Yesterday I tried my hand at my first AG batch using a stovetop BIAB method. I used an Austin Homebrewer Newcastle clone kit. Everything seemed to go pretty smooth except for the following: While heating some extra water in a seperate pot (water that wouldn't fit in the brew kettle so I figured to use it as sparge water by tea bagging and pouring it over the bag of grains...) I was moving my thermometer back and forth between the brew kettle and the sparge water. Within a 2 minute period the temp on my kettle jumped from 150 to 170+. This was about 40 mins into the sparge, I killed all heat and pulled the top off to stir the mix and allow heat to escape (looking back I chould have pulled the bag out...
) I continued on letting the grain sit in the 160+ water until it was done and "cleaned" the grains with the sparge water as best I could, the water coming out of the grain was pretty clear by the time I was done. Second mistake I made was the amount of water used, I didn't make up for the amount the grains would soak up, rookie mistake number x, I ended up with 4 gallons of wort. The gravity reading of this when corrected for temperature was 1.0589, the recipe called for 1.050. I topped to 5.25 gallons and aerated, pitched, and threw it in the basement. I realize I should have taken a gravity reading after topping and guess it probably came out close to the correct starting gravity. This morning I already have Krausen and its fermenting away nicely @ 64 degrees. The reading I did take tasted nice and sweet just like wort should. Final Question: If I did extract tannins with the spike should I be able to taste it in the unfermented wort? Thanks in advance, at least I learned some lessons.
) I continued on letting the grain sit in the 160+ water until it was done and "cleaned" the grains with the sparge water as best I could, the water coming out of the grain was pretty clear by the time I was done. Second mistake I made was the amount of water used, I didn't make up for the amount the grains would soak up, rookie mistake number x, I ended up with 4 gallons of wort. The gravity reading of this when corrected for temperature was 1.0589, the recipe called for 1.050. I topped to 5.25 gallons and aerated, pitched, and threw it in the basement. I realize I should have taken a gravity reading after topping and guess it probably came out close to the correct starting gravity. This morning I already have Krausen and its fermenting away nicely @ 64 degrees. The reading I did take tasted nice and sweet just like wort should. Final Question: If I did extract tannins with the spike should I be able to taste it in the unfermented wort? Thanks in advance, at least I learned some lessons.
