Gameplan for first AG recipe

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

alfista

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Dec 26, 2005
Messages
172
Reaction score
1
Location
Boston
Ok,

I've read numerous posts and a few chapters on the subject and think I'm ready to try my first AG recipe. I have a kit for an irish red from morebeer.com and have bought some yeast at a semi-lhbs. I'm looking for comments on my gameplan outlined below for any tips on 'gotcha's' I might encounter. If not an unreasonable request, I'd appreciate 'Replies for Dummies'. I know that there are fancier methods of sparging, and debatable ratios for mashing/sparging waters, but I don't think I'm ready for those debates as comments on this thread - I want to get my first batch under my belt to understand the process and look at tweaks in the future.

Equipment:
6.5g bucket with false bottom and valve
6.5g Carboy
Turkey Pot 6.5g or so
2x 3 gallon pots
Tubes, racking cane, thermometers, hydrometer, etc.

Ingredients:
9lb of 2-Row
1lb Crystal 120L
8oz Aromatic
8oz Caramunich
2oz Black Roasted
2oz Special B

Hops:
1oz Magnum Hops
2oz Willamette Hops

1pkg Whirfloc
Wyeth 1084 Irish Yeast
4oz Corn Sugar

Infusion Mashing:
3.75g water for Mashing
5g water for sparging

Allow grain to raise to room temp for 24 hours
Heat mashing water to 168 degrees
pour hot water into mashtun
Slowly stir grain into mashtun to avoid clumping
maintain temperature around 154 degrees by adding water and by capping mashtun
After 60 minutes recirculate a few pitchers full
??Drain all but 2" of water into kettle

Sparging
Heat 2.5 gallons of hot water in extra kettle to 170 degrees
Gently add to mashtun
Create a shallow hatch pattern in the mash with a spoon
Let water sit for 30 minutes, drain slowly into kettle
Repeat with second 2.5 gallons of water filling kettle to 6.5 to 7.0 gallons
Recirculate if practical

Boil
Boil for 90 mins total
Add Magnum after 30 minutes
Add whirfloc after 70 minutes
Add Willamette after 85 minutes

Pitching Yeast
Transfer wort to carboy
Cool carboy in sink until wort is 80 degrees or so (no wort cooler)
Take OG reading
Dissolve yeast into 1 quart of sterilized water at 80 degrees
Stir yeast solution into wort for three minutes
Add blow-off tubing and store in 70 degree, low light area.
One week in primary, one week in secondary, bottle and go!

Thanks in advance for everyone's tips and expertise!!! I think I'm going for it on Sunday!!!
 
Looks like a plan. Are you intentionally using the batch sparge method, or is it necessity because of the 3 gallon pots? You can sparge continuously with all of the 170 degree water adding a little at a time.
 
A couple of questions. I assume you are using a propane burner. How are you cooling your wort? Keep in mind that much wort in pot is going to be heavy trying to move it to a sink is not going to be easy. Also it is going to take a while to cool it down using the sink and icebath method. An immersion chiller really is not that expensive you can make for less than $20 and can cool your wort in under thirty minutes. Be careful transfering hot wort to a glass carboy can break it.
 
I just saw the (2) 3 gallon pots. Why are you using 2 three gallon pots if you dont mind me asking.
 
alfista said:
Equipment:
6.5g bucket with false bottom and valve
6.5g Carboy
Turkey Pot 6.5g or so
2x 3 gallon pots
Tubes, racking cane, thermometers, hydrometer, etc.


