Hefe is on!!!

Got my AG hefe going:

5 pounds 2 row
5 pounds Wheat
.75 pounds UK Crystal
1 oz hallertau

Mashed with 4.5 gallons of water

Single step decoction

Congrats man!

Sounds good! Save some for rdwj!

I'm decocting like a mo'fo.

Assistant Brewmaster Miles was all set to help until he decided to wanted to study theral dynamics. Being that I already know the amount of time from when a little boy touches a burner till when the screaming ends (2.25 hours per milisecond touch, squared), I let him help his mom inside.

Forgot to mention - this is my first time using my grain mill and my 5.2 ph stuff.

I just finished...well, still doing...a Hefe Weizen myself.

Got to get some more info on gyling...

let us know your efficiency when your done

Chimone said:

let us know your efficiency when your done

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Alright DESSERT!!! I just had my brewing corn dogs...thanks!

My first AG hefe is coming up soon. I need to dry hop my IPA today, and as soon as the fermenter is empty, an American hefe is going in. Hope yours turns out well, Cheese!

So far, the only problem has been that I forgot to turn on the ball game and I missed 7 innings of a so far GREAT Cubs game.

I'm waiting for my pot to boil now. I purposely used more water than Beer Tools recommended since I've been so short on my first 3 all-grain attempts.

Decocting went well. Smelled GREAT, tasted great. Another benefit of decocting is that you get a nice hot-break that stays in the MLT. This has been a super-smooth brew day.

Oh, I forgot to mention!!! I needed to pick up a new propane tank today so I went to the Depot for their automated exchange machine. I ended up (do to a computer error) getting an extra tank of propane! And no, I'm not honest enough to walk back and return it.

Hmm...

Don't know what happened, but once again I ended up with under 4 gallons of wort. I topped up to 5, and ended with an un-mixed OG of 1.045. There was still some wort left in the keggle. I think I'll need to elevate the keggle if I'm going to get those last couple quarts.

Just pisses me off. I double-milled my grain and did everything right and used extra mash and sparge water. It was on the flame for about 2 hours, 90 minutes of which was boiling.

Do you remove the bags after the boil starts or do you keep them in there for a while? And how many bags do you use? Cause that is a whole lot of grain. I am curious because I would like my next batch to be AG. Thanks.

There are no bags involved here, unless Cheese uses hops bags. If you are interested in AG (and I think you should be!!!!!), here is some great reading on it:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Simple_all_grain_brewing
and
http://www.brewingkb.com/articles/all-grain-tutorial.html
and
http://howtobrew.com/section3/chapter18.html

I use an igloo cooler with a false bottom, and I'm guessing alot of AG brewers do that too. You'll find that there are many different ways to do it, though.

Cheesefood said:

I'm decocting like a mo'fo.

Assistant Brewmaster Miles was all set to help until he decided to wanted to study theral dynamics. Being that I already know the amount of time from when a little boy touches a burner till when the screaming ends (2.25 hours per milisecond touch, squared), I let him help his mom inside.

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My one son is named Miles

Sounds a lot like my brew-day, Cheese. My first decoction. Did an acid rest, infused to protein rest temps, did a single decoction and had a ***** of a time hitting my sac. rest temps. 90 minute boil 'cause I used Pils malt. 5.5# Pils, 5.5# wheat, ounce of Hallertau 4.0%. Couldn't be a simpler recipe.

Also kegged my first batch, got another to get kegged tonight.

Did you use rice hulls? I wasn't sure when to add them; didn't want to boil them, so they stayed out until after the decoction.

Cheese, 90 min boil can take a fair amount of water. How much did you have pre-boil? I have to have 7 gals preboil or I wont get 5 gals of beer.

the_bird said:

Sounds a lot like my brew-day, Cheese. My first decoction. Did an acid rest, infused to protein rest temps, did a single decoction and had a ***** of a time hitting my sac. rest temps. 90 minute boil 'cause I used Pils malt. 5.5# Pils, 5.5# wheat, ounce of Hallertau 4.0%. Couldn't be a simpler recipe.

