jbenedetto

Recipes 

this will be my first all grain batch, but i think you mash, sparge, and then boil with hops for 90 minutes. THEN cool to 64o and pitch your yeast.

I posted this recipe to the recipator:

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator?group=20&item=7700

Cugel

Recipes 

What grains do you refer to? There are no specialty grains just pilsener and sugar. Just wondering as you're an extract guy - like myself.

If you want to go AG then mash the grains at 149 for 60 mins, sparge and boil for 90 mins and you're good to go.

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Relax, don't worry etc. and so on.

Primaries: Old Ale, Barleywine, ESB, Scottish 80/.
Secondaries: Lime Wine, Strawberry-Banana Mead, Carmenere (from 144 lbs of grapes!), Engl. Barleywine, Modded JOAM, Concord Grape Pyment.
Kegs: Choc/Coffee Stout, Saison, Dry Stout.
Bottles: Belgian Str. Dark, Dubbel, Cider X 2, Modded JOAM, RJS Pinot Noir, RJS Aussie Cab. Sauv.
Coming soon: Blueberry Mead.

UnaBonger

Recipes 

Being an extract guy, like yourself, when I read "11 lbs Pislener malt" I assumed it was a grain... My bad.

If I were to go this newfangled "all-grain" route I'm a little fuzzy on the sparge... I get the mash part and boil part... Can anyone dumb down the sparge term enough for me to understand what needs to be done to accomplish it?

Chriso

Recipes 

OK. Hold up. We need to clarify what we're talkin' about here.

11# of Pilsner Malt is indeed a grain, it is a base grain. There's not really "steeping" with base grains. If you want to use extract, I would just use Pilsen Light DME or Xtra Light DME, and if possible, do a late addition for about 2/3 of it. (Make sure to calc your hops correctly if you do a late addition.)

What you are used to steeping are specialty grains, for the most part, and their job is to add colors and flavors to the wort. In the case of a Belgian Golden Strong, there AREN'T really any colors or flavors to add -- because the yeast is responsible for most of the flavor!

You could, theoretically, ferment the entire time at 64˚F, but you *might* see a stuck fermentation, and you will probably miss out on some of the yeast-caused esters, which really "make" a BGSA what it is. Are there any warmer rooms in the house that, after 2-3 days of fermentation, you could move the fermenter to for a while? Or can you just raise the thermostat a bit, and deal with a warm house for a few days towards the end of your fermentation?

Finally: Sparging. To make it as simple as possible....

• Mashing, as you know, is one big steep, with a carefully calculated amount of water (that determines your mash thickness) at a certain temperature (that determines your wort's fermentability and flavor profile).
• Once starch conversion is complete, and you are done with your mash, you drain the sweet wort out of the mash tun. But a number of sugars are still stuck in the grain bed, so sparging basically just rinses those sugars out of the grain -- but in a controlled manner.
• There are two kinds of sparging, batch and fly, and they work in slightly different ways.

(Past here, John Palmer's How To Brew and other sources, like the HBT wiki, should be able to fill in all the details. )

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carnevoodoo

Recipes 

Pilsener malt is a type of grain. This recipe is just one type of grain and a lot of sugar.

Sparge = rinse. You get water at the right temp and you just mix it in with the grain you're using and you drain again. It gets all the sugar out. It is just rinsing.

jbenedetto

Recipes 

I'm inexperienced, but I've been reading about the mashing/lautering process lately. It's a fairly simple process that for some reason gets overcomplicated when an explanation is attempted. I think I understand it, so here goes:

Sparging is the process of rinsing to extract fermentable sugars from the grain. As I understand it, it involves pouring the wort back into the mashtun after draining/"lautering" the initial mash. Think of it as a second rinse for the grains.

There's fly sparging, where you spray the wort in and drain it at the same time/rate. Fly sparging is generally considered the most efficient, meaning more fermentable sugars are extracted from the grains. Batch sparging is where you pour it all in at once, and then drain. It is a much simpler method, but considered less efficient and thus may require more grain to get the right starting gravity. Most homebrewers get acceptable results using this method.

jb

UnaBonger

Recipes 

All excellent posts on helping me understand sparging. Thanks

Tempted to try this recipe but the fermentation temps are scaring me away... My basement is cool and the thought of moving the beer upstairs and warming my old house above normal temps have me thinking that it would be a VERY expensive beer!

Chriso

Recipes 

What about a small empty closet and a space heater (with a thermostat)?

Start with the space heater off, and on Day 3, turn it on its lowest setting... bump a little each day.... keep a digital thermometer probe tucked inside the door to keep an eye on things?

There are lots of clever ways to do it. If you use glass carboys, you could probably do the opposite of a swamp cooler - use a small Aquarium heating pump to raise the water temperature......

Or, just make sure to keep the carboy off of the floor (piece of lumber) to keep heat from being pulled out through the floor, and wrap in a sleeping bag if you want to contain the heat. Even in a 64˚ room, you could probably get your internal temp up into the 70-72˚ range if you're clever about it.

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robp7787

Recipes 

I brewed a duvel clone about three weeks ago. After the main fermentation mellowed, I transferred it to a glass carboy. It's been there over 2 weeks. Are there any signs I should be looking for? I know I'm supposed to wait a few months, but how do I know when to bottle? Should I just check the gravity? Or am I waiting to see the beer start to clear? I know I'm supposed to be patient. Let me know what to look for.

In case you haven't guessed, I'm a noob, and this was only the 5th batch I've brewed.

Beernip

Recipes 

How long would you leave this at 82oF before long term storage temps? Until fermentation is complete? ~2weeks

Age at ~60oF-65oF