For my first effort I wanted to keep things simple and recipes don't get simpler than this:
4kg Pale Malt
200g Torrefied Wheat (for head retention)
45g Amarillo @ 90mins
35g Amarillo @ 10 mins
15g Amarillo @ 0 mins
I'd like to say that the recipe was mine but it wasn't and need to thank Drew the Brew from the Brew it Yourself forum for it.
So the obvious question is: how was it? Did you find much difference between that and the kits you'd been brewing?
ReplyDeleteYes Vdog, I found loads of differences. The obvious one is that it tastes loads better(or at least the bottled version of the beer does, I think the kegged one needs a bit longer).
ReplyDeleteThe All Grain beer is ready sooner (although I know those who say it takes just as long as a kit) but the main difference was the time it takes to brew. I could knock a kit up in 30 minutes but a brew day is pretty much that.
As I get more efficient with my timings, that will improve but you're talking 45 minutes to heat the water up, about 5-10 minutes doughing in, 90 minutes mash, about 30 minutes sparging, another 15-20 minutes getting the temp up to a rolling boil, then 90 mins at a rolling boil and another 40-45 to get the wort down to pitching temp. And then there's the clearing up.
I suppose the good thing is that I usually get some bottling or racking of the previous brew done but, in any event, the results have been well worth it so far.
It's weird. I quite like the taste of early AG beer. It's got a freshness to the malt. Leave it longer though and the flavour matures. The hop flavour becomes a bit more prominent and the malt freshness blends in a bit more. You can drink AG brews alot sooner than kits but it's also good to condition them as well.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're convinced that all that extra effort is worth while anyway.
Depending on your process, you'll find it gets much quicker - as an example, my quickest brew day has been about four and a half to five hours including cleanup, for a 75L batch. The main thing is having a thermostat or timer on the HLT which means it can be filled and set up in advance, ready for you to dough in.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely agree it's ready sooner, which is particularly good for hoppy beers as the hop aroma doesn't have so much time to dissipate.
Glad you've found it a worthwhile thing to convert, welcome to the dark side...