My first attempt at all grain brewing

[BrewBoy]

Tonight I'm gonna do my first all grain beer. So far in my beer brewing career I have only done 2 kits. The kits are OK but a bit boring to make and sometimes taste a bit thin and watery. I have made a lot of fruit wines though.

Basically I bought some grains and hops based on what sounded tasty and interesting. I downloaded a beer design app so I could get the ratios right, hopefully going to be around 5% and a dark ale/stout type of thing. Going to do a small batch as I don't have the equipment to do 5 gallons and if it turns out horrible I wont have wasted much.

I will provide pictures later and a review and recipe in a few weeks.

 

[Mark1964]

good luck hope all goes to plan :thumb:

 

[dennisking]

All the best, lets us know how it goes and don't be afraid to ask questions.

 

[bobsbeer]

Have fun. :party:

 

[rich27500]

Good luck!

 

[EskiBrew]

Top work :clap:
Keep us posted :thumb:

 

[BrewBoy]

Well it is going OK so far. Hardest part was keeping the temp stable during the mash, hopefully it has worked well enough. Just doing the boil now and got my frist hops in. Probably post some pictures tomorrow.

 

[BrewBoy]

I think the inconsistent mash has meant that my ABV will be slightly lower than hoped at around 4%. Never mind, lesson learned. I will try again in a few weeks time.

 

[pittsy]

nice work , its all about having a go

 

[BrewBoy]

Some action shots from last night.

The grains

The mash

Bringing the wort up to the boil

Hops added

Cooling in the sink

Just before I added the yeast

It looks nice and dark, looking forward to my next brew. I have got a garden full of chilis so might make a spicy brew.

 

[cnelsonplumber]

Excellent work. Let us know how it tastes in a month or so :drink:

 

[dennisking]

:clap: well done.

 

[Cyclops]

Congratulations on the brew, looks a cracker :)

 

[BrewBoy]

Thanks guys.

Well things are looking good today as we have some bubbling. I wish it was ready now. :drink:

 

[Wendy1971]

Well done :clap: Welcome to the Dark side :thumb:

 

[31bb3]

Congratulations in breaking your AG cherry

 

[BrotherMalice]

Good work, feels good to do the 1st one!

 

[The Goatreich]

nice work. The worst part is that with a small batch you're going to run out of delicious beer far too quickly!

 

[BrewBoy]

It feels great to go all grain. Can’t wait to experiment with different grain, create different styles and add unusual ingredients into the mix. I really want to see for myself what flavours certain grains add and how adjusting the quantities will change the brew. I’m also thinking about doing a B2B2 brew as I’m almost doing that already.

I think I will stick with small batches for the time being as I want to get the process and recipes nailed. But what equipment will you recommend for doing 23 litre baches.

 

[The Goatreich]

I have a 30 litre plastic boiler and 30 litre coolbox mash tun. The boiler can get a bit close to boil over for comfort if I'm aiming for a 23l brew as I need around 29l of wort, but I usually just keep a few litres boiling separately on the stove until the boiler has evaporated some off.