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All Grain for beginners


ozdevil

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Good thread to start @ozdevil. All looking good Phil ! Hope it went OK 👍

I've 3 brews in a GF under my belt. The last one was pretty smooth, and the OG ended up close enough.

I have the GF on a round trolley with castors on it like you might put a big plant on (I think Shamus uses the same). That works OK because the controller is on the top of the unit. Easier then to lift out the basket.

One thing I will make sure I do for future brews is mill the grain the day before. If you do it when you are waiting and for whatever reason you get the wrong setting and have to mill again it gets you a bit stressed out. Likewise with prepping a yeast starter enough in advance. Also set up the water on delayed heating.

Ideally I would start a brew day early in the day so I can be finished at lunch time. Unless SWMBO buggers off for the weekend, in which case I can go on till midnight 🤣

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Hey guys   we have been waiting for weeks now since @Classic Brewing Co  and its been a bit of journey for him

hopefully we get good reports  and  phil enjoyed the process  

lets congratulate phil on his 1st A.g  and welcome  to the A.g club


Guys  and gals dont be scared to join this thread   as this is for beginner brewers  to All grain 

even if your not quite ready and want to get the understanding 1st

look brewing shouldnt be a secret society where we cant share advice

so ask and others will help


Classic once again welcome to the world of A.g 1st one done  and many more to come 

well done


 

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6 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

Hey guys   we have been waiting for weeks now since @Classic Brewing Co  and its been a bit of journey for him

hopefully we get good reports  and  phil enjoyed the process  

lets congratulate phil on his 1st A.g  and welcome  to the A.g club


Guys  and gals dont be scared to join this thread   as this is for beginner brewers  to All grain 

even if your not quite ready and want to get the understanding 1st

look brewing shouldnt be a secret society where we cant share advice

so ask and others will help


Classic once again welcome to the world of A.g 1st one done  and many more to come 

well done


 

Hey Oz I really appreciate that, awesome, thank you so much, I didn't want to hog the arena but it has been an interesting day, very time consuming & a totally different learning curve for me, I could make a k & k beer in my sleep & I know it would turn out great as I have been kindly complimented on in various posts.  I have in my own way, I think have made wort which is now in the FV with US-05 as per recipe, all things going well it should be beer & I hope a good one. 
Thank you so much OZ & everyone that has offered support & help to this move & also a special shout out to IP for his invaluable tuition & advice so I really hope the $500 bucks & all the work has been worth it. Cheers Guys. What a great forum.  🏆 🍻

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Just now, Classic Brewing Co said:

Hey Oz I really appreciate that, awesome, thank you so much, I didn't want to hog the arena but it has been an interesting day, very time consuming & a totally different learning curve for me, I could make a k & k beer in my sleep & I know it would turn out great as I have been kindly complimented on in various posts.  I have in my own way, I think have made wort which is now in the FV with US-05 as per recipe, all things going well it should be beer & I hope a good one. 
Thank you so much OZ & everyone that has offered support & help to this move & also a special shout out to IP for his invaluable tuition & advice so I really hope the $500 bucks & all the work has been worth it. Cheers Guys. What a great forum.  🏆 🍻

 

20220330_191238.jpg

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30 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

@Classic Brewing Co   we dont have to come around in our cars shining our lights in to finish this brew do we?


leave the cleanup till morning mate


must be dark in glenelg now  

Mate you are welcome to come around but I would force a beer on you, the back area is well lit but you are right, I need to start a lot earlier in the day, jeez, what a process, I am looking forward to having my first AG American Pale Ale.

Yes it is dark in Glenelg now.

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2 hours ago, interceptor said:

Looks great. The foam on the earlier pic is on point as is the colour with the boil.

You will get beer.

Issues will be volume and alcohol content. Which is not really an issue at all.

Thanks mate all input greatly appreciated, IMO everything went to plan apart from a few minor hiccups.

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2 hours ago, interceptor said:

Issues will be volume and alcohol content. Which is not really an issue at all.

