Question about first all grain

After about 15 or so extract batches, I am finally jumping into all grain. For my first batch, I have decided to go with the Oatmeal Stout kit from Northern Brewer.

I have all my gear ready to go......10 gallon ported pot, rectangular Rubbermaid mash tun, wort chiller, blah, blah, blah.

I plan on batch sparging, I just watch to make sure that my methods are correct. I am going to mash at 153 degrees for 1 hour, drain 1st running a and vorlauf, mash out at 170 degrees for 10 minutes with remaining water and vorlauf again. I hope to get full volume of wort from the 2 runnings.

Am I missing anything? Any steps?

Thanks in advance.

Joe

I like to use 3 runnings when batch sparging. I find I get slightly better efficiency that way. After you have mashed in, bring about 5 gallons of water (assuming you are doing a 5 gallon batch) up to 170-180 degrees. After about an hour in the mash, slowly run a couple quarts of wort into a small pot, and very gentlypour back over the grain. Wait a couple minutes, then drain all the wort into your kettle. You can drain it pretty quickly, here.

Then pour about half your sparge water into the mash, and stir the heck out of it. Then stir some more, Then stir some more. (I found I was understirring for a long time. Consider stirring for about the length of a standard classic rock song, or about 4 minutes.) Let it sit for a couple minutes, then vorlauf as above. Wait a minute or two, then drain, as above.

Pour the remaining sparge water into the mash, and repeat the step above.

hercher said:

I like to use 3 runnings when batch sparging. I find I get slightly better efficiency that way. After you have mashed in, bring about 5 gallons of water (assuming you are doing a 5 gallon batch) up to 170-180 degrees. After about an hour in the mash, slowly run a couple quarts of wort into a small pot, and very gentlypour back over the grain. Wait a couple minutes, then drain all the wort into your kettle. You can drain it pretty quickly, here.

Then pour about half your sparge water into the mash, and stir the heck out of it. Then stir some more, Then stir some more. (I found I was understirring for a long time. Consider stirring for about the length of a standard classic rock song, or about 4 minutes.) Let it sit for a couple minutes, then vorlauf as above. Wait a minute or two, then drain, as above.

Pour the remaining sparge water into the mash, and repeat the step above.

Click to expand...

This. I get much better results with 2 sparge additions and stirring the bejeezus out of it.

Hey Joe...I grew up in Sparta. Anyway, I just brewed this recipe about 3 weeks ago. I kept my mash temp at 153F for 60 mins, vorlaufed and drained. I sparged twice with 170F water splitting my sparge volume of 4.5 gals equally, and stirred well between each sparge. I didn't bother mashing out. I ended up with a higher pre-boil volume so had to boil for an extra 15 mins before starting my 60 min hop addition. Don't forget to preheat your MLT for a good 10 mins prior to doughing in. Also, don't forget to take into account the temp of your grains when calculating your strike temp. With a batch I just did yesterday, my calculations were for grains at 70F. I forgot to bring them up from the basement the night before and my grain temp ended up at 62F. I failed to take that into account and ended up having trouble reaching my mash temp. My oatmeal stout is now in secondary over some rum-soaked vanilla beans. Can't wait to taste this! Good luck!

Thanks for the heads up guys.

I can hopefully brew this next weekend.