Introduction
Welcome to the heart of Fox Tail brewing, where creativity and precision merge to turn raw ingredients into liquid gold. That is what I would say if I was a professional brewery with a fantastic marketing team, instead, welcome to my garage where half of it is setup for my home brewing fun, half is a pottery studio, there is a chest freezer to feed the family and four bikes.
In this blog post, I'm going to share my first ever experience brewing on the Grainfather G30 v3. I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit more nervous about this brew day compared to my previous brew days on the Minibrew system. But hey, it's all fun, let's go!
Final note, I'm going to be doing this first brew 'by the book', I'm sure as I get more used to the system there are plenty of shortcuts to take, so experienced Grainfather brewers bear with me.
Preparations
It's Sunday afternoon, the equipment has been well cleaned using the cleaning solution provided and I'm ready to go. I'm going to brew my favourite beer, Fox's Brush. So I'm diving in with a beer of my own concoction rather than a simpler SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) beer. This is a hazy IPA coming in at around 5.5%. I'm actually going to be taking OG and FG readings this time too to see where it actually ends up. One thing I'm really interested in seeing is if there is any real difference between the beers brewed on the two systems that I have.
Strike the Mash
Here we go then, My water (16.9l initially) is added and heated to the right temperature. It's time to start the mash. I pour the ingredients in and stir, this feels more hands on than I'm use to already....maybe a bit less messy too. Because of the volume I had multiple bags of ingredients (see above) so stirring them both in took a while to get right. I wanted to make sure that there were no dough balls in the mash.
If I was a professional brewery with a fantastic marketing team, I would say, the air is filled with the earthy aroma of crushed malt as it's mixed with hot water in the mash tun. This process activates enzymes that convert starches into fermentable sugars. As steam rises and temperatures are closely monitored, the brewery comes alive with the promise of flavors taking shape.
The reality is that I'm stirring the mash wondering if I've stirred it enough or if I've stirred it too much.
I let the mash brew for around 60 minutes at 65 degrees. The smell is really good and very similar to the other system that I have so I must be doing something right.
Lautering and Sparging
Lauter comes from the German word abläutern, meaning roughly “to rinse off” or purify. Lautering refers to the process of separating sweet wort from the grain bed.
So to do this I lift the grain basket out of the drum and rest it on the shelf within the unit (see above). The wort starts to drop into the drum...OH MY DAYS this took forever!!! Once the initial wort has run through I start to sparge the grains.
Sparge derives from the Latin spargere, meaning “to sprinkle or scatter,” and refers to the practice of sprinkling hot water over the grain bed to rinse sugars off of the grains as wort is drained from the lauter tun. Or in my terms, filling a 2 litre jug with 75 degree water and pouring it over the grains. I added 15.9 liters of additional water to the through the grains.
The Boil
Once the lauter and sparge are both complete, we move to the boiling stage.
If I was a professional brewery with a fantastic marketing team, I would say, Flames ignite beneath, and the wort begins its journey to a rolling boil. As the liquid heats up, hops are added in carefully timed intervals. The aromas released fill the air with a tantalising blend of floral, citrus, and pine notes.
Sounds great, but my first boil over boiled (see the image above), so I had to quickly open the doors, turn on the extractor fan so that it settled down. Think about when you over boil potatoes or pasta on the hob...that's what happened. The clean up is gonna suck.
So once calmed down I let the wort boil for 60 mins. I add some Mosaic hops for the bitterness in with 45 mins ofthe boil left and with 5 mins of the boil left I add in El Dorado and Citra hops for the aroma.
Chill Out!
If I was a professional brewery with a fantastic marketing team, I would say, after the boil, the wort is cooled rapidly, a process that requires both precision and speed. The steamy haze gives way to the satisfying sound of liquid flowing through heat exchangers. The cooled wort, now ready for fermentation, holds the essence of the hops and malts that have danced together in the kettle.
But first, I had to get the counter flow chiller setup and working! I set it up, I started the pump and recirculated for a few mins..great!!! I turned the pump off and got ready to transfer the cooled (approx 20 degrees) wort into the fermenter.
OH NO, I realise I had the counter flow chiller upside down, in reality it didn't make any different, but I thought the flow would be quicker if it was the right way around. It wasn't any quicker and this represented another stage which seemed to take an age! I even tried to add gravity to see if that would speed it up (see above).
The idea of the counter flow chiller is essentially a heat exchange, hot wort goes in, cooler wort comes out....so I needed to apply some patience.
It worked a treat, transfer complete, here we go.
Fermentation
Done, the wort has been moved to the fermenter and the fermenter has been moved into the garage where it will live for the next 18 days.
I took an OG (Original Gravity) reading, this came out at 1060 (see above) which is 10 higher than I was aiming for, so there a potential that this beer will finish at about 5.6-5.8%. A little higher that planned.
After the OG reading I pitch my yeast. The wort is at a good 20 degrees so an ideal temperature to pitch the yeast. Yeast is alive, so hot wort would kill them. Think about when you get into a super hot bath. Yeast doesn't have time to gently sit in the water, they get chucked in. So the temperature is very important!
If I was a professional brewery with a fantastic marketing team, I would say, It's here that the real magic happens. The yeast's hungry microorganisms feast on the sugars, producing alcohol and a symphony of flavors. Our brewers monitor the fermentation closely, adjusting temperatures and conditions to coax out the perfect profile.
Yeh......I put the fermenter and glycol chiller into manage mode and it does all the work for me. It will keep the beer at 20 degree whilst the yeast does it thing, then after the 14 days are up, I will drop the temperature to 5 degrees to cold crash it.
The glycol chiller is fantastic by the way! Within a minute or so of setting it all up, the wort was at the correct temperature and it has been ever since. Brilliant.
Cleaning
Not to bad to be honest.
If I was a professional brewery with a fantastic marketing team, I would say, amidst the whirlwind of brewing activity, cleanliness remains paramount. As one batch ferments, the brewery is a hive of activity with equipment being cleaned, sanitised, and prepared for the next round. Maintaining a sterile environment ensures that each batch meets our high standards.
But actually I just had to wash everything down. Super hot water and effort got the drum and the grain basket clean. I had extra cleaning to do because of the over boiling that happened. Ah well. I then used the counter flow chiller to clean out the pipes and the filter.
A surprisingly easy clean up.
Wrapping Up the Day and my conclusion
If I was a professional brewery with a fantastic marketing team, I would say, As the sun begins to set, the brew day draws to a close. The once-bustling brewery now rests, the sweet scent of brewing lingers in the air. The yeast has done its job, and the wort has transformed into beer, brimming with potential. Tomorrow, it will be a step closer to finding its way into your glass.
Actually, the reality is that I really enjoyed this brew day and my first Grainfather G30 v3 experience. I didn't need to be worried, I needed to be more patience than I needed on other brew days, but this was a more hands on brew day which is what I was after.
I'm already thinking about what to brew next and whether I can justify a second fermenter. But again, I need to be patient, I have some time to go before I get to sample my new beer, I can't wait.
Comments