First Time For Everything I Guess...

[Vanoontour]

...so thought I might give this AG brewing thing a crack. My names Dan and I like beer (and the crowd says in unison "Hi Dan"). Any way, the first brew will be a BIAB as it seems the easiest. I have done a few kits but they all tasted like ****(insert your own term) and I have a few questions if I may. I have a 15l fermenting vessel.

How does this recipes sound, 2.8kg Bestmalz Pilsner Malt, 10gms B Saaz for 60min, 10gms B Saaz at 10 and 10gms B Saaz at 5? Using 2-23 Yeast.

On the yeast topic, do you put the lot in (11.5gm sachet) or half?

Also, how much water? Planning to mash with 13l, then very crudely sparge through the bag to bring up to 15l for the boil where I expect to loose enough for the FV. This sound OK?

The OG and FG, when exactly are these taken? Beginning of boil and in the FV?

And lastly, well maybe for this post anyway, a glossary of terms? Is there one for noobs like myself? Terms like 'efficiency' I don't fully understand.

Thanks in advance. :beer:

 

[DU99]

full packet of yeast

 

[Hedgehog]

Gday vanoontour.

Go to -Articles
-New brewer
-page 3

You should find what you are looking for. J

 

[stux]

Two packets of lager yeast for a full batch, thus one for your half batch

Efficiency is how much of the attainable extract is in your vessel, be it a kettle, mashtun or fermenter

Take a volume and gravity reading at start of boiling and end of boil

 

[Vanoontour]

Two packets of lager yeast for a full batch, thus one for your half batch

Efficiency is how much of the attainable extract is in your vessel, be it a kettle, mashtun or fermenter

Take a volume and gravity reading at start of boiling and end of boil

Cheers Guys. Stux-How is efficiency measured then? And any comments on the recipe?

 

[loikar]

Cheers Guys. Stux-How is efficiency measured then? And any comments on the recipe?

Mate, Don't even worry about efficiency yet, Just make beer.
get your methods and process down, and then start on the measurements.

My first AG was with my 3V system and I didn't measure anything.
Have no Idea what the alcohol content was, aimed for a 23L batch and ended up with 27L.
It still made all my kit beers taste like they were dry hopped with an old womans arthritic and scaly foot

Seriously, just make beer the first couple of times, work out the 'how' before you start ******* with the 'why'.
I can assure you it will still be better than any of your kit beers.

Cheers,

BF

 

[stux]

Cheers Guys. Stux-How is efficiency measured then? And any comments on the recipe?

Recipe looks like a nice pilsner, I think it will be beer for sure

All maltsters provide a malt spec with their grain, from that you can work out a theoretical potential extract... Or just guess

80% HWE
37 ppg
307 LDK

Measure your volume, measure your gravity

Cortect both back to 20C. Divide by 1.04 to scale boiling water

Theoretical extract is 307LDK times kilograms of grain

Actual is gravity points times volume

One as a percentage of the other is efficiency

 

[bignath]

The OG and FG, when exactly are these taken? Beginning of boil and in the FV?

Whilst it's a good idea to take gravity readings during the boil, not mandatory, but a good regime to get into, the OG (original gravity) and FG (final gravity) don't mean readings taken during the boil.

OG would be the reading taken as your about to start fermenting the batch - ie: in the fermenter, before yeast starts converting sugar to alcohol.
FG is the gravity reading you get when the brew has finished fermenting. 3 days of the same reading (within accepted/expected range) in a row indicates it's done.

Gravity reading done as it's getting to the boil, is your "pre boil gravity". The gravity taken at the end of the boil is your "post boil gravity". The post boil gravity should somewhat resemble the expected original gravity you are aiming for.

Agree with beerfingers. Make beer first, analyse the process after you've cleaned up...(assuming the knowledge on how to make beer is there already)
I'm sure it will probably make a decent pilsner.

Oh and on that point, if you're gonna use a pilsner malt, it's widely accepted (has been debated though) that a 90min boil instead of the standard 60min is better to ensure most or all of the DMS precursors are boiled off. Don't worry too much about this, just keep in mind 90min for pilsner malts, 60min for ale malts.

Good luck mate!

 

[Yob]

It still made all my kit beers taste like they were dry hopped with an old womans arthritic and scaly foot

Aaaahhh... I see where your hatred of all things canned comes from... Personal failure

 

[Vanoontour]

Cheers Gents. The query on efficiency was info only at this stage so when reading other posts I kinda know whats going on. Basic plan is to throw it in a pot and hope, cheers Big Nath for the info on a 90min boil though.

Dan

 

[loikar]

Aaaahhh... I see where your hatred of all things canned comes from... Personal failure

Wow, you just connected two previously non-existent dots based on a fabricated scenario.

however,In order to keep the relevance in your logic :

Chickens don't have eyebrows because dinosaurs were reptiles.

BF

 

[loikar]

And lastly, well maybe for this post anyway, a glossary of terms? Is there one for noobs like myself? Terms like 'efficiency' I don't fully understand.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Brewing+glossary