My first all grain! :)

Well... I got the barley crusher for christmas, so it was only a matter of time.

Of course, a person shouldn't be totally prepared or do everything right the first time.

My brother was over and we decided to crush some malt, just 'cause we could. Then he asks "Well what do we do next... and next..."...

We started about 6pm and finished before 2 am. Stovetop, 2 pots, a rectangular cooler "mash tun" without any retrofitting. The hardware store is closed at that time of day, so we mashed, drilled a bunch of holes in a plastic pop bottle, pushed the bottle into the mash, and siphoned from the bottom of it. (This was not the first thing we tried.) Laugh all you want, I think we made beer.

We did Ed Worts hause ale, more or less. I had cascade hops, one package without a marked aa content, and one marked at 3.5% instead of the 6% called for, also, without a scale to measure ounces the hop additions were pretty random. *shrug*

I'll let you know how it turns out!

Did you get the starting SG measured?

I've been frustrated with my brewhaus efficiency since switching to AG a few months ago. Whether I grind it, my LHBS grinds it, or Midwest grinds it, I still am in the sixties. I used 5.2 last time and still was on the low side.

For now I'll just add a couple pounds of base grain and deal with it.

Sounds like you had a good time! Maybe Planning would have made it go easier/smoother etc etc.

But now you have a Memory of a life time. And if it turns out good... well it will be "GREAT!" And to do it with your brother... well then you get to share the memory for ever. Not much better than that!

I was at 1.055 or so, but had boiled off about a gallon too much water, then forgot to recheck the SG... still.. should be pretty close. I'd added an extra half pound or so of grain, figguring I'd be low.

It was fun.. and... having done it this way once, next time if I use a manifold and a valve it will be sooo way easier.

One thing... depending how we jiggled things, the wort we siphoned out sometimes got bits and pieces of barley gunk in it.. how big a deal is that? I used some irish moss during the boil.

Thanks all!

As long as there isn't too much barley, you should be ok. It will settle out, but the books say to strain out as much as you can to avoid extracting any astringent flavors from the husks.

I just tasted an Irish Red I brewed as my second all grain. Wow. Best beer I've ever brewed. Smooth as silk, just the right hoppiness, and loaded with flavor with no off tastes whatsoever. It was probably 60 degrees or so when I tasted it and I am regretting having to cool it down to 45 and lose some of that flavor.

Congrats!

I'm "easying" into AG. My last few batches have had less and less extract. Have my 5 gallon Igloo MLT completed now, so AG is coming soon!