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Hey guys well i finally did my first AG and as far as i can tell it all went off pretty bloody good and the beersmith has given me an efficiency of 80%..

I used
4.5 kg Pilsner malt
500gm carapils
25 gm northern brewer ( 60 mins)
25 gm saaz (45 mins)
20gm saaz ( 30 mins)
15gm saaz (15 mins)
15gm saaz ( flameout)

Yeast was a wyeast czech pilsner!!!

Estimated SG was 1.050
Actual SG 1.055
Giving me 80% efficiency and an estimated alcohol % of 5.3..

Im stoked so far and cant believe how relatively easy it is in comparison to what i thought it was going to be like..

Doughed in with 13.5 litres at 75*C which brought me down to 67*C which was spot on target temp and over the hour i stirred every 15 mins and overall the tun lost about 1/2 a degree which i think is not to bad..

Continuall/Fly sparged with 18 litres at 80*C which took 1 hour..

Boiled for 60 mins adding hops at intervals and when it was done i used the chiller for about 25 mins which brought me back down to 26*C then i syphoned out of the kettle ( i think this may have been my only stuff up) and unfortunately took alot of the trub in aswell but i figure it will settle out in the fermenter,and pitched yeast, i took the SG after adding yeast so im not sure if this makes much of a difference or not as i usually dont use a hydrometer. Also hit my 23 litres spot on and left behind close enough to a litre of shit ( at least what was left after i syphoned )

I gotta say that it looks and smells bloody beautiful so i will be keeping my fingures crossed and will post all the results as they happen ie. Tasting, FG etc
Dont sit around holding your breaths for too long though as i plan to cc this one for a good month or so..

Anyway she is now in the fridge and dropping as we speak to 12*C which i will leave it at for about 2 weeks then rack and sit for another 1-2 then turn the fridge down to 1 and the rest is history ( actually future considering it hasnt happened yet )

So there you have it guys what do you think she will turn out like???

Oh and i forgot to say that the NB were 8.5%AA and only added because the saaz i have is only 3.4%AA so i tried to cut down on hops but hit my target of mid 30's ibu which is now estimated at 38

You have no idea how envious I am feeling right now - congrats and good job.

The only thing i dont like about this beer brewing caper is now i have to wait till after the new year to try it and im already itching to and it hasnt even been in a day yet

It should be a nice Pilsener IMO Lethal. Good work 80% efficiency is great for a first effort.

Gday Lethal and all,

I have been lurking around this forum now for a couple of weeks, and this is my first post. I have two questions for you lethal...
1. What does 80% efficiency relate too, and
2. how much did your AG brew cost you ?

I hope that it brews up well for you,

Regards

Uncle Joe

Nice work Lethal.

Cheers,
Greg

I use NB for bittering and find it to be great.

Did you take your efficiency reading from the wort before you started the boil?

Uncle Joe wrote:Gday Lethal and all,

I have been lurking around this forum now for a couple of weeks, and this is my first post. I have two questions for you lethal...
1. What does 80% efficiency relate too, and
2. how much did your AG brew cost you ?

I hope that it brews up well for you,

Regards

Uncle Joe

Hey uncle joe and welcome, im not an expert but from what i believe efficiency relates to the success/ amount of sugars extracted from the grain and my brew all up cost ( not counting equipment)

about $9 for grain
About $5 for hops
And just under $2 for a liquid yeast starter

Total $ 16

You will notice that i say about and this is because i buy everything in bulk and i have just rounded the figures up so it is actually slightly cheaper than that

ACTbrewer wrote:I use NB for bittering and find it to be great.

Did you take your efficiency reading from the wort before you started the boil?

No i didnt mate, i actually forgot and only realised as i was adding the yeast, The novice AGer coming to the surface but i will remember next time, is there usually a huge difference between reading?

Leigh that's a brilliant result, you got it right first time up I hate you

After the chill I just get me a whirlpool going with the spoon and then let it all settle for around 15 to 30 minutes with the lid on while I sanitise and prepare the fermenter etc. That allows all the rubbish to settle out. When I siphon, the first hundred ml or so picks up a little debris from the bottom. I just have a metal strainer over the mouth of the fermenter. I find it doesn't really need to be there for any filtering, because so little rubbish comes through, but it does work fantastic as an aerator.

The efficiency difference between mash & system is down to how much is left behind in the kettle. So your mash efficiency would be higher again.

Congrats.

Cheers, Ed

Cheers everyone, i still cant wipe the grin off my head Ive only been planning my first for about 5 months now and it finally happened and went off better than i thought, the missus was also happy cos i didnt make a mess of the kitchen ( did it in the shed).

Just remember fellas that without all the advice i have recieved from you all it would have been a disaster so as far as im concerned we brewed this one, not just me so you all deserve a big pat on the back and a sincere thankyou from me

Excellent work lethaldog & attempting a lager 1st off as well. Hope it turns out to be a ripper - welcome to flavour country

Cheers Ross

Ross wrote:Excellent work lethaldog & attempting a lager 1st off as well. Hope it turns out to be a ripper - welcome to flavour country

Cheers Ross

Cheers ross and thanks for the fantastic hops

mmmm mmmm Things are looking good, it smells so good i keep opening the fridge just to get a whiff Will rack in a couple of days

Well done Leigh - good feeling isnt it. After primary, or when the SG is about 1020-1015 bring the fermenter up to room temp for 48 hours for its diacetyl rest and then rack to secondary and cold condition.
Cheers
Steve

Sounds awesome Leigh - I want to get to this stage one day, still have to do the steps in between first.

please keep us updated

Steve, if you really want to then just do it. That's my opinion anyway. I had only done about 7 K&K's and have jumped straight into all-grain and haven't looked back. So much better and alot more satisying, not to mention the beer is beautiful. My set-up only cost around $130 or so and it may not be the best but it produce's good beer and does the job. You can always upgrade over time. Go the All-grain!!!

I got all the way to all-grain, but other stuff has intruded since, so I don't really get the time any more, so it's back to the K&K for me.

I'm sure I'll do another some day. Just remember that you can get most of the control afforded by all-grain by doing a full-volume all-extract boil. It's the next step, anyway.

SteveACT wrote:Well done Leigh - good feeling isnt it. After primary, or when the SG is about 1020-1015 bring the fermenter up to room temp for 48 hours for its diacetyl rest and then rack to secondary and cold condition.
Cheers
Steve

Damn right it is steve, already done the above last night and its on its way in the secondary, will whack in the fridge in a week and condition/lager for about 6 weeks ( might be over the top but i dont care ) then bottle and start throwing them down after 8-12 weeks, by then i will have another couple on the go and if it tastes as good as it smells then ill be wrapped

Ash wrote:Sounds awesome Leigh - I want to get to this stage one day, still have to do the steps in between first.

please keep us updated

Will do m8, ill be letting you know how it tastes in about 4- 5 months while im drooling over a big frothy glass