Right then: Going to take the plunge tomorrow! First AG Brew

[DaveH]

As i'm gettting a day all to myself tomorrow (SWMBO and mini's off to mum-in laws for the day), i thought i'd have a bash at my first ever AG brew (although as a pennance i have to mow both lawns - fair exchange i guess ). I've decided to do an LP clone; as both my dad and myself love it! Been messing about with the recipes found on here in Beersmith, and here's what i've come up with:

DaveH LP Clone - 23L Brewlength. OG:1.042, 4.1% ABV. 30 IBU 24 Units of Colour

90 min Mash, 60 Min Boil.

3950g Pale Malt (MO)
280g Flaked Maize
150g Crystal Malt (60L/120 EBC)
75g Black Malt

11g Target @ 60min (10.7 AA)
11g Challenger @ 60min (7.10 AA)
10g Northdown @ 60 min (7.90 AA)
8g Northdown @ 10 min(7.90 AA)

10g Irish Moss@15 min

Going to use S04, as this is my first AG brew - and don't want to overly complicate by using liquid yeast (yeah, i'm a wuss - i know!!)

So, any comments? The only possible query i had is would 75g of black malt adversly affect the taste? Is it better to get an LP-a-like taste wise, and not necessarily colour wise?

Cheers all!!


Dave H.

[Talisman]

oh tomorrows going to be a messy day lol.

id prep your ingredients before hand so you know when to do what.

my first AG a month or two ago was a few hours of panic but great fun, chucked the wrong thing in at the wrong time (fished it out) but turned out great.

good luck with it fella, you wont look back.

[mixbrewery]

Change the Black malt to Chocolate.
Drop the flaked maize but up the pale slighty to compensate for lost gravity.

Fullers no longer use flaked maize in ESB, Pride or Chiswick

[spearmint-wino]

Good luck for tomorrow, don't worry about it too much and remember - 'beer wants to be made'

Don't forget the odd pic or two if you're feeling up to multi-tasking

[DaveH]

Change the Black malt to Chocolate.
Drop the flaked maize but up the pale slighty to compensate for lost gravity.

Fullers no longer use flaked maize in ESB, Pride or Chiswick

Thanks for the comments Mix.

1 question - keep the quantity of choc the same as black, or up it slightly? Is it better to go for the 'taste' rather than the 'look/taste' (i.e. replacing dark with choc would reduce the colour??)

Was in 2 minds about not having the flaked maize in and using choc instead of black malt (as i'd been on the Fullers brewery tour about 2 weeks ago and found that it's an all malt grist with Pale, crystal & choc)....however, decided to keep the FM in for head retention?

[mixbrewery]

Aim for a grist ratio around - 95:4:1 pale:crystal:choc

[Barley Water]

I just made this recipie for the second time a couple of weekends ago and just moved the beer to secondary on Monday. I can already tell that the beer will be very good. The first time I made it, I moved it off the yeast too quickly and got a pretty good dose of diacetyl but I really enjoyed the beer anyway. I used WLP02 which is the Fullers strain and it is known to throw off a fair amount of diacetyl so I was not shocked. I know you feel you are a wuss but I would recommend WLP02 for this beer for three reasons:

1. It is the Fuller's strain and I personally really like the flavor it produces as noted above it throws off a little diacetyl and the beer ends up very malty

2. WLP02 does not attenuate very well so it makes the beer drink bigger than it is

3. The yeast also floculates very well so you get very clear beer quickly (most poor attenuators drop out fast so 2 and 3 are related)

I usually don't use dry yeast so I have no experience with SO4 but I am sure you will get a good beer. I would do the recipie straight out of the book, it is easy and as close to a sure thing as you can get in home brewing. Good luck and have fun doing your first all grain, I think you will really like the results.

[Iank]

Think this will be high on my list for my next AG. Interesting to read about Fullers dropping the caramel, but the 95/4/1 ratio seems to make sense.
In your recipe is there any reason for the 60 min boil as opposed to 90 mins?

[DaveH]

Think this will be high on my list for my next AG. Interesting to read about Fullers dropping the caramel, but the 95/4/1 ratio seems to make sense.
In your recipe is there any reason for the 60 min boil as opposed to 90 mins?

Only in that if i did a 90 min boil the BU's come out higher than 30 (in Beersmith). 90 min boil = 33.4 IBU's (Target is 30)....using 'Tinseth' setting in BS by the way.

Is Beersmith accurate or is there another way of calculating??

[russt1969]

Hope all goes well. Keep us posted

[hoppingMad]

all the best with your 1st AG Preparation is the key and don't be put off if your first one isn't quite as smooth as you'd like, keep going and sooner or later it will be like falling off a log.

[Bru4u]

Yea, best of luck, tell us all about it when things calm down again and you've stopped grining , even better take a log and some photos, I'm sure you will have enough to think about so don't worry about the photos if ya like.

[DaveH]

SWMBO and the kids have just left the building......time to prepare!

I'll post a Brewdays thread once i'm up & running

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee



Dave

[delboy]

Hope it goes well for you

[lockwood1956]

Yes....good luck, my first one will be soon too....once i finish my mash tun


not enough hours in the day




regards
bob