I kept an eye on the volume & I understand what you mean, I had water on standby & had to keep bringing it to 22c as per recipe, as far as the ABV who knows because I haven't worked out Brew Father yet s if I get pi.... so what 🤣

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11 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

very time consuming

Once you have done a few, it's not at all time consuming. You'll get a routine that works in.

11 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

o I really hope the $500 bucks & all the work has been worth it

It will be. Much better beer and much more variety easily.

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15 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Nice Boil going, not a very good photo, you have to be quick it fogs up the camera lens, first hop addition underway, so far smooth sailing. Thanks for all of your support & help fellas. Cheers.

 

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Well done young man - take the rest of the day off. Outstanding effort mate, looks really good. You done good Phil.

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34 minutes ago, interceptor said:

Once you have done a few, it's not at all time consuming. You'll get a routine that works in.

It will be. Much better beer and much more variety easily.

Yes I agree, I did a lot of things the hard way yesterday, using the Brew Zilla outside is far too much work & tine consuming, carrying water, lifting, standing on platforms. After having a drink with my neighbour I have decided to brew in the laundry which was the original plan, I had to abort it as I could not get a tap convertor fitting for the laundry taps but we noticed the washing machine tap will take a hose fitting so that's the plan.

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One thing I noticed yesterday was the enormous amount of water used through the chiller & the amount of time it took to bring the temperature down. The thermostat was showing 50c but I decided to transfer the wort into the FV & discovered it was about 30c.

I checked it with a digital thermometer & I got it down to 28 & pitched so I need to look into that.

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HOT CUBE vs IMMERSION CHILLER

Have any of you AG brewers had experience Hot Cubes ? Keg Land has 20l units for $10.00, I am thinking know I can brew in the laundry with close power points & adjacent sink & basin, it would make more sense to hot cube the wort & use it next day or so than wasting litres of water & waiting for the chiller to bring it to pitching temp. I remember @Otto Von Blottohad mentioned them on occasion & maybe one other.

As I have to pay for water it has to be a cheaper also quicker option. I would be interested to hear any pro's & cons on this product.

https://www.kegland.com.au/20l-cube-for-hot-cube-wort-storage-low-wines-stripping-run.html

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30 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

HOT CUBE vs IMMERSION CHILLER

Have any of you AG brewers had experience Hot Cubes ? Keg Land has 20l units for $10.00, I am thinking know I can brew in the laundry with close power points & adjacent sink & basin, it would make more sense to hot cube the wort & use it next day or so than wasting litres of water & waiting for the chiller to bring it to pitching temp. I remember @Otto Von Blottohad mentioned them on occasion & maybe one other.

As I have to pay for water it has to be a cheaper also quicker option. I would be interested to hear any pro's & cons on this product.

https://www.kegland.com.au/20l-cube-for-hot-cube-wort-storage-low-wines-stripping-run.html

That's the way I do all my ales and the occasional lager but clarity does take a hit if you cube the wort especially with chill haze. You can get around it by fining the hell out of it. Late hopping is also problematic as you will get extra IBUs with the wort slowly cooling. So you have to account for that.

Unlike some other guys I don't keep cubes for long. Usually only overnight to cool and maybe a few hours more in the fridge to cool it more if required before it goes in the fermenter.

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2 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

@Classic Brewing Co  another thing you can do is cube the water from your immersion chiller  and then use that water for next bree

That way you diont have to hot cube and worry  about the increase of ibus in the brew.

Well the only thing is that I used Pura Tap Water from the kitchen & left it uncovered overnight in a sanitised 30l FV for brew day.

If I did it the way you suggest it would just be plain tap water.

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13 minutes ago, Greenyinthewestofsydney said:

That's the way I do all my ales and the occasional lager but clarity does take a hit if you cube the wort especially with chill haze. You can get around it by fining the hell out of it. Late hopping is also problematic as you will get extra IBUs with the wort slowly cooling. So you have to account for that.

