Shibby Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 Im going to do my first AG Smash on the Grainfather, any thoughts or does this look good - 23L Brew 4.5kg Marris Otter 25g @60 Min Challenger 10g @10 Min Challenger 20g @5 Min Challenger 20g @0 Min Challenger (20mins before cooling) 25g @Dry Hop Challenger IBU Around 38 Nottingham Yeast or any other English Recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 I have not used Notto but MJ's British Ale is my favourite dry yeast for ales/ ipas/ bitters.... AKA New World Strong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Brew day is about to get underway here, well it already is since the strike water in the urn is heating up to its required temperature. Just got a coffee to finish then I'll go and start weighing out and milling the grains for the recipe. Will be interested to see what sort of efficiency I get on this one given the big grain bill. I'll edit this post through the day as the process goes along with gravities etc. and any major fails that might happen. Mash is underway now, took forever to dough in due to it being about 2kg more than I normally use. I completely used up the Maris Otter so made up the remaining 500g of base malt with Munich II. Time for some cleaning up now! I forgot how long it takes the bag to drain out with an increased grist in there It's coming up to 50 minutes now and still a steady stream of wort last time I looked at it. When the timer goes off soon I'll check it again but probably just squeeze the thing out because I can't be bothered waiting any longer. May need to top the kettle up with water since I spilled a bit of wort trying to get the bag out. Thinking about reducing the boil time to 60 minutes as well, since there is less wort due to the larger grain bill. I need enough left over to fill a 20 litre cube and it hasn't even reached the normal pre-boil volume yet. Maybe it will with some squeezing. Changed my mind on the 60 minute boil, now out to 80 minutes as I have a lot more excess wort coming out of the bag into the drainage bucket than expected. I threw the hops in just before it hit the boil, as I only had 7g Magnum in the little bag and didn't want to open another one just for 3g worth. Also had 103g of Willamette. This has kept the IBUs pretty much the same as the recipe posted. Just took my pre-boil SG reading, I got 1.054 in the 29 litres, going over it by nearly 2 SG points. This increased efficiency is becoming a trend, and I'm putting it down to the coarser (and better; less flour) crush of the grains I'm getting with this new setup of the grain mill. Will update with the OG reading later once the sample cools down enough to take it. Cheers Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy-o Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Yesterday I chucked the rest of the all-grain wort in my little 2L rustic glass drinks dispenser for sake's sake, alongside a healthy whap of the yeast from the cooper's pils. Even down at 12C it's going like the blazers - it must have kicked off in earnest overnight. I'm fond of the stuff, to be honest - I'm going to have to be careful to keep some around in some form because I don't want to have to buy an extract kit every time I want to use it! I was worried for a bit about my 34/70 in the main FV because it's been... slow. Bit of lethargic activity at 36 hours and only now am I starting to see some real krausen. That said, I'm so glad I decided to go all-grain this time round, even if only for the lessons learned. Not going to mess around with underpitching anytime in the future, it's not worth the mild anxiety of waiting and wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregT5 Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Just a quick one before heading off to Melbourne for a few days: 1.7kg Coopers Pale Ale 700g LDM 300g Pale Crystal Malt grains - steeped overnight 25g Cascade pellets - 10 mins 23 litres US05 yeast Simple but tasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Post boil SG is in... 1.069 in 21 litres, 3 points over the predicted OG. If this gets down to the 1.016 predicted FG it will come out at 7% ABV. I predicted 63% brewhouse efficiency for this batch due to the larger grist, and ended up with 66.2% in the end. I'm putting this increased efficiency down to the coarser crush I'm using now, and also the much reduced amount of flour that is produced during the milling thanks to the new fluted roller in my mill. Next time I brew a big beer like this I might use 65% in the software. Either way, I'm happy with the outcome of course, and definitely looking forward to tasting this once it's ready. The wort itself tastes nice and big and roasty and just what I like in a good stout brew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 Here's the gallery: Baby's First All-Grain Nice work! I'm just imagining taking all those photos ... would make my brew day much longer I reckon! Once you get the hang of your setup' date=' it'll be much smoother and faster. 