First All grain started bad but I think I saved it.

First all grain started bad but I think I saved it. When I mashed in, the manifold in the bottom of my mash tun fell apart. I freaked out but I got everything in my kettle and cleaned my mash tun and put it back together. At this point my mash temp was about 20 degrees off. I had to add an extra gallon of boiling water to get it to temp. After that everything went well. I got 6.5 gal pre-boil and OG of 1.050. I think i'm on track, but it's a bit cold outside I hope It boils. Thanks to everyone here for guiding me. I'm very excited to see how this comes out.

Glad it worked out. Keep going, it gets easier.



Kirk

That's the great thing about home brewing. You never know what is gonna get thrown at ya! How you react really defines your brew. Glad you got it together.

Tell us how it came out.

Dont worry. My first had 2 stuck sparges and i was off by 10 on my sg. Just like you said, its all fun and just wait till you look back as a home brew pro and laugh about how your first went

New lesson learned. Don't try to make beer when it's 26 degrees out side. It's been on the burner for two and a half hours and still no boil. It's going to be a long night.

It was a long night. It took so long to get a boil going. Everything went well but I think I could have boiled a bit longer. I was left with just over 5 gal and I missed my target gravity. I was shooting for 1.074 and I got 1.064. Next time I just boil a bit longer till I get my target volume. All in all I feel good about my first all grain. BTY I was making a Snow cap Clone. thank you to everyone.

rooster60 said:

It was a long night. It took so long to get a boil going. Everything went well but I think I could have boiled a bit longer. I was left with just over 5 gal and I missed my target gravity. I was shooting for 1.074 and I got 1.064. Next time I just boil a bit longer till I get my target volume. All in all I feel good about my first all grain. BTY I was making a Snow cap Clone. thank you to everyone.

Click to expand...

On my first one I tried to use a recipe that called for a step mash. Big mistake. Multiple water additions to change the mash temp. In the end I had a mash time of about 90 minutes at around 147 F. The resulting Pale Ale fermented down to 1.004 and was way too high in ABV and very thin with no mouthfeel. You learn with each batch but I will not try any crazy step mashing or decoction mashing again.

Alan

what kind of burner are you using? I have a turkey fryer setup with aluminum pan and I got 7.5 gallons boiling in less than 30 mins in my garage. It was 0 degrees outside that day. very cold

I also brew in my garage when it's well below freezing...what kind of burner are you using? It shouldn't take that long to get things boiling.

I'm using a Bayou Classic I got for Chrismas. It was my first time using it. I thought the flame looked a little low. May be I should try to get a new regulator.

If it's really cold and your propane tanks are a) not that full or b) really cold, they can sometimes not have enough pressure for your burner. Remember that decreasing the pressure decreases the temperature of the tank. PV=nRT (high school chemistry class is coming back to haunt you.) On really cold days I bring the tanks inside the night before, then put them in a water bath (50-60 F) partway through the boil.

Also, just having my tanks full seems to help. Give that a try before you buy a new regulator.

I think I'll wait till the weather warms up before trying it again. I did learn that my electric stove top can handle 6.5 gal. Thanks for your advice. I love this place.

el_kirk said:

On really cold days I bring the tanks inside the night before, then put them in a water bath (50-60 F) partway through the boil.

Click to expand...

Don't do that again. If you have even the slightest leak you have created a very dangerous situation. Propane is heavier than air so it pools near the floor. Propane also has a much wider range of mixture with air that is flammable than gasoline so if you have any propane that leaked and something creates a spark or you have an open flame, when the propane gets to the mixture that makes it possible, BOOM! There goes you garage or your house and all your family.

It's fine to put the tanks in the water bath to warm them but do it outside. Never bring your tank indoors.