How to brew your own beer - The All Grain method

Simcoe is out of stock at the Maltmiller, Worcester Hop Shop, BrewUK and Simply Hops. Guess I have to wait for next season to try it.
Do you still brew Ahlekz? I remember you got the boiler a while ago, but you've not posted (that I've spotted) brewing beer since then. Looking forward to seeing your recipies. I'm guessing kilogrammes of hops :p
 
What type of beer do you like?
Our first proper all grain recipe can be found in this post. It's kind of London Pride(ish), but it's one we've made several times since, and also tried tweaking it with different hops and different amounts of crystal malt, but we like this basic recipe.
The main thing is to have fun, and make tasty beer.
 
seabiscuit said:
Simcoe is out of stock at the Maltmiller, Worcester Hop Shop, BrewUK and Simply Hops. Guess I have to wait for next season to try it.
Do you still brew Ahlekz? I remember you got the boiler a while ago, but you've not posted (that I've spotted) brewing beer since then. Looking forward to seeing your recipies. I'm guessing kilogrammes of hops :p
Click to expand...

Howdy.

No, not properly. I've played around here and there and made small batches but not had a proper brew on for a while. Why not? Well, my brewing partner is super busy all the time and the only days off he has is the days I work. I'm also working 2 jobs which takes up a lot of time. Also, most of the summer/autumn I've been pretty broke.
That being said, I'm very keen to get back into it and would love to get a brew on shortly. I need to rebuild my manifold (I built a crap one ages ago but threw it out) and need to get my hands on a wort chiller but I suppose I could sort that all out today. Mmm....

I do feel a bit guilty because I took that boiler and it hasn't been used as it should have been, but I will rectify that.

As for recipes, I have a few clones saved in a .doc somewhere but haven't actually created any full recipes of my own yet. But needless to say, when I do brew then it'll be a hop explosion.

I may go down the BIAB route as it's probably easier to get all set up and I could start brewing tomorrow if I got very proactive today.

Oh, and because I'm a gentleman - when I do get a brew on the go, then you're on the list for getting a couple of bottles as are a few others.
 
Well I don't stick around! :D

Anyone need any malt?

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Well, I need 4kg for my brew. They sell in bags of 3kg or 25kg. A 3kg is around £5. A 25kg is £25. It'll last quite a while, but by having so much it should make me brew more. I don't have a car, so had to walk 0.6 miles with the malt. Got a few funny looks! It made an awesome seat once I got to the train though. ;)

Irritatingly, I didn't buy a bag from my brewshop so I could actually do BIAB. I thought I may be able to get something cheaper from B&Q. I'll just have to go back tomorrow and get the brew on tomorrow. It's going to be an American IPA with 100g of Simcoe & 100g of Citra hops. It'll be dry hopped with Citra & Simcoe as well. Only a 4.59%, but that may be upped a little bit. 66.93 ABU though. :D :D :D
 
st00dent said:
Went for this in the end.

Should arrive tomorrow.

Will let you know how I get on!;)
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Ah, it's all there ready for you to go. Should be good.

If you have any questions, just ask - I'll be paying more attention to this thread now. I don't have any BIAB experience but I'm knowledgeable in all grain, kits, and professional brewing so should be able to help.

Just remember to think it all through and know what you're doing when and where so you don't get flustered.

Where are you based? Want to buy any malt? :D
 
Yay, this threads lively again. Exciting times.

We don't actually use a fully made bag, we just use a length of muslin cloth I got from Stafford market. It wasn't particularly expensive. I keep thinking we should get one of these...
http://custombiab.blogspot.co.uk/

Ahleckz....
What you'll probably find is that with BIAB, your malt extract and wort may not be as clear as the more traditional sparging and recirculating of the wort during sparging, as it doesn't get filtered by the grain bed. However it seems to drop out all the same as trub during fermentation, it just may take a few days longer. If you transfer to a secondary for dry hopping, then it'll probably be clearer anyway.
And thanks for your offer of picking us up some hops, but we've got plenty of others to be going on with at the moment.
Do you use any software to design your beers?