Allow grain to raise to room temp for 24 hours
Heat mashing water to 168 degrees
pour hot water into mash tun
Slowly stir grain into mash tun to avoid clumping
maintain temperature around 154 degrees by adding water and by capping mash tun
After 60 minutes recirculate a few pitchers full
??Drain all but 2" of water into kettle
Are you using an uninsulated bucket for your Mash/Lauter Tun? If so you need to be aware of a couple things.
1. The mash tun will absorb heat from the water when you pour it in. I didn't compensate for this on my first AG brew and the mash dropped below my target temperature. I think it was down to about 148 degrees. Once the mash drops below your target, you have to add hot water and it can be tough getting it back up to where you want it and your mash can get pretty thin. What you might consider is pre-heating your Mash/Lauter Tun with hot water. Then add your strike water to the tun at a slightly elevated temp and let the water drop to your mash in temp. This method will get you closer to your target temp.
2. If your Mash/Lauter tun is un-insulated, you may get quite a drop in your mash temp. If you can rap it in some form of insulation it will help tremendously. I would also recommend finding an insulated cooler for your mash/Lauter tun. Your temperatures will only drop a couple degrees if at if you use one. Keep your eye out for a sale on the Gott/Rubbermaid type coolers.
Other than that I think you are on track. Good luck and welcome to the fun and busy world of AG!
 
I was not thinking I could do a full AG cause of the brewpot size. Is 6.5gal big enough? From what I have read so far it seems very borderline.
 
As Rich points out, you're going to need a higher initial strike water temp. The mash tun can absorb a decent amount of heat. For my system, I usually have to have my water 20 degrees (F) over target to heat both. Another way to compensate is preheating you mash tun.

If you're batch sparging, you'll also need to up the temp on your mashout water temp. To get your mash up to 170F, you'll need to add water that's hotter. ProMash an a couple of other software packages will tell you exactly how much of what temp water you need to achieve this.
 
Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the great tips.

The two 3 gallon pots are to heat the batch sparging water. The reason I'm batch sparging is really for simplicity's sake. My impression on recirculating seems harder than I'm prepared for at the moment.

I'm a bit worried about the size of the pot (I haven't measured it but remember having decent headroom on 5 gallons+) and moving it around. I'm thinking about getting an immersion wort cooler today at a local hbs which I realize will cause further displacement of wort when inserted. Not ready to buy a bigger kettle yet. Trying to wait to do a big order online for all this stuff, promash, etc.

When using a big rubbermaid cooler to mash, I assume people do not use the built-in spigot but install their own? I might try to find a cooler today as well. I didn't think about pre-heating the mashtun so I'll definitely get that into the equation.

Thanks again!

Jason
 
alfista said:
Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the great tips.

When using a big rubbermaid cooler to mash, I assume people do not use the built-in spigot but install their own? I might try to find a cooler today as well. I didn't think about pre-heating the mashtun so I'll definitely get that into the equation.

Thanks again!

Jason

Hey Jason! Yeah this has been causing me headaches over the past 3 weeks or so. I finally got it all together. It seems as if it should be painfully simple to get some fittings together, however it proved to be a challenge for me. In the end this Kewler Kit made things much easier and although it was more bucks then I wanted to spend I just broke down and got it for simplicity.

basic+.jpg


The barb side is outbound. As pictured is about $29-30. I had bought then end on the right with the fittings thinking that I could find the ball valve cheaper. I did not save much in the end cause I could not find the fitting that goes from 1/2 inch (the size that this right end is) to 3/8 inch (the size I want to use for the next stage). Again you would think that this would be an easy task. The HBS had the fittings though Home Depot/Lowes did not. I do have to say that so far its a nice setup. Being 1/2 inch the assembly does not wabble around, which is something that less then 1/2 inch does( as pictured you can open/close the ball valve and the assembly will stay put). I also screwed up a cooler and needed to get another one. As pictured you DO NOT have to drill anything. You simply take the spiggot out of the cooler and put this Kewler Kit in. They have several ends all depending on what exactly you are planning to do (false bottom, copper... ect). Here is the link to them:
http://www.zymico.com/cooler/

As far as the cooler goes there is a bit of confusion as to size and how much grainbed you need. I was looking at the Rubbermaid Ice Cube, but right now I can only do partials and did not think I would have enough grainbed. I initially went for an Igloo Extream. If you are using a false bottom like Phil's, be aware that I could not get this to work. Seems that the Igloo extream gets narrower as you reach to the bottom. Phil's works great with Rubbermaid....BUT... after the Kewler Kit was put in I could not fish the Phil's bottom under it. There was just not enough room. There is a steel false bottom sold and it works PERFECTLY. Was able to get it in there and all. In order to take it out though you have to disassemple the Kewler Kit. I'm going to try to leave everything alone and see how hard cleaning it is before disassembling it.
 
alfista said:
also, if I purchase an Igloo 48quart cooler, do I have to worry that my false bottom does not go edge to edge on all sides?

