Had good luck with first PM batch pics! long!

It began in a dismal state about a week ago when I recieved the ingredients from northernbrewer. That particular the ambient temp was about 101 degrees, and the 1275 WYeast packet was hot to the touch... So I smacked the pack,no activity after 5 days so I was gonna return it per NB's policy. I hadn't got around to it, and then on the 6th day the thing had fully inflated overnight! So I made a half gallon starter (in a 5 gal carboy lol) to be double sure.

The recipe I came up with only used 2lb of grain so my biggest problem was that about 1/4 of the runnings were below the spigot on my mash tun (which is my bottling bucket for now) A larger batch would be far easier to collect a greater % of the runnings. Next time will be MUCH more grain involved.
I went with about 1.2qts mash water/lb of grain. I missed my mash temp of 155 by about 8 degrees so just added a bit of 170 deg water to raise it. Mashed for 45 min. and sparged with 170 deg water. The sparge got stuch thanks to my subpar collection system consisting of a grain bag with a plastic tube in it, tied around the spigot with a rubber band. I don't want to talk about that... Again, next time a little more thought, and money, will go into that. The gravity of the mash and spargs runnings was 1.060 and was sticky and smelled sweet so I think it worked.

The boil went well. No boilovers for once, yay! I had never used this many hops (or made an IPA) and the smell was awesome. I think I am officially a hophead. Anyway after the boil I chilled it to 65 in about 15 min with a super cold ice bath and adding 34deg water in the fermenter. My gravity was 1.051 but I've never used that extract before and don't know it's potential. As usual I drank the hydro sample and it was delicious - very hoppy. My starter krausen was just beginning to fall so I decanted the liquid and poured in the yeasties. After about 3 hours they were cooking along and now are still goin about 1bubble/sec.

I listened to the brewing network AG show from a few weeks ago and learned a ton from that one (7-23-06, BTW). Next time I'm gonna copy Rich's PM setup and go to town with maybe 10 lbs of grain.
I forgot to take pics of my mash setup so there are just a few from the boil and my starter. Next mashing setup will be more photo-worthy.

Dude, Nice job! You should consider investing in a wort chiller. It will make life much easier and bug free.

My last recipe was about 2# of grain. I did it in a large-ish pot w/ a 1hr steep. Followed by a temp increase and a rinse in one of these that I picked up at Wal-Mart. Worked well...but my methods will get better.

Live and learn next time you know how to fix it. What is this "brewing network AG show" you speak of?

chillHayze said:

. I hadn't got around to it, and then on the 6th day the thing had fully inflated overnight! So I made a half gallon starter (in a 5 gal carboy lol) to be double sure.

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im taking a chance with NBs wyeast. it comes in today, im about 90% sure its dead, but we'll see. Maybe Ill luck out like you did.

grats on the PM!!

Exo said:

My last recipe was about 2# of grain. I did it in a large-ish pot w/ a 1hr steep. Followed by a temp increase and a rinse in one of these that I picked up at Wal-Mart. Worked well...but my methods will get better.

(pic was here)

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I have that same sink strainer. Used it two batches ago. It was from Bed Bath and Beyond. In the "Beyond" section. I didn't like how the grains get stuck in the lip and take forever to clean. But then again I think I did overfill it...

G. Cretin said:

Live and learn next time you know how to fix it. What is this "brewing network AG show" you speak of?

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http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/

The shows have a lot of info and comedy but are several hours long per episode. Good material for a train ride or before bed or something. If you use iTunes you can just subscribe to the show. Otherwise go to the site and download the individual episodes from the "archives" section. They podcast new episodes live every Sunday at 5:00PM PST. Good stuff.

Chimone said:

im taking a chance with NBs wyeast. it comes in today, im about 90% sure its dead, but we'll see. Maybe Ill luck out like you did.

grats on the PM!!

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Look at it from an optimistic point of view:
The weakest yeasts die from the heat, right? This leaves the strongest ones to reproduce - making clones of the themselves. It just takes longer from the small numbers, but you then have a herd of super-yeasties. Natural selection is beneficial to your beer!

chillHayze said:

Look at it from an optimistic point of view:
The weakest yeasts die from the heat, right? This leaves the strongest ones to reproduce - making clones of the themselves. It just takes longer from the small numbers, but you then have a herd of super-yeasties. Natural selection is beneficial to your beer!

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ahh, very good point

It sounds like your system will work better with a larger grain bill. Were you able to recirculate the wort to clarify it?

chillHayze said:

I have that same sink strainer. Used it two batches ago. It was from Bed Bath and Beyond. In the "Beyond" section. I didn't like how the grains get stuck in the lip and take forever to clean. But then again I think I did overfill it...

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I gave up trying to get the grain out when it's wet. I just rinse it good and get most of it out. Then I let it dry and the stuff just falls out.

RichBrewer said:

It sounds like your system will work better with a larger grain bill. Were you able to recirculate the wort to clarify it?

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It was coming out clearer but then the mash was stuck due to my sub par collection methods. So I had to wrassle around in there a bit and some un clear hazy stuff ran out. I'm gonna try your set-up next time so we'll see.