All the gear no idea

[pas8280]

Well folks i have finally got my equipment together for AG i am going to check it all over Monday then brew Tuesday.I have spent hours on this forum and youtube (jimmythebrewer my insperation) revising and i am extreemly gratefull to everyone who has helped with the build and advice so far.
My intended brew length will only be 16 L due to small size of boiler (no problem lots of smaller brews make big ones)

I was a bit aghast at the price of 500g bags of grain at LHBS so i popped into my local micro brewery Friday evening when they were enjoying a few samples of thier wares, a very helpfull group of guys they made me up a recipe based on one of thier brews this is what they gave me for £8

4Kilo Optic, 1Kilo Torrified wheat, (for the head) 200g of .34(for colour) and 450g brambling cross hops.

I did explain it was for 16L and they said if i wanted it at 6.5abv then chuck it all in with half the hops at start of boil and the rest after 60mins with 75min total boil, and if i wanted it around 4.5 ABV remove a kilo of Optic. Now i would like to know what the rest of you think about that recipe ? seems a lot of stuff especially the hops to me. I have only been able to get hold of Nottingham yeast and Irish moss instead of a Protofloc tablet.

Any views on the above and or advice on my first AG will be greatly appreciated.

[Northern Brewer]

Before jumping in, it would be useful to know the following...

Does your boiler hold 16 litres to the brim?

Does the rest of you kit suit a larger capacity brew?

What strength beer are you aiming for (bearing in mind the you will possibly drink more)?

[grmills]

Try running those ingredients through Graham Wheeler's beer engine (I would expect something less than 100g of hops to be required for an EBV under 50, but does depend on the alpha acid content).

[pas8280]

Sorry so many questions spinning through my small mind The boiler will hold 21L to the brim (it was a freeby) and the mash tun is a 23L converted cool box (we allredy had it) full size fv etc and to be honest a 4.5 ABV would be fine for a first go I have a calculator (kindly supplied) to adjust a 25L brew to a smaller one but the ingredients i have listed are all i have at the moment

[Northern Brewer]

Are you not persuaded to go to Wilkos and spend £10 on a cheapo kettle and Youngs' bucket, to make a bigger boiler? Everything is going to be touch trickier at 16 litres.

Do you know what the acid level of the hops is?

[hail_to_the_ale]

I agree with Northern Brewer on the boiler, it seems a lot of hassle to do an AG brew to have just a 16ltr batch at the end. As far as the recipe goes I'd get a decent book, Graham Wheeler's 'Brew your own British real ale' would be a good starting point, in there he tells you how to convert his recipes to whatever brew length you want. 450g of hops seems a very large quantity

All the best for your first brew

[pas8280]

Sorry i have no idea what the acid levels of the hops are ? I did think about starting bigger but as i had the boiler and coolbox i thought i would give it a go on a slightly smaller scale then upgrade if i got decent results or make lots of smaller brews with the kit (feel silly now)no wilco near me though

[Northern Brewer]

Are you sure?

http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/page/store ... mit=search

[pas8280]

Your right well i never !!! not really a town shopper there is one in Leigh but they have a grand total of 3 brewbuddy kits a few syphon tubes a few caps and corks and 3 or 4 wine kits and that is it. I sort of assumed Wilco and Wilkinsons were different but had the same parent company?

[trucker5774]

Your right well i never !!! not really a town shopper there is one in Leigh but they have a grand total of 3 brewbuddy kits a few syphon tubes a few caps and corks and 3 or 4 wine kits and that is it. I sort of assumed Wilco and Wilkinsons were different but had the same parent company?

There's one in Skem too, if you find yourself in that direction!

450g of hops is a huge amount..........even if they are low AA%. The amount of work is almost the same for a short brew length as it is for a longer one. I wish I had the gear for 50L brews!

[Northern Brewer]

Another workaround is to beg, steal or borrow stock pots that are capable of boiling up the remaining 7 litres. Boil your hops in the main vessel only.

Bramling Cross hops appear to be around 6% acid, so you 65g of these for 90 minutes in 23 litres would get you into Yorkshire bitter territory, with a further 20 - 25g chucked in for the last 15 minutes of the boil for flavour (forget about aroma hops until you have more experience). A good starting point would be 4.3kg of grain for 23 litres. 4kg Optic and 150g apiece of the other grains will produce a decent beer. You water will be soft enough to warrant a good teaspoon of gypsum in your mash.

Leyland Home Brew are a short trip up the M6 just off J28, closed Sundays and Wednesdays though.

http://www.leylandhomebrew.com/

[pas8280]

Thanks guys i have just put the ingredients into Grahams beer engine (sort of assuming that the .35 colour is dark malt ?) as supplied by the micro and it came out as OG 1.050 FG 1.012 ABV 4.9 or with the 1k removed 4.0 abv with og 1.040 fg 1.009 the bitterness came out at ebu 67 using using Northern Brewers advice of only using 90g of hops is this good or bad ? i suspect it it all in individual taste (knowledge is power)

[Scooby]

A rule of thumb is IBU should not exceed OG

So cut the IBU to less than 50, personally I'd go for less than 40 IBU as Brambling Cross has considerable character, It has a strong spicy/blackcurrant flavour suited, imo to darker beers. For a bitter I'd blend it with other varieties, It'll still make a pleasant beer though.

[pas8280]

Blinking Heck and the micro brewery guru gave me 450g to put in !!!!!!!!! what would that have tasted like ? First time i have used the beer engine good innit dont want to delay my first brew by sorting new boiler etc so i think im stuck with it till at least the new year. So will go with what i have anyone know what the .35 dark grains are ? will the Nottingham yeast do for now, Gypsum not got any but will try my best before Tuesday i have campden tabs which i was going to stick in the liqour unfortunatly patience doesnt seem to be one of my virtues when i am close to my goal but i do learn from my mistakes and gratefully accept advice of more knowledgeable folk

[Northern Brewer]

the bitterness came out at ebu 67 using using Northern Brewers advice of only using 90g of hops is this good or bad ? i suspect it it all in individual taste (knowledge is power)

Only the 90 minutes 65g hops really count towards bitterness. 65 x 12 (6% x2) = 780 divided by 23 litres = 33.91EBU. 35EBU is a good starting point for a modern bitter and I use this all the time. The other hops are essentially there for flavour.