My First Try at AG Brewing

[DreamWeaver]

Well, yesterday, The First Day of Spring, was my first attempt at doing an AG Brew Session. I took a few pics during rain delays. I started around noon when it seemed the rain would end but while heating strike water, it started back up. So, I had to finish heating up mash water inside, NP. My 48Qt Gott cooler/mash tun held temps for an hour with no leaks or problems. Then back outside for the boil. I did a 3.5 gallon mash and 5.5 gallon sparge but only ended up with 4.75 gallons in the primary after boiling one hour. I left a lot of break material behind though. I was done by 5:30. OG was 1.059 for my recipe of 11lbs of 2 row pale & 1lb of 60L with 3oz of Northern Brewer hops. Today, 18 hours later, it's bubbling away. Basically it went smooth for my first try, even with the rain. Should go better next time.

-DRWeaver-

pics (http://www.geocities.com/dwead362/Homebrewpics.html)

[Sunriver]

Add a nipple and some tube to reduce hot side aeration. Looks great, congradulations on the success. Let us all know how it tastes.

[brewmonkey]

As I have said before, HSA is not something that homebrewers need to be overly anxious about. Unless you have poor storage habits and your beer hangs around for many months, the effects os HSA are unlikely to show up in your beer. HSA is an issue for packaging breweries where the beer will leave the brewery ands sit on a distro shelf for some time.

[BucksBrew]

Agreed with HSA, my beer doesn't sit around long enough to get funky!

In fact I have a gallon of beer in glass milk jugs with airlocks(mini secondarys) waiting to get dumped into my keg when that empties out. I know it will ad O2, but it will be gone before it's an issue.

My finished original recipe produced 6 gallons and I didn't want to just dump it out!

So I'll dump it in the Corny, ad some CO2 and drink it up.

[Moondoggy]

Like the set up!

[DreamWeaver]

Yes, I guess I shoulda listened to an earlier post by brewmonkey and others. I got to the part in J. Palmers Book and read that above 80deg F HSA is possible. I should have read on. The next sentence explains that this is not a big issue unless you store your beer for a long time. I can't keep mine around very long either. Even though I have about 22 gallons in the spare bedroom, it gets consumed in rotation. :D But I am going to add another nipple, hose and a magnetic pump as soon as it gets here. I did too much scurrying around with hot wort & water that rainy day! There's another Homebrew Boogie-Man worry I can omit!

-DRWeaver-

[O2 Mash]

Originally posted by Moondoggy
Like the set up!

I agree, nice setup. I have been doing AG's for a few years now and my setup pales (pun intended) in comparison. I am diggin' that brewpot w/ spigot! I need one of those for some 10 gallon brew sessions.