First All-Grain - aborted, advice sought

[chazzb]

Hi,

As a newbie to home brewing, I decided to go in feet-first and do an all-grain brew as my first ever brew.

I had some successes and was pretty comfortable with the process, right up to the point where I got to the boil.

First off, I selected my recipe and did all my calculations for grain weights, strike temperatures, etc. I converted imperial to metric since all my equipment (scales, thermometers, measuring jugs, etc are all metric). Plus I'm just more comfortable with Metric - 7.57 litres at 68C means something to me, whereas 8 US quarts at 155F does not.

So I got my strike water into the mash tun, added my grains, mixed around and adjusted to bring the temperature up to 68C. I let it infuse for 75 minutes, where it lost a couple of degrees (note to self: insulate lid of mash tun better, head loss through sides was virtually none, top was a bit warm).

I did my mash out calculations successfully and collected my wort. I sparged out until I had collected 23 litres (approx 6 us gallons) in my brew kettle.

I tasted the wort - lovely and sweet, malty. Excellent start.

My boil was to be 90 minutes, with 28g (1oz) of hops at 60minutes, 28g of hops at 15mins and 28g of "aroma" hops.

I got the boil up and running, and this is where schoolboy error number 1 happened: I left the lid loosely on the kettle and it soon boiled over all over my kitchen surface and floor. Note to self: do the boil outside on the patio where spillages won't matter so much, and take the lid off the kettle.

The boil looked very aggressive (I'm using a 30 litre home-made kettle with a 3kW element). Is this good?

I am also a bit unclear on the boil and hopping process: it says to boil for 90 minutes. I presume this is from the time that the wort gets up to a good roll?

With the hops, I was assuming my 60 minute hops would go in with 60 minutes of the boil remaining (i.e. 30 minutes after the rolling boil was established), likewise with the 15 minutes hops?

I'm not entirely sure what the deal is is with "aroma" hops. So any advice....

Anyway, here's where it started to go a bit wrong. First off, I was pressed for time, so I started collecting the boiled wort as soon as the 90 minutes were up. I expect it would have done better by sitting for 30 minutes. What would the advice be here?

Secondly, I couldn't get the wort to come out of my kettle - on cleaning up later it became clear that the hops had clogged my filter and tap and were blocking it. So I was only getting a trickle of super-chilled wort out of my home-made CFC.

At this point, my wife was about to wring my neck, so I was forced to abort the exercise. I poured the contents of my kettle into a fermenting bin (just to get a measure of how much had evaporated/spilled) and then let it cool overnight before pouring it in the compost bin. I can hear your wails of exasperation now, but believe me, by this point I was at my wits' end.

I plan to resolve the hop clogging by using one of http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-GALLON-PAINT-ST ... 240%3A1318 as a "hop tea bag" attached to the handle of my boiler with string so I can pull it out to add new hops during the boil and just before I drain and chill the wort at the end.

Does anyone think this is a bad idea?

Finally, with my boil being quite aggressive, the wort was reduced quite substantially - about 8 litres (2.1 us gallons) boiled off. Is it okay for me to top up the boiled wort with water once I've chilled and collected it? In fact, could I do this to adjust for OG? Should I get a lower-rated (e.g. 2.2kw standard kettle) element?

I didn't get as far as pitching the yeast. I'd made my starter (bubbling nicely) a couple of days earlier using 2 litres of water and 200g of dry malt extract (light spraymalt). Is it okay to throw 2 litres of extra malt into a 20 litre batch? This is quite a substantial addition - would it affect my recipe?

Basically, I don't think I did much wrong. But I'd appreciate any advice you guys may have for my next attempt.

In particular, would it be okay to do a split job - i.e. do the mash infusion one evening, collect, store (in a sanitised fermenting bin) and then do the boil the next evening?

I'm not giving up yet.

Thanks,

Charlie

[chazzb]

...also, I see a lot of stuff about irish moss. Should this be used as standard, or just as a recipe demands?

[mysterio]

Sounds pretty similar to my first batch to be honest!

The two mistakes I can see that you made were a) You should have kept the wort that you composted. It would have been fine left to cool overnight and pitched with yeast the next day. b) you brewed when your wife was home, do you have a shed/garage or do it in a day when she's out (not deliberately trying to be facetious - I only brew when I know I won't be interupted!)

First off, I would get a UK brewing book like Wheelers BYOBRAAH, or find some recipes on here. You'll be more comfortable with grams, UK gallons, litres etc. US & UK gallons will get confusing. Plus British recipes tend to be simpler, do not make the mistake of thinking that a more complicated recipe necessarily makes a better beer.

Don't leave the lid on while boiling. Certain volatile compounds need to be allowed to escape. Keep an eye for boil overs, a gentle rolling boil is all that is required.

I did my first 50 or so batches with a dodgy hop strainer, a copper slotted thing which it sounds like you might be using. It might be worth searching the forum for 'hop strainer' to see what others are using, there are many different more efficient designs. A simple bodge might be to drill some small holes in your strainer. The hop tea bag is fine although you may get slightly lower extraction from your hops, which is not hard to fix (use more hops). Aroma hops go in while you're cooling the wort.

Simply add more boiling water from the kettle if your boil is becoming too concentrated. You'll get a feel for how much extra water you need to add to your boiler after sparging so that you boil down to your correct volume. Malt extract is expensive, but theres nothing wrong with using it to correct for gravity. I find it easier just to boil for longer or dilute as needed.

i.e. do the mash infusion one evening, collect, store (in a sanitised fermenting bin) and then do the boil the next evening?

In theory, yes, i've never done it and I wouldn't particularly recommend it. I've heard of it being done though.

