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I know exactly how you feel Leigh,
Keep production up and keep tweeking the recipes.
Cheers Glenn

Having my first glass of this one as i type, straight out of the new keg and she is bloody fantastic..

Cheers for all the help guys

Man, you've got patience. I'm drinking mine straight from the fermenter.....for scientific reasons of course

Jub

I tried tasting it while still in the LHBS, but it was all dry and chewy. The bloke behind the counter laughed when I popped a hop pellet into my mouth to balance the flavour out...

haha the only reason i waited was to try out the new kegs, i tasted it while it was in the fermenter and it was so good i almost went and grabbed a glass but i controlled myself, Glad i did now

Did another 1 of these today with just a touch less hops as the first was a little to bitter ( still very tasty though), see how this one goes

Good stuff!

As I found out yesterday, you can't stop at just one...

Well how did it turn out?

Ah i havent actually tried it yet as i fermented it for a couple of weeks, then racked and then put in the fridge at 1-2*C for about 6 weeks, its been in the keg now for about a week so ill give it a couple more and let you know

Good job Lethal - that's a good recipe and yes, once the mystique of all grain brewing is blown away by actually doing one, you find it's not all that hard after all! NB is a good choice for bittering - it's one of my favourite hops. Plenty of saaz will make it a nice lager - almost Dortmunder'ish...

rwh wrote:<snip>
...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.

Yeah right... That's why everyone brews extract beers...Sorry, I'm not descending into an extract v all grain elitist slanging match, but I've never found an extract that gives the fresh flavours and malt complexity compared to freshly cracked and mashed malt...
Extract brewing is fine - I did it for years - but only because I didn't have the time, equipment and knowledge. You ignore the significant impact that a temperature controlled mash imparts on the wort - you can use the same grains and make several different beers by simply controlling the mash temp. How much control did you have when the malster made the extract???
And to suggest that a first timer's all grain is as close as dammit to an extract full volume boil is just plain wrong, IMHO.
//rant ends//

Cheers,
TL

Jeeze, you're reading some old posts. Agreed, all-grain is better... whether it's 3 times as good is debatable (6 hours vs 2 hours). I guess this is the law of diminishing returns again.

Ill spend 6 hours any day of the week on an AG for the quality of the finished product and as far as im concerned, nothin else stacks up, in saying that though ive done some pretty tasty kits and extracts but AG is miles ahead in flavour and character

lethaldog wrote:Ill spend 6 hours any day of the week on an AG for the quality of the finished product and as far as im concerned, nothin else stacks up, in saying that though ive done some pretty tasty kits and extracts but AG is miles ahead in flavour and character

Apologies if I am overstating the point, but I don't think there is any comparison between my extract and kit brews and my grain brews. I am so very happy with the stuff I am making out of grain. It's about flavour, but also about having control over the process that I did not have with kits or extracts.

Better still, it is leading me in other directions as well. I am paying even more attention to my yeast - I built a stirplate this weekend for yeast propagation, I am playing with different ferment temperatures for the same brew. I am playing with no-chill methods. The list goes on and bores my friends silly until I offer them another beer...

I am a born-again brewer.

Totally agree with the last 2 posts.

The few Ag's I've made make my kit beers weak and watery by comparison.

Now I feel obsessed with brewing, as opposed to simply putting a brew together once a fortnight. I find myself constantly thinking what to brew next, what grains/hops to buy, How to improve my brew days etc.

It is the most engaging hobby I've had in my many years on this Earth.

Got me!!
Will have trouble finding the time though when i do get into it by the sounds but as it seems, well worth the time.
As for boring friends silly, i mention the first letter in the word beer and my wife is now screaming,"NO MORE".
Still helps me bottle most batches though.

Longrasser wrote:Well how did it turn out?

awesome, am having one now and i am enjoying it so much that i may not be able to sit let alone type very shortly

The drop in hops, which wasnt that drastic, was deffinately a major improvement and i think the extended lagering also made a big difference

'Drop in hops' - looks like you got some more tuning to do.. poor bastard!!!