02 July 2008

1st time All-Grain

Malt. Mild Ale, Crystal, and Chocolate. All you can really see is the crystal and a little bit of the mild ale.




My humble brewpot:



Saxo, for inspirational purposes:




My humble mash-tun, overfilled. I had to put a bit into the brewpot early so I could close the lid.

A Fuggle plug, for those who don't know. Surpisingly, many homebrewers have only ever seen pelletized hops. I prefer these:



As they say in all the books: a "vigorous boil":



Terrible efficiency, I know, but for my 6 gallons of 1.033 wort I used:


12 lbs. mild ale malt (Munton's)


2 lbs. crystal malt, 80 L


1/4 lb. chocolate malt


1/4 oz. Fuggle in the mash


1/4 oz. Fuggle 1st wort hopped


1/4 oz. Fuggle last 15 minutes, flavor


1/4 oz. Fuggle last 7 minutes, aroma

added 1 lb. sugar to come to 1.040 starting gravity

Wyeast Activator pack of the Ringwood strain. Yes, I did a diacetyl rest in case you wondered, though I'm not sure it was required.


Fermented at ambient temps around 74-76F and finished at 1.004! A pretty classy lawnmower beer, if I say so myself. Did the trick when I got done mowing yesterday, anyway.

Poor extract aside, it turned out to be really good! I'll post some new pics after Independance Day so you can see the finished product.

(edit to add a couple pics 7-7-08)

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