[mysterio]

Irish moss is a copper fining (something used to clarify beer in the 'copper' i.e. the boiling kettle).

Don't worry about it too much. Usually it's used as standard but it won't harm your beer to leave it out. Whirlfloc / Protofloc tablets are a concentrated version and are becoming more popular (and are many times more effective for clarifying wort)

[EportJake]

Most important thing to remember....It gets easier every time you do it. My first brew was a plaster, but now i'm on autopilot.

If after removing the lid on your boiler you still get a boilover you will need to downgrade your element as you suggest.
Might be worth you posting a picture of your hop strainer too.

Once you sort these couple of teething troubles out it sounds like you will be sorted. Good luck!

[vacant]

If you're having problems with your hop filter, you haven't got much to lose by trying my cheapo hop strainer (you may need to work out a method to attach it to the back of your tap)

[simple one]

You need an understairs cupboard. If the girlfriend starts giving lip she gets a book, a head torch and escorted and locked away.

Biggest advice for beginner: Start early, prep night before. Write out plan. Give girlfriend plenty of warning of brew days (a ten pound clothes shop voucher helps too), Never pour a brew away! what you think is definitely rubbish, will often turn out all right.

Talk about deep end, I struggled for about 3 AGs. Thats with wine and kit experience.

[Northern Brewer]

My 20 litre Burco with its 3KW element can struggle to boil outdoors on a really cold day, so I wouldn't recommend downgrading your element just yet! Boiling with the lid off will make a big difference.

[farleyman]

You sound as though you only made basic errors which are easily overcome
and have been commented on by others.
My area of experience is overnight mashing.

This is an exellent technique to avoid what can turn into ludicrously long brew days.
I set up ready to mix in the grain as late as possible before going to bed.
The h.l.t. is on a timer so I`m ready to sparge when I get up around 8 a.m.and
put on my special brewing trousers.
The rest of the process is usually completed by about 1 p.m. leaving the rest of the day free.

I have brewed the same beers using o/n mash and same day mash and cannot tell the difference.
You sure as hell don`t get as tired though using o/n.

Hope this helps.
Keep up the good work and most of all...........enjoy

farleyman

[Scooby]

Agree with the others on most points, particularly farleyman regarding o/night mashing. A couple of hrs the night before getting things organised, doughing in and putting the tun to bed will make the next day more relaxing.

Hi,

The boil looked very aggressive (I'm using a 30 litre home-made kettle with a 3kW element). Is this good?

Charlie

That's fine if a little small at 30l.

You won't be able to boil all your wort in one go so hold some back to gradually add during the boil, this will help with boil overs and reduce the vigour of the boil. You can add small amounts of cold water with the same effect.

Hi,

With the hops, I was assuming my 60 minute hops would go in with 60 minutes of the boil remaining (i.e. 30 minutes after the rolling boil was established), likewise with the 15 minutes hops?

I'm not entirely sure what the deal is is with "aroma" hops. So any advice....

Charlie

Yep that's right.

When aroma additions are mentioned they are usually high quality hops valued for their aroma and added late in the boil to retain that aroma and not boil it away.

[BarnsleyBrewer]

The two mistakes I can see that you made were a) You should have kept the wort that you composted. It would have been fine left to cool overnight and pitched with yeast the next day. b) you brewed when your wife was home, do you have a shed/garage or do it in a day when she's out (not deliberately trying to be facetious - I only brew when I know I won't be interupted!)

Good advice, for years I brewed in the kitchen with her nagging me about the smell, I've now converted 1/2 a 8x6 shed into the brewery, best thing I've ever done.... And always make at least 6 hrs spare on a brew day!

Good luck with future brews, don't get disheartened on your first attempt, we've all been there!

John

[buzzrtbi]

I would be wary of putting those paint strainer bags into the copper. They are not food grade and you have no way of knowing how they will react to the boiling acidic wort.

I use a hop strainer that I built myself from stainless fine mesh - do a search on the forum - Mine is a copy of the hop stopper posted by Aleman. It works brilliantly - not had any stuck in the copper from many many brews.

can you top the copper up - certainly but another way of getting the quantity sorted out is to add additional water to the fermenter. To do this calculation will need a few calculations though. You need to know what yield you have in the fermenter (in litres) - find out what the original gravity (OG) of the beer is with a hydrometer. Lets say you have 15 litres in the fermenter and the OG is 1066. (6.6% ABV) but you want a 4.1% ABV beer (1041 G). The calculation would be 6.6 divided by 4.1 multiplied by 15 which equals 24. Therefore you need 24 litres in your fermenter so you need to add 9 litres of water to top it up to end up with a 4.1% beer. Of course this is all hypothetical and depends how much grain you were mashing in the first place but this way is more accurate than just topping up the copper.

If you do end up with a clogged copper you could always use a jug to bail out with into the fermenter and sieve it through a fine sieve. The trub and bits that make it through can always be skimmed off during fermentation or will end up as trub at the bottom.

You asked about Irish Moss - This as was mentioned previously is a kettle fining (i.e. it is added during the boil) - it has been made more potent in the "Whirlfloc" tablet (or Protafloc) - its job is to floculate the protiens in the wort and to help coagulate them making them easier to remove in the hop bed filter. Other finings are used in brewing usualy an Adjunct in the Fermenter which does a similar job of coagulating fine particles in suspension followed by a cask fining (usually of an Isinglass nature) which attracts these coagulations and yeast particles making them heavy and dropping them to the bottom.

I also agree about having space to brew - nothing worse than being disturbed part way through especially if things are not going to plan ! dont underestimate the time taken beforehand and afterwards cleaning up etc.

Hope that helps in some small way?

Good luck with your brewing - enjoy it.