10 litre batch sizes make it a breeze to clean the smaller vessels involved and carry them around if you need to. And if it doesn't turn out great, it's less ingredients wasted and less sub-par beer to drink through. I reckon that smaller batch sizes are great at least to begin with because you can brew more often and therefore learn more about the effects of ingredients and process variations. Lots of brewers, once they hit their stride, will then up their batch size, only doing smaller batches occasionally for something more experimental. But not me, perhaps I'm just a glutton for punishment! [img']biggrin[/img] BTW I too have been caught out by the 'bag siphoning wort onto the stove' effect before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 Brew day! A rare venture into the world of English Bitters for me today. Be-Fuggled Ferret V2.0: Coopers Light LME 1.5kg Light Dry Malt extract 500gms Maris Otter Malt grain 500gms Wheat Malt grain 300gms Gladfield Toffee Malt grain 250gms CaraPils grain 250gms Chocolate Malt (600) grain 80gms Target (11.5%AA) 12gms @ 60mins East Kent Golding (5.0%AA) 20gms @ 20mins Fuggles (5.0%AA) 20gms @ 15mins ½ tsp of yeast nutrient @ 15mins Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley yeast (inflated & pitched/no starter) Fermented @ 20°C Brewed to 23 litres OG = approx. 1.046 FG = approx. 1.013 EBC = approx. 15-16 IBU = 27.2 Kegged ABV = 4.4% Bottled ABV = 4.8% It's been a good few years since I last brewed this beer, so I am looking forward to it. Cheers, Lusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy-o Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 Here's the gallery: Baby's First All-Grain Nice work! I'm just imagining taking all those photos ... would make my brew day much longer I reckon! Once you get the hang of your setup' date=' it'll be much smoother and faster. 10 litre batch sizes make it a breeze to clean the smaller vessels involved and carry them around if you need to. And if it doesn't turn out great, it's less ingredients wasted and less sub-par beer to drink through. I reckon that smaller batch sizes are great at least to begin with because you can brew more often and therefore learn more about the effects of ingredients and process variations. Lots of brewers, once they hit their stride, will then up their batch size, only doing smaller batches occasionally for something more experimental. But not me, perhaps I'm just a glutton for punishment! [img']biggrin[/img] BTW I too have been caught out by the 'bag siphoning wort onto the stove' effect before Cheers! Glad you enjoyed it. Photography is second nature to me so I enjoyed that part of the project as much as anything else, it kind of buoyed me on. And the more I watch and read accounts of 23L all-grain batches, the less I feel I'm likely to make that step any time in the immediate future. I'm thinking if I can find a nice FV that will fit 15L - and fit in my bar fridge - it'd be a good intermediate point, assuming I can uphold this sort of efficiency. It's no rush, though - it might be fun to have some wort off-cuts to mess around with. Did you find a good solution to the bag leakage? The biggest pain in the arse for me was managing the bag itself while the grains were in. I was stirring quite often to keep an even temperature and every damn time I ended up losing a bit of liquid because some corner of the bag was dropping down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Smashing out an IPA - was going to be today but apparently the scales need batteries, so will be tomorrow. Recipe: Hop2iT XVIII Brewer: Grumpy Style: Double IPA Recipe Specifications -------------------------- Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l Estimated OG: 1.070 SG Estimated Color: 10.9 EBC Estimated IBU: 70.1 IBUs Ingredients: ------------ 3.50 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent 1 - 1.50 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 2 - 1.50 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 3 - 5.00 kg Pale Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.9 EBC) Grain 4 71.4 % 1.00 kg Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 5 14.3 % 0.50 kg Rye Malt (Weyermann) (5.9 EBC) Grain 6 7.1 % 0.50 kg Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC) Grain 7 7.1 % 20.00 g Sticklebract [13.50 %] - First Wort 60.0 Hop 8 26.0 IBUs 1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 9 - 50.00 g 007 [14.60 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20.0 mi Hop 10 19.3 IBUs 40.00 g Brooklyn [17.10 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20 Hop 11 18.1 IBUs 20.00 g Chinook [12.70 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20. Hop 12 6.7 IBUs 50.00 g 007 [14.60 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 7.00 kg ---------------------------- No chill. Repitched MJ New World Strong Ale Cost $28.78. