash it and drink it.
I never used to be able to do that brewing kits. If it tastes good out of the primary then it'll be an great beer out the bottle in a few weeks time.:thumb:
 
thanks for the input guys, its good to know im not alone. I did use more water halfcrem to get it to 12litres so it will be weaker than it should. I always struggle cooling my beer as my bath is quite big and would use loads of water, ive looked at wort chillers but again as im on a water meter think i will use to much. Any suggestion. Ive seen some people put ice in the wort?

Also to top my list of errors off I dropped my hydrometer and it broke
 
Some folks sterilize some 2 litre bottles (the outside) fill them with water and freeze them. Put them in the wort to chill it down
 
First question is can you put your brew pot in the sink? With smaller batches a few changes of sink water and some freezer blocks in the sink.

Some brewers do an overnight chill in a fermentation vessel, just let it cool overnight in a sealed vessel and pitch the yeast the next day. I've never done this, but I'm sure others can inform.

I use a copper wort chiller and I'm on a water meter. With my first few efforts I used gallons of water, with the tap full on, but I've learned that by putting the pot in the sink with some freezer blocks, you don't need much water going through the chiller to cool my batch sizes down (mainly 12 litre batches). Gently stirring with a sanitized spoon helps while cooling.
 

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