BeerBaron2000
Member
So I did my first all-grain batch last night and I wanted to council some of you fine fellow homebrewers to share tips and point out some errors I may not have seen in my process. Although the beer has just begun the wonderful process of fermenting, I went through a few bumps in the road that I could've avoided had I planned it better.
The one thing that surprised me was the temperature dropoff. I had a grain bill of 16 lbs so using the 1.25 qt of water/1 lb of grain equation, I came out to 5 gallons of water. Using this website (http://njnear76.bravehost.com/), the calculator told me to heat up the water to 165-167, which I did. Thing was, when the grains got added, I wasn't able to get above 140 for my steeping, which I know killed any hopes I had of this barley wine turning out the way I intended. I mashed for 90 minutes and got an OG of 1.050, which was salvagable, but nowhere near what I wanted. Is that a common thing to lose so much heat? I was expecting a 10 degree dropoff, so next time around, I'm thinking of heating up to 170-175, so I'll be right on the button.
On a side note, just to double check, you only first start to add hops after the wort has begun to boil, never before right?
Also, anyone have any pointers about unexpected problems they encountered as they learned to do all-grain. This is all still new to me so any advice about potential problems is definitely appreciated. Cheers.
The one thing that surprised me was the temperature dropoff. I had a grain bill of 16 lbs so using the 1.25 qt of water/1 lb of grain equation, I came out to 5 gallons of water. Using this website (http://njnear76.bravehost.com/), the calculator told me to heat up the water to 165-167, which I did. Thing was, when the grains got added, I wasn't able to get above 140 for my steeping, which I know killed any hopes I had of this barley wine turning out the way I intended. I mashed for 90 minutes and got an OG of 1.050, which was salvagable, but nowhere near what I wanted. Is that a common thing to lose so much heat? I was expecting a 10 degree dropoff, so next time around, I'm thinking of heating up to 170-175, so I'll be right on the button.
On a side note, just to double check, you only first start to add hops after the wort has begun to boil, never before right?
Also, anyone have any pointers about unexpected problems they encountered as they learned to do all-grain. This is all still new to me so any advice about potential problems is definitely appreciated. Cheers.