Unlike some other guys I don't keep cubes for long. Usually only overnight to cool and maybe a few hours more in the fridge to cool it more if required before it goes in the fermenter.

OK, makes sense, I didn't want to complicate it I was concerned with the water wastage so if I did Cube it when & how much finings should I add.  I also read you can delay the hop boil or add them after in the FV instead but that is complicating it  🤔 Cheers.

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1 hour ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

HOT CUBE vs IMMERSION CHILLER

Have any of you AG brewers had experience Hot Cubes ? Keg Land has 20l units for $10.00, I am thinking know I can brew in the laundry with close power points & adjacent sink & basin, it would make more sense to hot cube the wort & use it next day or so than wasting litres of water & waiting for the chiller to bring it to pitching temp. I remember @Otto Von Blottohad mentioned them on occasion & maybe one other.

As I have to pay for water it has to be a cheaper also quicker option. I would be interested to hear any pro's & cons on this product.

https://www.kegland.com.au/20l-cube-for-hot-cube-wort-storage-low-wines-stripping-run.html

Yes I've been using them for years. I just find it more convenient because I'm usually doing brew days when the fermenters are full. There probably is a bit of an increase of IBU if you brew a chilled recipe as is, but it only affects later additions. I've had good results from doing additions at 10 minutes, flameout and in the cube itself, then just using an early addition to get the IBU where I want it, and I construct the hop schedule "backwards", starting from the cube addition and working back to the early boil addition. That's for pale ales, if it was chilled those late additions would probably be about 10-15 minutes earlier, so it's not that complicated really. If I brew something like a porter or stout that only has an early addition it makes no difference at all. 

 

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1 hour ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Have any of you AG brewers had experience Hot Cubes

Cubes, yes. Lots of us do it, works well. I use white jerry cans.

53 minutes ago, Greenyinthewestofsydney said:

Late hopping is also problematic as you will get extra IBUs with the wort slowly cooling.

Only if you compare it to chilled beers. Not have ever used a chiller I have no idea the difference. @Classic Brewing Co has drunk my hoppy beers and enjoyed them.

 

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32 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

OK, makes sense, I didn't want to complicate it I was concerned with the water wastage so if I did Cube it when & how much finings should I add.  I also read you can delay the hop boil or add them after in the FV instead but that is complicating it  🤔 Cheers.

Yeah it is a waste. I run my chiller out of my water tank and back into my water tank. Need a tank though obviously.

Finings after fermentation. Gelatine works OK but there are better solutions. Polycar for chill haze works well. 

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19 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Yes I've been using them for years. I just find it more convenient because I'm usually doing brew days when the fermenters are full. There probably is a bit of an increase of IBU if you brew a chilled recipe as is, but it only affects later additions. I've had good results from doing additions at 10 minutes, flameout and in the cube itself, then just using an early addition to get the IBU where I want it, and I construct the hop schedule "backwards", starting from the cube addition and working back to the early boil addition. That's for pale ales, if it was chilled those late additions would probably be about 10-15 minutes earlier, so it's not that complicated really. If I brew something like a porter or stout that only has an early addition it makes no difference at all. 

 

Cheers Otto, thanks for the reply, at my early stage with AG the main concern is to make infection free, drinkable beer, things like IBU's, water profiles, brewing software will have to gradually get worked in to my program as I get more acquainted. 

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1 minute ago, Greenyinthewestofsydney said:

Yeah it is a waste. I run my chiller out of my water tank and back into my water tank. Need a tank though obviously.

Finings after fermentation. Gelatine works OK but there are better solutions. Polycar for chill haze works well. 

Yeah I don't have a tank, I might give the cubes a go & see what difference it makes, thanks for your input. 🍻

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3 minutes ago, interceptor said:

 

Only if you compare it to chilled beers. Not have ever used a chiller I have no idea the difference. @Classic Brewing Co has drunk my hoppy beers and enjoyed them.

 

Correct. The same schedule for fast chill v no chill will give a slightly different result. I just brew it as no chill and adjust for my taste.

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