St00dent...
There are several videos on youtube showing different people doing BIAB. It's really not difficult (for me the hardest part is lifting the hot grain out of the hot wort when it's saturated with water. 5kg of grain absorbs it's own weight in water I think I've read, which doesn't sound all that much, but lifting at an awkward angle when it's burning your hands can be fiddly, and leads to Mrs_Seakitchen occasionally learning the odd new word or two) but it can help just to see other people do it.
The basic idea is that you are mashing your grains (Frankie Howerd titters) is a big teabag that you can simply lift out leaving all the sugars in the liquid.
What I've found helpful (firstly an extra set of hands makes thing much easier, so if you're Zaphod Beeblebrox, you're halfway there) is some thick, heavy duty washing up gloves (make sure to sanitize them before use) and also one of these strainers.
Before moving to full batches, we did a couple of 1 gallon brews using a borrowed jam kettle. The beer we made like that was pretty naff as we were mostly trying to learn the process. But our first proper batch of all grain was brilliant.

Best of luck to both of you. And post lots of pictures in this thread.
 
It is indeed seabiscuit! Had to nip to the brewshop again this morning to get a grain bag as I forgot yesterday, and also was out of VWP. Also got an ale yeast to use instead of the lager yeast I had lying around.

Should be good fun.

Just popped my brewkettle on and the water is coming along nicely. Grain all measured, had to use multiple bowls for it all! Taken a couple of pictures, but as it's just me here I may not be able to take too many.

Edit - And we're mashing. My strike water was a little too hot, and it's not come down in temperature much but should be OK. Going to mash for 90 minutes and then it's hop time. Got quite a nice picture showing how much I use. Exciting, reminds me of my Brewdog days.
 
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Ive missed a whole lot of this thread!

I got the brewery off of a brewing forum and I did bass because I like bass :P

ill be more experimental when im a bit better!
I have a double brew weekend ahead!!
 
Brewing a hoppy American IPA today, hopped with simcoe & citra during the boil but will be dry hopped with these aswell.

Here is the recipe:

Style: American IPA OG: 1.050
Type: All Grain FG: 1.015
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 4.59 %
Calories: 165 IBU's: 66.93
Efficiency: 60 % Boil Size: 17.98 L
Color: 6.9 SRM Batch Size: 15.00 L
Boil Time: 60 minutes
________________________________________
Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
4.00 kg 88.89 % Crushed Pale Malt 60 mins 1.038
0.50 kg 11.11 % Barley, Flaked 60 mins 1.036

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
20.00 g 40.95 Simcoe 60 mins 13.00
10.00 g 10.32 Citra 15 mins 13.20
10.00 g 7.43 Simcoe 10 mins 13.00
10.00 g 4.15 Citra 5 mins 13.20
10.00 g 4.08 Simcoe 5 mins 13.00
20.00 g 0.00 Citra 0 mins 13.20
15.00 g 0.00 Simcoe 0 mins 13.00
45.00 g Simcoe 5 days 13.00
60.00 g Citra 5 days 13.20


Just getting my strike water to 80c and aiming for a 65 – 67c mash temperature.

14:20 - Water up to temperature, malt and barley added. Temps are a little high, so left the lid off and turned boiler off.

15:20 – 60 minutes have elapsed. The temperature is doing very well and holding at around 68c. I’ve got a towel and a sheet around the FV but kept the lid off. I thought the temperature would go down, as my kitchen is around 19c today but it’s holding nicely. I’m slightly concerned that it won’t be strong enough, but I can always add sugar at secondary fermentation to bring it up a few ABV…

It’s smelling good. I think that I’m all set for the boil and hop addition in 30 minutes. I’m just throwing them in, sod any hop bags. I’ll worry about the mess later. Hops are measured out and separated into their individual bowls which makes things easier. Anyway, poured myself a beer and just waiting around.

Cleaned my FVs. Yes, multiple ones. I’ve always brewed in big 5 gallon blue containers but I think they are past their best so I’m using 3 x 1 gallon glass demijohns. It’s a bit of a hassle, but sod it. Needs must. I’ve spent a lot already so didn’t fancy buying a brewing bucket, even though it would make things easier. I’ve got a syphon, so will just have to syphon it and be careful not to make much of a mess.

15:50 – Finish mash.
Hauled the bag out of the boiler, bloody hell that’s heavy! Next time I think the boiler should be on the floor to make it easier. Lifting a saturated grain bag (with 4.5kg of wet grain in) to face height is hard. But I’m all man – rar.
Drained a fair bit off, and pressed some extra out of it. Happy with how much is in my boiler. As I was draining it I recall Seabiscuit saying that some rubber gloves would be useful here. I wish I had some!

16.15 – Boil is on.

First hops added – 20g Simcoe
16.35 – DISASTER! My plate covering the element has come off. It’s not a huge problem, once I eventually dig it out but it was also going to be my hop filter. Oh well, a few hops in the beer isn’t a great problem.