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Did you find a good solution to the bag leakage? The biggest pain in the arse for me was managing the bag itself while the grains were in. I was stirring quite often to keep an even temperature and every damn time I ended up losing a bit of liquid because some corner of the bag was dropping down. Not really - I just did my best to keep as much of the material out of the liquid when initially adding the grains and stirring. This seemed to work ok. My bag is a different material to yours though - yours looks more absorbent. Mine was still absorbent enough that if I got the bag wet near enough to the top it would wick wort out of the pot while mashing though. Cheers, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy-o Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Right so less than 5 days in and the 34/70 has taken SG down to 1.010. I was hoping to be at around 1.013 for the d-rest / ramp up, but whatever. I've set the STC for 17. Still haven't decided whether to leave it there for a week more before I cold crash, or set it back down to 13 after a few days. Not sure it'll make a big difference but I'm thinking the cooler temp will help it start clearing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Slight alteration to the above Recipe: Hop2iT XVIII Brewer: Grumpy Style: Double IPA Recipe Specifications -------------------------- Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l Estimated OG: 1.076 SG Estimated Color: 22.1 EBC Estimated IBU: 74.0 IBUs Ingredients: ------------ 6.00 kg Pale Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.9 EBC) Grain 4 79.5 % 1.00 kg Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 5 13.2 % 0.50 kg Rye Malt (Weyermann) (5.9 EBC) Grain 6 6.6 % 0.05 kg Gladfield Roast Barley (1450.0 EBC) Grain 7 0.7 % 20.00 g Sticklebract [13.50 %] - First Wort 60.0 Hop 8 24.8 IBUs 1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 9 - 60.00 g 007 [14.60 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20.0 mi Hop 10 22.2 IBUs 40.00 g Brooklyn [17.10 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20 Hop 11 17.3 IBUs 30.00 g Chinook [12.70 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20. Hop 12 9.7 IBUs 50.00 g 007 [14.60 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 7.55 kg ---------------------------- NO CHILL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Brew day today ... just did the a variation on the Coopers Best Extra Stout recipe, replacing the Coopers Dark LME with the same weight of Briess Traditional Dark LME. I pitched the starter I made with some harvested Coopers Commercial Ale yeast, and it's now sitting at a nice 20° C in my large Coopers fermenter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waylon Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Nice John, I must try the same type of brew... I am keen to give the commercial yeast a crack too Should be interesting how close it comes to the coopers commercial stout...have you done the stout like that before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 G'day Waylon, I have previously made 2 stouts. One was the English Stout Coopers recipe, which turned out really nice. The other was an all-grain Oatmeal Stout which needed more / darker roasted malts in the recipe, and which I accidentally over-primed (1 Coopers carb drop for 330ml is not ideal for a stout). I'm still meaning to make another all-grain Stout, but since I had the Coopers yeast in the fridge I thought I'd leave the wort production to Coopers this time and use the yeast to ferment their kit. That was based on Lusty's advice around brewing up a Coopers Pale Ale with the Coopers yeast. This stout will be different to the commercial Coopers Best Extra Stout because of the LME substitution - I used the Briess Traditional Dark LME instead of the Coopers Dark LME because that's all I could get hold of from my LHBS. The Briess LME is 54% munich malt, 30% pale malt, 13% crystal 60L & 3% black malt, whereas the Coopers Dark