First All-Grain brew

[Ceedee]

Hi all,

I've decided to make the jump and try my first all-grain brew shortly. I'm thinking of this one...

http://www.geterbrewed.com/refreshing-light-lager-all-grain-ingredient-kit/

I have a fermentation fridge, so temperature control isn't an issue. We have a big birthday later this year and I was going to provide a few different beers for the event. I already have a Summer Ale and an IPA ready but they aren't to everyone's taste, hence the desire to do a lager.

I'm pretty much sorted for the equipment side of things, just need to get my hands on a cooler for a mash-tun. I already have a boil kettle and fermenters. What I'd like to know is should I get anything additional on the ingredient front ? Brew Enhancer (DME or Dextrose)? Different Hops, more hops ? Anything else you'd recommend to increase my chances of producing a drinkable result for September ?

Cheers

[Qs]

Even with temp control I'd do a few ales before trying a light lager like that. Thats going to show up any flaws in your process and this will be your first time with your process. You also have no idea how your efficiency will work out so that kit could come in quite a bit below or above the ABV you expect. It also uses flaked adjunct which is something I'd skip on my first time mashing too. Maybe try a cream ale or a kolsch if you want something to please your lager drinkers.

[LordEoin]

if you are determined to do it as your first, I'd say just stick to the provided ingredients to keep it as simple as possible

[Ceedee]

Good points....I guess I'm just keen to "get mashing". I'll try the cream ale or a kolsch, which definitely sounds good, but will start off with a few small batch ales to get a feel for my process.

Thanks!

[molc]

One thing I changed a lot at the start was batch size and it really screwed with my process learning. Pick a batch size and tune around that for a while until you get a feel for your kit. Practice really does make perfect.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

[DEMPSEY]

Remember to make a starter. You are going to be fermenting around 10C and 1 packet of yeast is not enough. If you pitch the 1 packet it will ferment but the low cell count would cause the yeast to strain and you will develop off flavors. Best way to do a starter is 1 liter of water and 100Gr of malt extract to have a 1038 gravity. Boil it and then cool and pitch the packet. keep it around 20C and if you have a stir plate use that otherwise shake it everytime you pass the container. Because its alot of yeast in a little wort you will have the starter complete in 48 hours so plan to brew after that.

[Ceedee]

Thanks for all the advice, all very welcome. While I decided to do a few more extract kits and then a BIAB or two before jumping into all-grain, I was given this as a gift today

http://www.geterbrewed.com/stove-top-ingredient-kit-german-blonde/

But it comes with no instructions, so I'm a bit stumped on how to proceed. As it's a "stove-top" I assume it's going to end up around the 5 litre mark. So fermentable in one of the plastic water bottles. The kit includes the following:

A pack of Saaz hop pellets
11.5 grams of Safbrew S33 yeast
A pack of dried seaweed, at least it smells like seaweed, so I assume it's for clarifying.
A bag of crushed grain, 1kg

I can figure out the liquid volume required for the boil and sparge, but where I'm stumped is on the yeast. The packet says it is enough for 20 to 30 litres, but this wont be anywhere near that volume, so once I have the final wort, do I just scale down the yeast weight to match the volume I have?

Fermentation temp. I was planning on fermenting at 18c.

Any other hints and tips?

[Drum]

You could probably use half the yeast alright.  That's more than likely the smallest pack size the yeast is sold in.  There's a few yeast pitching rate calculators online if you have a google so you can figure it out exactly if you want to. 

Make a little boat out of tin foil and stick it in the oven to sterilise it. use that to weigh out the yeast if you don't have something else that can be easily sterilised and doesnt weigh more than your scales can tare.

[DEMPSEY]

That kit is £10 sterling for to make only 5 liters .

[Ceedee]

Yep, crazy pricing. Probably explains why the kit looks like it's been sitting around for a while. No indication on the packaging of when the grains were milled, but there is a good layer of flour on the bottom of the plastic bag.

If it wasn't a gift, I'd avoid, but as I did some PC work for my brother's business, and he knew I was looking to move to all-grain, he got me this. I'll brew it anyway and see what comes out the other end.

[BrewDorg]

In fairness, I don't think the kits are milled & packaged until they're ordered, so it'll be fresh at least. Did the instructions indicate a final volume? 5L seems awful low

[Ceedee]

Nothing in the kit apart from the ingredients. From the GEB web page for the kit, all it says is:

A traditional German Blonde Ale with German Nobel hops. A well balanced malt profile with Saaz hops
Its a simple brew to make at home on your stove top;
60 Minute Mash time followed by sparging then a 60 minute boil, the hops are added at different stages throughout the boil to add bitterness, flavour and aroma, fermentation and then bottling.
An impressive 6% craftbeer packed with flavour in a 5 litre format

I like a challenge