First try with all grain, made a recipe. thoughts?

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supaphly42

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Been brewing extracts for a year, stepping up to all grain. Came up with a recipe based off some I've seen. Just want to see what y'all think of it.
12lbs UK 2 row pale
1lb caramel/crystal 64L (lhbs doesn't carry 60)
4oz roasted barley
Single infusion mash, 60 mins at 154. Batch sparge.
60 min boil with following hops.
1 oz fuggles @ 60
.5 oz east Kent goldings @ 30
.5 oz east Kent goldings @ 15
Pitch with safale us-05
Trying for something like an Irish red ale. Had the yeast on hand, but I think it'll work with this recipe. Thoughts?
 
Looks easy enough. That will make you a beer for sure. The only thing I can really say is that at over 13lbs of grain you are going to have an above average ABV for an Irish Ale but that's probably not going to be much of an issue. The US-05 will work, but I like the Irish Ale Wyeast.

You got all the equipment setup for your first all-grain brew?
 
looks good just not very "irish". Way too much grain I think. Cut that 13# back to like 9lbs
 
Yeah, some other recipes had a lower grain bill, but I wanted something with a little more punch, haha. And almost there. Got all parts for cooler, just gotta build it up. We're getting about a foot of snow today, so probably brew next weekend. New brew kettle and propane burner, can't wait to try them out!
 
Don't know if you just forgot to mention it or not but you didn't say anything about a wort chiller???
 
Don't have one yet. It's next on my list, but the rest of the gear (just bought burner, kettles, and cooler parts in the past week) tapped me out. On a plus note, there's currently a foot of snow on the ground I can set the kettle in to cool, haha.
 
Don't have one yet. It's next on my list, but the rest of the gear (just bought burner, kettles, and cooler parts in the past week) tapped me out. On a plus note, there's currently a foot of snow on the ground I can set the kettle in to cool, haha.

I just made a wort chiller about 2 weeks ago. Found 3/8" ID / 1/2" OD 20' copper tubing for only about $13 at lowes. Got some 1/2" tubing, attached that to the out end with a hose clamp, and left about 4 feet for draining. On the other end attached the going in part with a hose clamp, and then the other end of that, I put a garden hose attachment. This all would have cost me under $20 if the garden hose attachment was cheaper :) That cost me around $6-7 all by itself, and could only find a 3/4" one, so have to also by a coupler to step it down to the 1/2" size. So just that darn end was $8-9 with the adapter. Maybe you'll get luckier, I was stuck buying this at Ace where it's a little more pricey. But none the less, this was still under $25.

I just made a mash tun out of a 5g igloo cooler myself a few weeks ago, and did my first all grain with it last week. Have fun with your project, and enjoy your first all grain day with it :rockin:
 
I just made a wort chiller about 2 weeks ago. Found 3/8" ID / 1/2" OD 20' copper tubing for only about $13 at lowes. Got some 1/2" tubing, attached that to the out end with a hose clamp, and left about 4 feet for draining. On the other end attached the going in part with a hose clamp, and then the other end of that, I put a garden hose attachment. This all would have cost me under $20 if the garden hose attachment was cheaper :) That cost me around $6-7 all by itself, and could only find a 3/4" one, so have to also by a coupler to step it down to the 1/2" size. So just that darn end was $8-9 with the adapter. Maybe you'll get luckier, I was stuck buying this at Ace where it's a little more pricey. But none the less, this was still under $25.

I just made a mash tun out of a 5g igloo cooler myself a few weeks ago, and did my first all grain with it last week. Have fun with your project, and enjoy your first all grain day with it :rockin:

was it on sale or something, all cooper tube I can find is nearly twice that. Am I looking in the wrong spot or something
 
was it on sale or something, all cooper tube I can find is nearly twice that. Am I looking in the wrong spot or something

You guys are looking in the wrong places, there's tons of it for free in old building and construction sites....

More seriously though, you'll want something other than snow. Setting it in the snow will just melt all the snow along the side and then it will actually be insulating it to some degree. A water bath with a ton of snow in it is an option but that would still take a very long time with five gallons of 212* wort.
 
I just made a wort chiller about 2 weeks ago. Found 3/8" ID / 1/2" OD 20' copper tubing for only about $13 at lowes. Got some 1/2" tubing, attached that to the out end with a hose clamp, and left about 4 feet for draining. On the other end attached the going in part with a hose clamp, and then the other end of that, I put a garden hose attachment. This all would have cost me under $20 if the garden hose attachment was cheaper :) That cost me around $6-7 all by itself, and could only find a 3/4" one, so have to also by a coupler to step it down to the 1/2" size. So just that darn end was $8-9 with the adapter. Maybe you'll get luckier, I was stuck buying this at Ace where it's a little more pricey. But none the less, this was still under $25.

I just made a mash tun out of a 5g igloo cooler myself a few weeks ago, and did my first all grain with it last week. Have fun with your project, and enjoy your first all grain day with it :rockin:

You lucked out on the copper, though right now their site is showing 3/8" x 20' for $20.71, so still not too bad. And yeah, I've still got a week, so maybe I will just pony up the cash and not deal with the headaches. Congrats on your first AG batch, and thanks for the advice!
 
Brewing it up today. Seems to be going well so far. Only problem has been my boil, turkey fryer is having a hard time getting the full volume to boil. It's boiling, but barely, haha. Windy and snow on the ground isn't helping matters, I'm sure. May make a foil insulation blankie for the pot for next time. Anyway, my brew assistant was helping watch the transfer. And the cooler I used is great for RDWHAHBing!

aoPWpwa.jpg
 
Ugh, crappy brew day. So, aside from my wort sitting in an ice bath for about 4 hours (basement flooding took precedence over beer making), my OG was way off target. My boil was pretty weak, and I ended up with 6 gallons post-boil. Estimated OG was 1.062, measured was 1.046. So, now what? I dumped it in the fermenter and pitched my yeast. How is this going to affect my beer?
 
Ugh, crappy brew day. So, aside from my wort sitting in an ice bath for about 4 hours (basement flooding took precedence over beer making), my OG was way off target. My boil was pretty weak, and I ended up with 6 gallons post-boil. Estimated OG was 1.062, measured was 1.046. So, now what? I dumped it in the fermenter and pitched my yeast. How is this going to affect my beer?

When I did my first partial mash recipe, I failed to correct my hydrometer readings for temperature. As you know (and as I knew, but failed to remember!), the apparent reading at higher temperatures needs to be boosted, sometimes substantially, and especially for temperatures over about 120F. See here: http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/hydrometer.html (edit: as you can see, the corrections can be HUGE when you're talking about boiling or mash temperatures. e.g. a measured 1.040 at 150F is actually 1.059, or an almost 50% difference!!!)

If you did adjust, then you'll just wind up with a somewhat weaker beer. But 1.046 is a perfectly respectable OG for a good beer. No worries!
 
I took the reading after the beer had been cooled to pitching temp, so I don't think that was it.
 
Your beer will be fine, just maybe not what you were going for. 1.046 is actually more to style for an Irish Red, but I know you were hoping for something a bit stronger. You'll just have a good session beer you can drink a few of while you rebrew the beer you were going for.

You could also add a little extra complexity by splitting the crystal into 2 half pound additions of different Lovibond crystals. Like 0.5 lbs Crystal 40 and 0.5 lbs Crystal 120 or something like that. Just a thought.
 
Interesting, I may try that. And good point. It does fall right into the style guide. It was a learning experience, as all first batches are, haha. As long as it's drinkable, life is ok.
 
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