By the way. Wallmart sells coolers real cheap.

Igloo Extream $20
Rubbermaid 5 Gal $18
Rubbermain Ice Cube $15
 
I'm with Michael. Tried hunting for seperate parts, and after getting limited success, broke down and bought the kit pictured. Works extremely well.
 
Michael_Schaap said:
As pictured is about $29-30.

Wow, what a business idea. The parts cost you about $15 at the HD. But the bulkhead will not be as wide as the one for the Kewler.

Kai
 
It is hard to get all the fittings you need to make the cooler valve work the o rings are not available in either HD or Lowes. The only place I have found to get them for any price near reasonable you have to get a pack of 50. Great if you know 25 people who need o rings.
 
It is also machined. That brass nut has one ID on one side and another ID on the other. The O ring is also rated at 450 degrees (or so they say).
 
Michael_Schaap said:
I was not thinking I could do a full AG cause of the brewpot size. Is 6.5gal big enough? From what I have read so far it seems very borderline.

This is a very important point MS has brought up. You are going to have at least one hot break during the boil if not many. If you are calculating 6.5-7 gal in a 6.5 gal or so pot that's not enough head room for the break. Keep your hand on the propane valve at all times. The second you turn away it will boil over.
 
davy said:
It is hard to get all the fittings you need to make the cooler valve work the o rings are not available in either HD or Lowes. The only place I have found to get them for any price near reasonable you have to get a pack of 50. Great if you know 25 people who need o rings.

I found just the right o-rings at Lowes. They are tight enough such that the 1/2 in thread to copper pipe fitting can be used as a bulkhead. I'm also not sure if they are actually heat rated.

But yes, the Kewler thingy looks nicer.

manifold.jpg
mashtun.jpg
 
LupusUmbrus said:
Kai, that's the exact same cooler I'm using :D

I did't get to shop around for a good deal on the cooler (paid $24) since I had a HD gift card and wanted to use it for getting a mash-tun.

Kai
 
davy said:
can you upload a pic of the o rings you got Kai.

I don't have a pic. But the specs should help you:

Manufactuer: Danco

Repair
#15 O-Ring
1" O.D. x 3/4" I.D.
x 1/8"

10 O-Rings Enclosed
#96732

I believe I got them at Lowes in the plumbing section. But you should be able to get comparable O-Rings at HD or other hardware stores. For me, these O-Rings where the key to getting a good seal since the surface of the bulkhead, that is pressing against the O-Ring, it not very big. If you can find a copper washer, that you can solder against the fitting, you should be able to increase this surface. But I couldn't find any such washer.

Kai
 
Ok i know exact what you are talking about I saw them was not sure if they were thick enough to create a good seal but now I know thanx
davy
 
davy said:
Ok i know exact what you are talking about I saw them was not sure if they were thick enough to create a good seal but now I know thanx
davy

They do. At least for the cooler and the fitting that I have.

Kai
 
You are definitely right about the o rings King I did not put on my cooler but I did fix them to my brewpot with a ball valve assembly. So far they are holding up to high temperatures also used generous amounts of teflon tape.

Bought a Kewler Kitz from Northern Brewer and put it on my cooler works really well. By the way Northern Brewer is awsome great service and great shipping time.
 
Follow-up:

I'm on my way...momma and baby are asleep and I can trash the kitchen so long as its clean before breakfast :)

My successes are as follows:
Using a TrueBrew bucket with some insulation wrapped around it, I managed to hold my mash around 151 degrees (uncalibrated thermometer). My cooler now has a hole in it but I'll deal with that later. Maybe I'll post a pic later.

My concerns are as follows:
Round 1 of batch sparging was too cool, perhaps 155 degrees
Round 2 of batch sparging was about 168 degrees, but a final rinse seemed to still release a lot of sugars.
I seem to be boiling off much faster (low february humidity?) How fast of a boil should I have?

