If you do go the chilly bin route what's worked well for me so far (the one brew we've done) is a spigot through the end where the drainhole already is, with a length of braided stainless sheathing fastened to the inside of it and crimped off at one end. That sits under the grain bed, does the filtering, gets pretty much all of the wort off no problem, and runs clear after about 500ml (which you just recirculate anyway, so you don't lose anything. Nice and easy to clean/sanitise too!
Just bottled my first AG brew - an IPA. 4kg Aussie pale malt, 500g crystal malt, then Cascade and Goldings hops in now-forgotten quantities at 60, 15 and 5min in the boil. US05 yeast. OG 1.045 before fermentation, 1.010 at bottling.
All I have to do now is try not to touch it for a few weeks and see what it's like.
Permalink Reply by Dan on August 26, 2008 at 12:45am
Nice one! you are obviously happy with the outcome! I can unbelievably still remember my first all grain , it was a lucknow IPA clone, again not hoppy enough to really be an ipa but it was good, clean, sharp and very drinkable, it was produced from a mesh bag in a bucket and alot of effort, (sweating) still after welll over a hundred brews ive not done one similar to that, may have to get back to clone brewing once in a while rather than making recipes while im milling!
Ahhh the memories , my first few bags of handmilled (dunedin malthouse) barley,. spending hours there picking and milling my own grain, choosing the hops and spending my last dollar on anything. (Good Times). Good onya Dennis
Good to see that you waited two weeks! I never really stop drinking mine. I try it almost every day from when it comes out of the fermenter into the keg, and usually it is tasting spot on by the time I finish the keg ;-)
That's why I started brewing double batches! It's tasting gerat by the time I start the second keg.
Good on you Vdog, having just started all grain brewing myself, I can definitely promote it's benefits. It takes the beer to a new level, as far as home brewing is concerned. You'll get plenty of good advice here too. Keep us informed mate?!
I just bottled an APA, about a week ago, I can't wait to try it. I am plowing through my stout at the moment, so maybe I need another, but I want to do a pils or something similar. I just ordered some Wyeast's, so I am planning something for them. I can definitely recommend using a good yeast as well (as opposed to a dry yeast), it makes a huge difference.