Hi all, I'm another (intermittent) kit brewer in the UK whose got more and more interested in all grain as a serious hobby i.e. to try and produce the best beer i can, not just a cheap substitute for shop bought stuff. Hence my BeerSmith subscription (on YouTube beer videos, its always BeerSmith that's mentioned!).
I've done a few AG's as trial and error. I have a 30l Klarstein mash tun (not a recirculator and the temp control is rubbish - seems its a common problem on this model - but its excellent at holding a mash temp); I have a 26l brupak electric boiler and 23 litre plastic fermenters. Then I bottle.
After trying the fly sparge method with poor results I now batch sparge - I got the exact method from the BeerSmith site. I had also tried cooling via the standard copper thingy but it took 50 minutes to cool the wort. I'm on a water meter and its also seems a waste of water, so I now use the no-chill method.
I've set up my equipment profile so now I'm getting to know the software and reading up. Then I'll select a recipe and actually try to hit some simple parameters instead of throwing it all in and hoping for the best!
I've done a few AG's as trial and error. I have a 30l Klarstein mash tun (not a recirculator and the temp control is rubbish - seems its a common problem on this model - but its excellent at holding a mash temp); I have a 26l brupak electric boiler and 23 litre plastic fermenters. Then I bottle.
After trying the fly sparge method with poor results I now batch sparge - I got the exact method from the BeerSmith site. I had also tried cooling via the standard copper thingy but it took 50 minutes to cool the wort. I'm on a water meter and its also seems a waste of water, so I now use the no-chill method.
I've set up my equipment profile so now I'm getting to know the software and reading up. Then I'll select a recipe and actually try to hit some simple parameters instead of throwing it all in and hoping for the best!