LME is something like 87.5% pale malt and 12.5% black malt according to some old info from a Coopers tour floating around on AHB. So it will not be as dry and roasty as Coopers BES, but a bit fuller and sweeter with more intense malt flavour. I'm just hoping it still turns out nicely! If my LHBS had the Coopers Dark LME in stock I would have stuck to the recipe and gone with that, but I guess you make do with what you can get. As of yesterday morning it was sitting at 20° C and developing a nice krausen. As of this morning it's still at 20° C and the krausen is about an inch thick and nice and dense. So looks like it's fermenting well and temps are under control ... I'll let it warm up a degree or so over the course of today. Cheers, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 G'day John. I reckon it's terrific you brewing the Coopers Stout with the commercial ale yeast. I also like the temp you are fermenting it at. In my time on the forum, I can't remember the last time (if at all ) that someone went to the trouble of using the CCA strain on it. All things going well, it should end up a ripping beer! Cheers, Lusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 Cheers Lusty. I did search for other people's experience brewing this with the Coopers yeast and was surprised not to find much, especially given how tasty Coopers BES is. I'm a big fan of the strain - it definitely holds its own in the company of other liquid yeasts I've used from White Labs and Wyeast. Yesterday was possibly the last warm (mid-20s) day we'll have here in Canberra. Usually Anzac Day is the point where the cold weather starts to descend, so I'm glad I will have got the bulk of fermentation done by then. If temps drop too quickly after that, I'll have to move it onto my heat pad and set the controller to keep the temp from dropping too far overnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 Hi gang, Tomorrow for the first day of my four day weekend I have decided to do another brew day. I'll be brewing the lager batch that I had planned for my home grown Hallertau hops, of which I got 36g dry off the plant this season. So, on to the recipe (obviously guessing the AA% of the home grown ones). Home Grown Lager Batch size = 25 litres Grains 4.500 kg Bohemian Pilsner (Weyermann) (3.5 EBC) Grain 1 93.9 % 0.200 kg Munich II (Weyermann) (16.7 EBC) Grain 2 4.2 % 0.080 kg Acidulated (Weyermann) (4.5 EBC) Grain 3 1.7 % 0.010 kg Black Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (1300.2 EBC) Grain 4 0.2 % Hops 12.00 g Hallertauer Hersbrucker {4.30 %} - First Wort 90.0 min Hop 5 6.4 IBUs 14.00 g Magnum {12.20 %} - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 18.0 IBUs 36.00 g Hallertauer flowers {3.80 %} - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7 4.7 IBUs Yeast Wyeast 2001 Urquell Lager, from starter. Pitched and fermented at 10C, then following the quick lager schedule. Hochkurz mash schedule; 62C for 40 mins, 71C for 30 mins, 78C mash out for 10 mins. 90 minute boil. 75% Brewhouse Efficiency predicted. Est Original Gravity: 1.0452 SG Est Final Gravity: 1.0086 SG Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.8 % Bitterness: 29.1 IBUs Est Color: 9.0 EBC Definitely looking forward to tasting this one, first time I'll have used hop flowers, and they're my own home grown ones to boot. Cheers Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonW8 Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Couple of pretty easy batches to make Last night i made up a batch of the Devils Half Ruby Porter Used 1kg of BE2 and also added a 250gm pack of the Mr Beer Robust malt. Just now i made up a twocan batch Dark Ale and Stout Used a kilo of dextrose and will use both packs of yeast once it's cooled down a few degrees. I didn't add any hops cos i wanted to see what the porter is like as is (first go brewing it) And the twocan batch i have done before and was fine as is. I just found an extra yeast pack. Should i use it in the twocan batch when i add the yeast tonight. Would make 3 packets of yeast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Today's brew went well once again. I think I might be onto something with this Acidulated malt. I hit a mash efficiency of 89.7% today; if I'd measured the SG at my usual pre-boil volume of 33 litres I would have been 4 points over the predicted (1.041 reality vs. 1.037 predicted). I got 1.0386 in 35 litres. Post boil SG was 1.048, 3 points over the predicted of 1.045. I don't think I'll get 25 litres out of it but if I did, total efficiency would be 79.7%; on my guess of 24 litres it's 76.5%. I've never had such a high efficiency in