#AG 2 - A Day at the Races

[rimski]

If you have read my previous thread here which was mine and friend Steves first ever AG Mash Up/Brewday which we enjoyed immensely and couldn't wait to start another brew so we did one yesterday.

Being as I live in Towcester (Northants) we decided to name our 2nd beer A Day at the Races due to the racecourse we have in Towcester.
The brew went a lot smoother than the first for many reasons.

1 - Correct amount of liqour in the mash made for a faster/smoother sparge
2 - Burco boiler made the boiling simpler as we have a rolling boiler and a water heater now (the Lidl one).
3 - Having already completed 1 brew I guess you learn more everytime you have a brewday.

Here is the brew

A Day at the Races


Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 3.665
Total Hops (g): 70.20
Original Gravity (OG): 1.035 (°P): 8.8
Colour (SRM): 6.8 (EBC): 13.4
Bitterness (IBU): 20.7 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
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3.320 kg Maris Otter Malt (90.59%)
0.320 kg Amber Malt (8.73%)
0.025 kg Chocolate, Pale (0.68%)

Hop Bill
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9.2 g Bobek Pellet (4.5% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)
12.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.8% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
4.0 g Bobek Pellet (4.5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Aroma) (0.2 g/L)
5.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.8% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Aroma) (0.2 g/L)
11.0 g Bobek Pellet (4.5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (0.5 g/L)
9.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.8% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (0.4 g/L)
20.0 g East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (0.9 g/L)

Misc Bill
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Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with Safale S-04

Notes
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Protofloc in @ 15 mins

Having followed the recipe and tried to make everything go as smoothly as possible I have a couple of questions.

1 - What is the best way to add the hops Muslim Bag or just drop them in?
2 - I only managed to get 18L instead of 23L any idea why?

Thanks in Advance

[dave-o]

1- Drop them in (assuming you have a hop stopper or somethign similar in your mash tun

2- You lost some to grain and evaporation. Make more wort next time.

[rimski]

I have primed and kegged (plastic barrel) this beer and it tastes pretty nice

Do I need to do anything with the barrel as it pressurises such as release any pressure or do I just prime it and leave it until I want to drink it??

[dave-o]

Prime and leave. You need the pressure to get it pouring.

[rimski]

Cheers Dave-o,

The beer is pressured nicely now and when poured gives me a cloudy heady beer which clears and for my 2nd AG Brew I think it tastes pretty good too

[dave-o]

Kegged beers never seem to work as well as bottled IME (unless you have cornies or something).

For a start, that "green" taste never seems to fully go, and secondly it is either all froth and takes a while to die down, or is flat.

Try bottling a few next time too - you might find it's a vast improvement.