My first all grain brew day log

I decided to do an all grain brew and used the Centennial Blonde 5 gallon AG recipe.

Im having problems managing the inital mash temps and had to add more water to get back to the 150ish range. Seems my cooler is leaking heat like a mofo but at 25 minutes I checked temps again and was down to 153 to 156. I had some bad thermometers too. But I switched to digital probe and it is much easier. So get a better cooler and an accurate thermometer with extended thermocouple.

About 27 minutes remain so Im off to fire up the burner for 4the gallons of strike water.

No need to respond as Im just making notes here from my phone.

Put a blanket around the cooler, that will help reduce heat loss. Also look into a better cooler, we are using an older one that was in the garage and it keeps the heat steady for an hour even with it being 40 degrees outside. I think it's an Igloo.

Yep got an Igloo 70 quart. I wrapped it in a wool blanket. Perhaps should have compensated another few degrees warmer since it is a bit chilli outside. My latest reading was about 1.028 @ 109F. Havent done calcs yet for efficiency.

Check the cooler lid. Many of the cheaper ones have hollow lids. If so, squirt in come touch_n_foam to fill it solid with insulation. Be sure to add a vent, that stuff expands like crazy!!!

I have a lot of temp issues doing 5 gallon batches in the 70 qt extreme cooler. I drop less than a degree in 60 minute when doing 10 gallon batches. Unless the 5 gallon is a high SG brew with a lot of grain, I would get a smaller cooler or use foam to limit the head space.

-JWP

@jwb yep that was my thinking too. But this is my first AG with intentions of moving to 10 gallon Belgian ales. So more grains would require the 70burner quart at least. That was my thinking anyway.

Sitting at 1.032 @109F 97F.

First hops getting ready for second. Having a brew while waiting def relieves the stress of f-in it up!

@williamssahkesbeer...yeah i think you are right plus my cooler has that flap lid for easy cold brew access. Im going to mod it with the blue xps foam plus spray foam. My wife suggest we just by an Igloo 10gallon70 drink cooler instead of using this 10 yo POS. It helps having a wife from Belgium who appreciates a strong beer for all of itz qualities.

She sampled my La Fin du Monde batch pre secondary and highly approves of spending a little more to get a lot. Love brewing!

So both my first gravity and my starting gravity turned out to be 136ish at room temperature ~ 76F

I went ahead and pitched the yeast and will check on it tomorrow.

smaller batches in large coolers lose more heat. Throw a sheet of foil on top of the grist, wrap it up good with blankets, start a touch higher than you want, and leave it alone. Don't open it to stir, take temps, etc. Trust me, it doesn't affect efficiency if you don't stir in the middle of a mash. That's more about lautering, or freeing up the converted sugars after they're converted. Extra blankets, leave it be, start a bit high, use more water-to-grist to get total volume up (I go up to nearly 2qt/lb).

Start cooling your samples if you're using a hydrometer. Your OG should be higher than pre-boil since you lost water but not sugar.

Hey thanks Tr9er. It was 1.032 and 1.038-40 post boil. It's hard to tell with my hydrometer. I hope it turns out ok. It's my first AG. So it was mostly for education in hopes I could turn out a decent brew.

Just checked on it. Decided to leave it in the makeshift brewhaus (uninsulated storage shed) since the temperatures have been fairly constant the last few days here. It's about 64-66F in the carboy and it's rockin' the krausen for sure.

I'm sure night-time temps are falling, though. You don't want any swings more than a degree or two with the beer. I'm sure it will turn out fine, but in the future you really want temps as stable as possible. If temps are dropping at night, from a good day-time temp for fermentation, consider a tub of water with an aquarium heater submerged. That would make sure you don't drop too low and help buffer the temp change.

It's moving about 6 degrees since I pitched. It actually increased in heat during the evening hours and cooled during the day after the yeast had been working on it. It's settled back down to about 68 degrees now. I have this small heating pad I am thinking about putting on low just to keep it at a stable temperature.

Of course I read a few minutes ago that swinging more than 3 degrees either way is bad. So I will have to remedy this today for sure, even if that means carrying it back to the living room.

Aquarium heater is a good idea. I think I still have one laying around somewhere before I converted everything into a full blown aquaponics garden. Now there would be an interesting test, using the water from the fish pool for a custom brew. :0P