Also kegged my first batch, got another to get kegged tonight.

Did you use rice hulls? I wasn't sure when to add them; didn't want to boil them, so they stayed out until after the decoction.

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No hulls. I wanted to use them, but it turns out I didn't have any, and I thought I did.

I started with about 7 gallons (top of the bottom rung on my keggle) and ended up small. I'm going to pick up the extension legs for my turkey fryer and see if those don't help my problem.

Next batch is a Wit.

I shot a bit high with how much wort I collected - a bit more than 7.5 gallons.

I'm not sure which line you're looking at, but look on the keggle where the two halves are welded - that should be 7.5 gallons (actually a bit more, since its half of 15.5 gallons, but there's some dead space). Is that what you're judging volume off of? I'm wondering if you aren't collecting as much as you think you are.

I've also found out when I'm doing my volume calcs that the grain absorbs a lot more water than I assumed. I also lost a decent amount (and compensated with the sparge) when I boiled the decoction; there was none left with the grain when I was done. I started with a pretty thick mash, but ended up with what looked like rice pudding.

So, I got my volumes right here, but I'm thinking the last batch (777), I'll be lucky to have four gallons after I'm done dryhopping

This is the same problem I am having. I ended up with about 3 gallons or just under
yesterday when I brewed my Hefe.

I did not compensate enough and I even think that the whole hops really absorbed
a lot of water. I'm hoping to get this right on my 3rd AG.

-- Trev

What yeast are yall using? My Hugh Heffe used the WLP300

I use WLP300 for hefe as well. How does it compare to the WLP380?

The Pol said:

What yeast are yall using? My Hugh Heffe used the WLP300

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I used the WLP320. The ferment is awesome, I did a starter this time and the activity is pretty violent with a nice thick krausen, kind of like your last brew, I just wish I had between 4-5 gallons.

-- Trev

I completed my Heffe last weekend, and transfered to secondary this past weekend - Should be very drinkable in a few more weeks. I used the Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen Activator Size, no starter - took off very quickly.

5 lbs German Pilsner
5 lbs German Wheat
.75 oz Hallertauer Tradition (6%) 60 Min
.5 Willamette (5.5%) 5 Min

Cheesefood said:

I ended up (do to a computer error) getting an extra tank of propane! And no, I'm not honest enough to walk back and return it.

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kjdl;kjzxvkjlkj

I use 3068 for hefe's. It's my fave.

Man!!! Does that grain STINK up my garage! I'm glad garbage day is tomorrow. Wish I had compost, but I don't.

On a further note, you know you're a homebrewer when you convince your wife that you're keeping the AC off "to save the environment", when the real reason is that you have a hefe fermenting.

the_bird said:

... had a ***** of a time hitting my sac. ...

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yar harr harr!

I had to add 7L beer 40L batch to beersmiths water needed. I was always short before.

More sparge water with a slow sparge (if fly sparging) or just more water with a batch sparge will probably help.

Its a pain but ince you have the extra amount you need figured out you will probably hit your batch target. I finally am.

Yep, I did a batch sparge with 10.5 quarts.. My strike water was 10.5 quarts as well. Promash calculated 1 qt. per lb. of grain but listed 7 gallons total for the session including top up. I should have followed that more closely but the LHBS owner told me less.. Next time I will trust PM for my total volume.

-- Trev

I seem to have mine dialed in now, but what I did once was checked the OG of my runnings. Saw that there was way to much sugar left and heated up more water and sparged some more.

Also, adding a cheap sight tube to you kettle will help you check what your levels in the kettle are up to.

I used 2 elbow compression fittings attached to each outer with 1/4" plastic compression tubing. The same as they use in ice makers. It's semi transparent and I find, quite readable. Since this was the boil kettle I placed the bottom on up a bit in the kettle, but the one on my HLT is lower and hasn't melted. I just placed some tinfoil as a heat shield near it to be safe.