Attention new all grain brewers! - Page 6

boo boo · 12-02-2007, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaiser

Yes, but you need quite a lot of strike water. I mostly mash with about 1.5 - 2 qts/lb which is considered a fairly thin mash.

Kai

I mash thicker than that, about 1.2 quarts per pound, because of the limitations of my 5 gallon mash tun when using 12 pounds of grain.

gkeusch · 12-03-2007, 02:08 PM

Nicely done. I sure wish I had read this before my first try. What an abortion that was!

rhag1128 · 12-03-2007, 05:56 PM

First off... I wouldn't be an AG brewer without the support of this group. Thanks to all. All the info for first time AG people in this post is right on. I applied many of these techniques and rules of thumb / calculations and they produced helped me produce the best IIPA and RIS in my 11 years of brewing. Heres where I had my problems and learned from them:

Set up: 10 gal round with stainless false bottom. 20# grain bill - crushed.
Issue 1-
False bottom let too much grain by, Causing a clog in my line. slow/stuck sparge.
Next time: Copper manifold with stainless braid over copper.
Issue 2-
Used hops plugs and pellets in boil My advice - Use hops sock or other hop containment method. Also had grain as well as hops attempting to flow into my plate chiller.
Next time : Hops sock and bazooka type screen drain.
Issue 3- Sparge: Performed a batch sparge and it worked fine. Next time I will attempt fly sparging with some 60 mesh nylon screen above grain bed with sparge water flow thru screen.
I did not worry about pH or measure efficiency the first time. I wanted to understand timing and the mechanics of the process first. Next time I will start filling out my log sheet.
One last thing - make sure you have plenty of hot water ready for your steps that need water of a certain temp. Get a good propane burner 150K btu at least.

Time to search for a good McEwans scotch ale recepie. Thanks all

Randy

98EXL · 12-03-2007, 06:55 PM

I'm still not understanding why the wort tastes sweet sometimes right before I pitch....it baffles me.

PseudoChef · 12-03-2007, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 98EXL

I'm still not understanding why the wort tastes sweet sometimes right before I pitch....it baffles me.

Because there's a ton of sugar (simply put) in the wort. Fermentation occurs because yeast convert sugar to ethanol and CO2.

EDIT: I think I am seeing sarcasm now. Teh Intraweb!

Hermish · 12-03-2007, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by njnear76

I haven't done an All Grain yet, but I'm working on a script which will generate directions specific to the recipe you are using. Check it out here. I researched a bit to gather all the information. The calculations seem right. The only problem is that I probably have many spelling errors. There's a reason why I write software for a living. Heh.

I didn't see anyone comment on this web page, but it seems like some real good information to me. Good for what to do if you run into any problems along the way that need to be corrected.

njnear76 · 12-03-2007, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermish

I didn't see anyone comment on this web page, but it seems like some real good information to me. Good for what to do if you run into any problems along the way that need to be corrected.

Thanks for the shout-out.

I actually moved the directions/calculator to here and corrected some errors. I had a problem printing from the geocities site, because of their advertisement scheme.

Mike

**Bobby_M** · 12-03-2007, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turkeyfoot Jr.

I'm brewing two batches this weekend for the specific purpose of sorting out my efficiency issues. Reading through this really helped by I have one question still.

If I'm using the correct volume of water how much does it matter if it's in the strike or sparge? I'm brewing two batches of beer this weekend to work out some efficiency issues. In one batch I'm going for a 1.5:1 quart/pound ratio for the mash and according to Beersmith I'd use the same ratio for my sparge to reach my desired boil volume. In the other batch I'm going for a 2:1 ratio and once again it works out that my strike and sparge volumes are almost identical. The two batches have different amounts of grain so that I could keep the volumes of water the same and get the biggest boil I can manage.

So, would it be better to keep things as they are or to drop the mash ratio in each batch by a bit and increase the sparge by the same amount? From reading this thread it sounds like most people are doing a smaller mash ratio and a larger sparge ratio but is that really necessary as long as the same amount of water is used in total?

I don't know for sure which is better but I can tell you that I always go stiffer mash (1.15 to 1.3 qts/lb) and break the sparge into two equal infusions and I hit about 90% rather consistently.

ameadrat · 12-04-2007, 01:15 AM

I would like to a make a suggestion. If you are young to all grain, forget the words like efficiency. Focus on the steps, the temperatures, the water you are going add and the mash temperatures. and keep notes as to what you are doing,every time you do something. Compare with your original game plan, then make corrections when you make that brew again. The decsion on the beer comes when it is ready for the glass. I have been brewing seriously for 10 years,
I cant tell you my IBU,S, my color numbers or my efficiency. My last porter cost me
$24 for 2 cases thats versus $7 a six pack. My scottish ale $40.00 for 2 cases versus traquar at $5.50 a bottle. Now thats efficiency. Note I got a Parti- Gyle case off the scottish added 4 gallons of water and 4 lbs of brown sugar and got a wicked barley wine out of the leftovers in the sparge.

**TexLaw** · 12-04-2007, 01:15 PM

That's a mighty good tip. Also, it's not a bad idea to keep a few pounds of light DME handy, so you really don't have to worry about efficiency.

TL