all my time of brewing all grain, and although I have been getting better efficiency since I moved to a coarser crush and replaced one of the mill rollers, and also discovered that my hydrometer reads 2 points lower than the actual SG, it's gone up even further in the batches that I have used the acidulated malt in. I plan to try it in other batches as well to see if this increase is consistent across all batches that I use this malt in. Next brew day will be a red ale, looking forward to that one. Cheers Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 From an outsiders point of view, would I be fair in suggesting the step mash schedule had something to do with it? Forgive my poor memory, but didn't you have some temperature switching issues the last time you tried to follow this schedule? Enzyme activity would be good at 62°C + the acidulated malt for good pH surely helps with that too I would think. It sounds like you nailed it this time around. Good stuff! Chad would be proud! I hope the Canuck is doing well, haven't heard from him much lately. Cheers, Lusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 You're half right, I did have issues with a step mash when I first tried it, but that was doing a full step mash starting at 40C and moving up from there. After those two PITAs I decided to do the Hochkurz mash which is obviously as I wrote in the recipe; it's basically the second half of a full step mash, with a rest in the low 60s for beta amylase, low 70s for alpha amylase, and finally mashout. These worked much better. I had done this schedule on 2 or 3 previous pilsner beers, but since adding the acid malt to the grist I have noticed a jump in efficiency, so I'm interested to use it on ale recipes as well to see if this is constant. I got the same jump in efficiency on my last proper pilsner brew day, which was the first of the batches to use acid malt. That batch is the bastardised brew that was fermented with 1469. The last brew before yesterday was a big stout brew so I won't count that one as the efficiency was naturally lower due to the larger grain bill anyway. I used no acid malt in that either, because of the abundance of dark grains. The acid malt would be lowering the pH of the mash no doubt, perhaps this is what is contributing to the increased efficiency in batches that I use it in? Cheers Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Eh!L Posted April 24, 2016 Author Share Posted April 24, 2016 The acid malt would be lowering the pH of the mash no doubt' date=' perhaps this is what is contributing to the increased efficiency in batches that I use it in? [/quote'] Do you measure your mash pH, Otto? It's tough to know what is going on with your brew really unless you know what your mash pH is. Is it in the proper range(5.2-5.6)? Can't know for sure if the Acid malt is a benefit or not unless the pH is measured. I have a big bag of acid malt that I've been sitting on for a while. I'm scared to use it because I am not sure how much to use and what it might do to my pH. Will it blow right through the desired range and make the mash too acidic? How will it react with mineral addition to the water profile? I don't know. I prefer using water salt to control my pH. It's just what I have become used to. I can predict the outcome now using BeerSmith's water profile tool and having an understanding of how the colour of the brew will influence the pH of the mash. I did not have this confidence, though without measuring the mash pH over many batches. I use test strips. They are accurate enough as long as you know they measure two points lower than reality. they simple to use and cheap. I am glad to hear the increase in mash efficiency, though. Good for you, Mate! Hey Lusty, I'm still alive and kicking. I am battling a bad case of shingles these days, though. It's not fun to say the least. I might try the get a brew day in tomorrow, though. I'm thinking maybe a Brown ale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 I don't but I have put an average water profile for this area into Ezy Water from info I could find, and then put in a basic pale beer malt bill and the pH was a bit on the high side. The solution was either to add a heap of mineral salts or a handful of acid malt. So I figured I'd go the latter option, just to experiment really. I don't use very much of it, maybe 70-80g in a batch. Less or none if there are a couple of more dark grains in the grist. In any case, I have never had any taste problems with my beers, so if it is out it can't be too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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