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Brew cherry popped

  • xenon
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9 years 9 months ago - 9 years 9 months ago #1332 by xenon
Brew cherry popped was created by xenon
So like a hero I decided i would brew an all grain as my first brew. I have to say the hardest part was the patience in assembling all the equipment, testing it and being organised. I almost brewed an extract so many times just to get a run on the board, but because i'd put so much time an effort into an all grain it actually raised more questions and i lost confidence with it. So stuck to plan A. All grain baby!

I had 2 issues. Nothing detrimental, well hopefully (someone with expreonces can hopefully shed some light)
1. I only ended up with 14L post boil. This was due mostly to my cheap K-Mart measuring jugs being 400ml inaccurate!!! I realized when filling the fermentor then proofed them against a Pyrex bake jug. I also did not know how much residual water would be retained by the grain and as its my first time did not pay enough attention when collecting wort. It looked light but yeah first brew. I added 4L of fresh water and measured 1.062/3. So could of added more but really was a little in the dark on the effect of the beer so left it at that. Hope it doesnt come out at 10%ABV well if its tasty then spose that will be okay
2. I thought a standard siv would take alot of the sediment out. Even when poring carefully this is not the case. Its not to dramatic just annoying. I'll convert my pot and add a ball valve or buy an easi-siphon.

IPA
5.3K of Pale Malt
.300K of Crystal
.300K of Carapils
73 Grams of NZ Cascade 18g 60 min 18g 30min rest at flame out and steep for 10 min.
Irish moss 10min

Fermenting at 19 deg. Mash 65-66 for 90. Boil for 90. Cool and picth US -05. I made a starter for shits and gigs. Apologies on the non specific recipe. I'm still learning. Will let you know how it tastes and take a pic. Attached is my equipment and the day

Cheers
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Last edit: 9 years 9 months ago by xenon. Reason: poor england

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  • Gash
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9 years 9 months ago #1333 by Gash
Replied by Gash on topic Brew cherry popped
Good Stuff. That's a bugger about the 14L though, would'nt of thought a jug would be out by so much!
From memory Grain absorbs around 1.1 litres per kilo. So if you used 5.9kg it would of absorbed around 6.5 L approx. This would of given you at least over 20 L , plus you'd lose some in the hops and some in you trub and dead space.
Most people use software like Beersmith to do all these calculations but it can be tricky to get your head around at first.

Does your boil kettle have a tap? You could try whirlpooling to cut down on junk getting into your fermenter etc.

Cheers or the pics!

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9 years 9 months ago #1334 by Gash
Replied by Gash on topic Brew cherry popped
Next brew, when you get something accurate to take measurements record everything and this helps to set up your loses etc for each brew, I lose about 1L in my mash tun and about 3L to my boil pot, trub and chiller. Plus boil off and grain absorption.

So I use around 37L of water through the mash tun to get to my 23L in the fermenter.

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9 years 9 months ago #1335 by xenon
Replied by xenon on topic Brew cherry popped
Yeah my biggest regret has been the measuring as it was crucial to learning the losses you have mentioned. I do know (albeit not accurately) how much and where I lost and your info as helped confirm it. I'll be on to it in three weeks when I brew this recipe again.

The recipe was a boil in the bag and the correct guys were not in the shop when I purchased it so i had to improvise a little. I started with 22l which in reality was more like 18L then a sparge of 9L. I know i only got 5.5 liters back from sparge (knew something was up by then and started paying close attention) Yeah i figured as an approximate that 34 liters was needed next time, but i'll go with your 37 liters. Thanks. Do you reckon a single infusion of the whole 37L or do a temp calculation and still sparge with 10L of hoter water??

I'll get beer smith next month when I can afford it. Also by not having correct volumes I cannot work out how efficient the mash was.

I did add 4L more of fresh water and got a reading of 1.066 (not 1.062 as originally posted) I just realized the Hydrometer goes up in two's. So i'll end up with 18L minus trube of 6-7% beer i think.

No tap on the boil pot. I have a spare weldless one so I might just put it on and whirlpool or get an auto siphon.

Cheers

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9 years 9 months ago #1336 by xenon
Replied by xenon on topic Brew cherry popped
yep, so beware of cheap plastic jugs. I thought I could save some bucks and didn't think they could be far off. I just double checked. 2L fills it to the 2.5L mark exactly. I have 2 identical jugs and both are the same. I wanted 22L so 11 fills at the 2L mark. In reality I got 16.5L :angry: It was the only part I didn't proof or test. Murphy's aye.

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9 years 9 months ago #1337 by Gash
Replied by Gash on topic Brew cherry popped
Next time use a measuring stick, fill it up with the jug, mark it on a stick, wooden spoon or piece of dowel, just by holding it in there and mark it with a marker or notch it with a knife or something, see where the level is and mark the stick. maybe just 5L,10L,15L,20L,22,23,or whatever you think you will need next time. Saves using the jug all the time.

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9 years 9 months ago #1374 by Tonyj
Replied by Tonyj on topic Brew cherry popped
And I have to admit your copper filter/drain at the bottom of your mash tun is way neater and a much better fit to the ends than mine ended up. I'll try to post some pics soon so you can have a good laugh.

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9 years 9 months ago - 9 years 9 months ago #1375 by xenon
Replied by xenon on topic Brew cherry popped
Thanks, cutting the slots was a B'arch and the whole thing took a couple of takes. I had the copper size all wrong and to close to the edges. Next plan is to solder/silver the ends piece's (not the lengths). Also my flash compression fittings don't fit snug on my chillers as my fridgey pipe isn't a true 1/2 inch. Many things left to do and get right.

As an update i have ended up a FG of 1.010 OG 1.066 so around 7.35% ABV. Bottle tomorrow. The samples taken all taste good. Still have a bit of floaty stuff as so much sediment went in. Have used finnings and want to cold crash as well after it carbs in the bottle. Not sure if thats correct procedure ...

Next brew going down next weekend. Yehaa :woohoo:
Last edit: 9 years 9 months ago by xenon.

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9 years 9 months ago #1376 by Tonyj
Replied by Tonyj on topic Brew cherry popped
I don't claim any particular expertise in this department, but for myself I've found it better to do it the other way around. My preference now is to bulk prime, then cold crash at 0C for 5 days (remembering that with the alcohol in it it won't freeze until at least minus 1.5C), and then bottle it at the low temp. I then allow it to naturally come up to ambient temp to carbonate for several weeks. Cheers.

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9 years 9 months ago #1377 by Gash
Replied by Gash on topic Brew cherry popped
You bulk prime before crashing?

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