First attempt at all grain
 

So I finally decided to make my first attempt at an all grain. I'm just doing a simple American ale.

8 lbs pale 2 row
1 lb crystal 40l
1 oz chinook (.25 oz @ 60, .25 @ 30 and .5 @ 15)
1 oz cascade (.5 @ 60, .25 @ 45, .25 @ 15)
Cooper's ale yeast

I'm now in the lautering process and I seem to be having troubles. I think that I started sparging too quickly at first. My wort started at 1.060 and after about 2 gallons it had already dropped to 1.016. I went ahead and slowed my sparge down a lot and after about 20 minutes what was coming out was at about 1.018. The wort's only at about 1.035, though, with 2 gallons more needed. OG is supposed to be 1.053. Hopefully, it will get closer to where it needs to be after it boils off. I don't think I'm going to get anywhere near where I need to be, though.

What was your process and equipment? Did you do a "mashout"?

No mashout. I used 1.25 quarts per lb of grain. I did mash for an extra 15 minutes, though, due to my baby needing a bottle RIGHT NOW. I mashed at 148 although I was shooting for 152. My sparge water was 170. It looks like I'm sitting at 1.022 preboil.

You could do a decoction with about 3 gal. to get your mash up to 168, then rest for 10 minutes, vorlauf and the slowly drain out your mash. This should convert more sugars and help in extracting them. I don't think you'll get great efficiency but much better than where your at.
Good luck,
Bull

How much did you collect? If your runnings were at 1.018, you could have added more sparge water. If you collected 7.5 gal, you would boil off to 5 gal. at 1.053. But it sounds like you are leaving a lot of sugar behind. You can sparge with no taste problems until 1.008 or a bit lower.

I collected about 6 gallons. I'm pretty sure that I left a lot behind but I was trying to avoid a boilover. I added a couple of cups of DME and boiled off at least a gallon so we'll see how it ends up.

Here's my mash tun http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/rate-my-mash-tun-175718/

As for the boil pot I'm just using a 30 quart turkey fryer. I had to split the batch into two boils. The grain that's left in my mash tun isn't sweet at all and I was down to 1.010 when I stopped sparging. I probably could have squeezed out a little bit more but I wanted to get the boil started.

I ended up with 4 gallons of wort at 1.034 OG. I guess I'll know to be more careful when sparging next time.

nothing at flamout? I like a little there, and maybe a bit of dry hop. Maybe just me, but when the glass is to my face I like to smell the hops (with a pale ale).

batch sparge?

It was supposed to be a continuous sparge but it ended up being more like a batch sparge. Before I dumped my mash tun I went ahead and got another gallon of wort out of it. It measured 1.036 so I probably could have gotten MUCH better efficiency if I had taken things slower. I'm going to pick up an ounce of hops at the LBHS tomorrow, add some DME and make a small batch of beer out of it tomorrow. I'll try again in a few days. I really want to get a full size kettle so that I don't have to split the boil. It wastes propane and I don't like having half of my wort sitting around before and after the boil.

As for adding more at flameout or dry hopping I only had a couple of ounces of hops lying around. It was supposed to be a cheap, easy, quick and dirty recipe. Once I get my efficiency up I'll start spending money on hops. Till then the finished product doesn't warrant it.