Double Brew Day

After the closure of the Thrifty Shopper website, I didn't have a handy way to get ingredients sized for the recipes I wanted to do, that meant ordering a 25kg sack of Maris Otter from the Malt Miller instead. Because of the size of the thing, I didn't really fancy having it delivered to work, so I had to wait until I could organise a time for the other half to be home to receive the delivery. That combined with several family visits delayed brewing rather too long, so I decided to be adventurous and do a double brewday.

This was the first brewday using the pot now it has the tap in it, and I'm not sure how I survived for so long with out it. Other than the length of the day, the fact that I was quite tired and that I had two dogs to look after, it was a breeze. The method was modified a bit and efficiency has increased dramatically.

Essentially, I'm now doing a large volume (26L or so) brew in a bag as I was doing, but during the mash step I heat another smaller stockpot of water up for a sparge step. I sparge using the very ghetto method of using a measuring jug to place water in a foil tray sat on top of the large stockpot, whilst letting the wort out of the tap at the bottom into a fermenter.

The problem with the increase in efficiency is that the beer is way stronger than I'd initially designed, although if I'm honest I did just pick out a round 5kg of grain, and because I've gone particularly bitter on the beer I don't think it's going to hurt it being stronger.