First AG with extract equipment

Thought I would share my recipe and process for my first all grain attempt (BIAB style) in the hopes of soliciting opinions and potential problems I may face.

3lbs wheat
2lbs pils
2oz Saaz hops
Thames Valley Ale yeast (freebie from my newest friend, a brewer for a local chain of restaurants)

After getting 2 gal of spring water up to strike temp, I slowly added my grains (which were graciously double milled by my LHBS) and stirred here and there. Once everything was in the pot, I placed it in my oven set to "warm" to maintain the temp. Temp rose from 155 to 160 over 15 min, so I added .5 gal of room temp water. Temp went down to 145 and stayed there the remaining 45 min (potential problem area #1), while I stirred at 15 min intervals. After mashing, I used another gal (heated to 170) to sparge and pressed the snot out of the bag. I did a one hour boil, added 1oz of Saaz at the beginning, then .5oz when 10 min were left. I poured the wort through my bag to aerate and remove the hop trub. Ended with an OG of 1.054 and 2.75gal at 70deg F.

Plans are to add in 1.5lbs of cherry puree, 12oz of toasted almonds, and the remaining .5oz hops in secondary fermentation.

Ok, the lines are now open to take comments, critiques, and the like.

Congratulations on your first all-grain, GDR! Sounds like you'll have a nice beer.

One thought about the almonds - generally people avoid adding nuts to beer because of the oils, which inhibit head formation.

Well, aside from the cherries and almonds, everything sounds good. And if you're a fruit beer guy, the cherries an almonds will be great, I just don't usually like fruit unless it's a sour beer.
As far as the mash temps, it's hard to dial in an exact temp doing stovetop BIAB. I've found that the more grains and water in the tun, the better it holds temp, but unless it's full I always lose a few degrees during the sacch rest. Don't sweat it, the bulk of the sugar conversion happens in the first 20 or so mins of the mash.
Did you read Deathbrewer's sticky on BIAB? It's a great read, really lets ya know how easy and stress free PM and AG brewing can be. Stovetop BIAB isn't an exact science, but it makes great beer!

Yes, Nord... deathbrew's post is what gave me the courage to move from kits to AG. I brewed on Sunday, and so far, fermentation is slow and steady.

As for the almonds, my plan was to slow roast in the oven on paper towels to remove as much of the oils as possible.

*update*

Day 7 - Today, I toasted the almonds (250deg F for an hour), added the full can (3lbs) of cherry puree on top of the almonds in my carboy, then racked the beer on that. Slapped an airlock on, and set it to forget about it for another two weeks or so.

I did snag a reading before racking and SG was 1.006 - very satisfied! Question is, how do I determine ABV at bottling time? Should I take a reading post racking?

Bump, for any additional input before I put this thread to rest...

GDRMaille said:

*update*

Day 7 - Today, I toasted the almonds (250deg F for an hour), added the full can (3lbs) of cherry puree on top of the almonds in my carboy, then racked the beer on that. Slapped an airlock on, and set it to forget about it for another two weeks or so.

I did snag a reading before racking and SG was 1.006 - very satisfied! Question is, how do I determine ABV at bottling time? Should I take a reading post racking?

Click to expand...

Sounds like everything's coming along. I was just razzin' ya about the fruit and almonds, I'm sure they'll work well in your beer.

I'm sure you know to expect a second fermentation to kick off because of the sugar in the fruit puree, so be prepared to reattach a blowoff if it gets going aggressively. And yeah, I'd take more gravity readings after the fruit ferments to make sure it's stable again. You can calculate the ABV, but you'll have to account for the gravity points contributed from the fruit addition. Don't hold me to this, but I think if you add those points to your OG, you can then calculate the approx. ABV based on that and your FG. (ABV = OG - FG x 131.25)

*update*

Bottled last night. Didn't expect to lose almost a whole gallon to trub, but oh well! Squeezed 24 12oz bottles out of it and then put about 6oz in a glass, which promptly went into the fridge to cool for a taste test tonight.

Sounds interesting.

What was your FG?

Report back with a taste test.

2nd FG was 1.007 since I didn't take a reading after adding in the puree, I am assuming this will end up around 6.5-7% ABV.

Taste test - Almond flavor is very dominant up front. No aftertaste to speak of. Cherry is more in the aroma, than the flavor. Not too sweet, not dry either. I do not enjoy flat beer, so I am not overly concerned about anything...on to the waiting game!

Update - another taste test: This time it was a bottle, 2 weeks old, chilled 24 hrs in the fridge. Almond flavor and aroma still very strong. Tastes more like a wheat, now that it is carbed. Cherry seems to have disappeared, other than the color.

*update*... If anyone is still reading this: The almond flavor has mellowed significantly! I am exited to see what the next few weeks have in store, aging-wise.