OK, this 45 minute rest period is almost over so I need to start prepping the wort cooler. Need to wrap this up before midnight cause the baby is up at 3!

Thanks again for the tips...

Jason
 
alfista said:
BTW - nothing smells better than boiling hops. Reason enough to brew your own beer :)
Heck yeah! Good to hear things are going well. The whole issue of hitting temps is something you'll get better as you do more batches, no worries :cross:
 
alfista said:
Follow-up:

I'm on my way...momma and baby are asleep and I can trash the kitchen so long as its clean before breakfast :)

My successes are as follows:
Using a TrueBrew bucket with some insulation wrapped around it, I managed to hold my mash around 151 degrees (uncalibrated thermometer). My cooler now has a hole in it but I'll deal with that later. Maybe I'll post a pic later.

My concerns are as follows:
Round 1 of batch sparging was too cool, perhaps 155 degrees
Round 2 of batch sparging was about 168 degrees, but a final rinse seemed to still release a lot of sugars.
I seem to be boiling off much faster (low february humidity?) How fast of a boil should I have?

OK, this 45 minute rest period is almost over so I need to start prepping the wort cooler. Need to wrap this up before midnight cause the baby is up at 3!

Thanks again for the tips...

Jason
Sounds like you did just fine for your first attempt at AG. I hope you enjoyed your experience and will do many more batches.
I had the same problem the other day with a faster boil-off than usual. I think I had the heat turned up too high. I just added some pre-boiled water to the fermenter and I hit my target OG.
 
Thanks Rich,

It was fun...took longer than I expected so I cut a few corners and forgot a couple steps. Here's where I am:

Concerns:

1. Cut the boil to 75 minutes from 90 minutes
2. Worried about condensation on the arms of the wort chiller dripping into the wort
3. Never used Wyeast before. Kneaded mixture as described and waited for it to puff up. I added the yeast to 1 cup of the wort at about 85 degrees and then funneled it into the carboy while transferring from the kettle.
4. Forgot to take OG reading before adding yeast and moving to carboy.
5. Using a 6.5g carboy for the first time. Looks rather empty (no indicator of volume). LHBS didn't have a cap that supported a blow-off tube so using a length of 1" tubing instead. Seems like it would work ok. However...
6. Still no yeast activity visible. Every kit I've done has been very active by the next moring. At what point should I be nervous? I have another packed of irish yeast I can use if needed.

All in all a lot of fun. Can't wait to do the next one. However I think I need to get a propane burner for the next batch. My stove has a high-capacity burner which worked well, but still more of a mess than I'd like to create on the stove.

Thanks again for the help!

Jason
 
alfista said:
Concerns:

2. Worried about condensation on the arms of the wort chiller dripping into the wort
3. Never used Wyeast before. Kneaded mixture as described and waited for it to puff up. I added the yeast to 1 cup of the wort at about 85 degrees and then funneled it into the carboy while transferring from the kettle.
5. Using a 6.5g carboy for the first time. Looks rather empty (no indicator of volume). LHBS didn't have a cap that supported a blow-off tube so using a length of 1" tubing instead. Seems like it would work ok. However...
6. Still no yeast activity visible. Every kit I've done has been very active by the next moring. At what point should I be nervous? I have another packed of irish yeast I can use if needed.

All in all a lot of fun. Can't wait to do the next one. However I think I need to get a propane burner for the next batch. My stove has a high-capacity burner which worked well, but still more of a mess than I'd like to create on the stove.

Jason
Condensation dripping off the chiller shouldn't be a concern. The way I see it, the chiller was sanitized in the boil and the condensation came from your boiled wort.
Give your yeast time to get going. I would wait at least 24 hours before getting concerned.
I marked my carboy at each gallon. Look at this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=6379&highlight=carboy
 
It is important to aerate the wort as well as you can to get o2 into the wort. Liquid yeast needs this o2 more so than dry yeast. Your liquid yeast may not perform as it should if you neglect this aeration.
 
thanks boo boo...I've given it a couple of shakes today. I'm getting one big bubble from the 1" tube every 3-5 seconds so it looks like I'm on my way :)
 
Back
Top