17.00 – Second hops (10g Citra)
17.05 – Third hops (10g Simcoe)
17.10 – Fourth hops – (10g citra & 10g Simcoe)
17.15 – Fifth Hops – 20g Citra & 15g Simcoe)

17.15 – All hops are added, and I’ve taken it off the boil I don’t have an immersion chiller so waiting for it to come down to temperature a bit before putting into my FV. I’ll then chill the FV in the bath to 16c and pitch the yeast..

18.15 – This is taking for ever! Haha, at least I’m all cleaned up. Just waiting for temps to come down. I don’t understand heattransfer, but all being well it should be done by 18.45. Then rehydrate yeast, pitch and put FVs away and I’ll be done for 19.00. Just under 5 hours, doesn’t seem too bad! Saying I had a 90 minute mash…

19.00 – Took a gravity reading at 20c. It’s 1.060. Yeast hydrating.

19.12 - Yeast pitched. FVs popped away.

And there we have it, that's my brew. Let's see how it turns out. Here are some pictures:

My brewsheet, pinned to the wall. Got important stuff like times, amounts, beer stains :D:
0brewsheet.jpg


4kg of malt, 500g of flaked barley:
1grain.jpg


My hops! That's about 1/2 of them. Another bunch going in the FVs in 5 days or so:
4hops.jpg


A really bad picture of me doughing in:
5doughingin.jpg


The water and malt, doing it's shiz!
6mashing.jpg


Removing the wet malt leaving behind the lovely wort:
7wetgrainheavy.jpg


Spent hops, pain to clean up!
9spenthops.jpg


And this is them ready to be put away for a while, and my cat.
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Thanks to Seabiscuit for getting me back into brewing, and thank you Sam for the recipe and the help you've given me. Cat, you're not getting any thanks.
 
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Ingredients arrived today, almost ready to go.

Only thing I'm not sure about now is whether to try and get hold of a bigger stock pot or just try a small batch with the one I've got (only 11 litres).

How should I work out the amount of ingredients to use for a smaller batch? The recipe I'm following does not say how much water I should have started with for the whole amount.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.
 
What's the recipe? They are usually 5 gallon recipes so just divide everything by 5 then multiply by the number of gallons you're doing. Remember to add more water though as you'll lose some in evaporation and grain soakage.
 
200g+ of hops for three gallons of beer!? Wow, that's going to taste amazing. Or vile. I'm betting on amazing.
But 66IBU's in a 4.5% beer, how are you going to balance the bitterness with malt sweetness? Did you mash hotter to produce more unfermentables?

Is the flaked barley malted or unmalted? What flavor does that give to the brew?

But most importantly, what have you named it?
 
If you're a self confessed hop head then you have to do it right. Though, for me this is also an experiment and seeing what will come of it all. I think that it'll go stronger than 4.5. My OG was much higher than the planned oneso I might even hit 6%.
I mashed at around 70c, that's what my boiler seemed happiest on so just left it there and tried not to worry about it ;).
Yes, the barley.. Well, I did hope no one would mention that because I don't actually know what it's going to do to the beer (if anything at all). Flaked wheat isn't malted, normally, and isn't in my case. That does make it a bit harder for the sugars to be extracted. It's all about mouth feel and body rather than flavour though so I think if it hasn't worked then I've wasted £2.50 and won't have as full bodied beer as I like. Not the end of the world. It's all an experiment.
If it isn't good when I come to bottle it then I'll think of what to do. Either take the risk and bottle it. Bottle half and try and dilute the rest a bit more and restart fermentation or add sugar and restart fermentation to get it a bit stronger. Truth be told, I think it'll be OK (if you're a fan of hop monsters!) and I'll just bottle it all.
Next brew, I'll make something a bit more 'conventional' and easier to drink. Saying there's £10 of hops going into this, I wouldn't mind making a cheaper brew next. Mrs Ahleckz (Beckz) wants to help brew one and wants to do a raspberry wheat beer so that might be on the cards next. Though raspberries are hardly cheap.

Name, I haven't actually got one yet. Maybe 'Frewan Brewery's Satanic IPA' on account of the IBUs... It's a bit cheesy though.

The Frewan Brewery is the name that me and my friend, Nicholas, have used jokingly for our 'brewery'. It's a combination of our last names. He hasn't had anything to do with this brew but it seems right to keep the name.
 
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