Going All Grain tonight (or tomorrow)

OK, I realized SWMBO is out with her girlfriends tonight, so I decided to brew. What's my inaugral all grain going to be? Why, Vanilla Caramel Cream Ale, of course.

I'm stoked. Popped the yeast when I got back to the parking lot, so I should be able to rock it out tonight.

Congrats! Welcome to the Club, the AG Club! I was going to do a Hefe this weekend, but I just tapped my second Haus Ale, and WOW, that's a tasty beer. I'm glad the Stone Runinations from last night wore off.

I'm now going to brew up a several keg supply of Haus Ale to go along with the stock of Apfelwein before working on other beers.

In the mean time, you'll need to update your recipe for AG when you get a chance.

Good Luck and Godspeed!

EdWort said:

In the mean time, you'll need to update your recipe for AG when you get a chance.

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That's a negatory, Ed buddy. I can't answer questions about all grain, let alone questions like "My LHBS is out of grain. Can I use cocoa puffs?"

Just put it in the database and ignore it.
It's not nice to not share a good recipe.
And good luck with the AG session. You'll love it.

What boiling set up do you have?

orfy said:

Just put it in the database and ignore it.
It's not nice to not share a good recipe.
And good luck with the AG session. You'll love it.

What boiling set up do you have?

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44 qt turkey fryer set up with a ball-lock spout installed, a 10 gallon MLT, a copper manifold and a CFC which I don't think I'll need since I have a snow bank in myfront and back yard. I'm going to try the Next Day Aeration theory to see if it improves fermentation.

Cheesefood said:

That's a negatory, Ed buddy. I can't answer questions about all grain, let alone questions like "My LHBS is out of grain. Can I use cocoa puffs?"

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So how are you going to brew an AG version of it tonight if you don't have the recipe figured out?

Are the grains bought/crushed yet?

Dude said:

So how are you going to brew an AG version of it tonight if you don't have the recipe figured out?

Are the grains bought/crushed yet?

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If Cheese is anything like me, He'll put the Sparge water on, run to the PC do 20 minutes searching, tinkering and figuring and have a recipe by the time the sparge water is ready

Dude said:

So how are you going to brew an AG version of it tonight if you don't have the recipe figured out?

Are the grains bought/crushed yet?

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I figured out a recipe and bought the grains. I'm going with 7 pounds of 2 row, 2.5 pounds of wheat and 1 pound of Caramel 60L. No clue how it'll turn out. How much water should I start with for a 5 gallon batch?

It depends on how long you are going to boil for, the intensity of the boil.

Most set ups seem to have an evaporation rate of 10-15% per hour.

On top of that you need to know/guess/consider....

The amount of water absorbed by the grain.
The amount of wort left in your mash tun dead space.
The amount of wort absorbed by the hops.
The amount of water left in the kettle dead space.
The amount of trub left in primary.

I'm afraid I can help on a 5 gallon batch. I go for 5 gallon UK which is 6 gallon US

But for my system I go for 30L (8 gallon us) in the kettle preboil for a comfortable 23l in the fermenter. (6 gallon (us))

To get the 30L in the Kettle I mash with around 14l (~4 gal) and sparge with up to 24l. (~6 gallon)

These figure are from the top of my head after a few beers and not calculated. It obviously varies with the amount of grain.

Your first run will be a guess and allow you work out/measure all of these. I's an ideal opportunity to take notes for future use.

It'll make the 2nd time more of a known factor than a guess.

Cheesefood said:

How much water should I start with for a 5 gallon batch?

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3-1/2 to 4 gallons for the mash and about the same for the sparge. You will want at least 6 gallons of wort for the boil.

I will be very curious to see how different you feel the recipe turns out. I recalculated my APA that was the first batch I did into AG. It wasn't easy because the friggin Munton's DME I used was mysterious as all get out in terms of the color rating. I even emailed them and they never responded. I did however find formulas and finally a lovibond rating (actually it was in terms of MCU I think or some other thing). It did come out almost exact though in the end, but imo has a much cleaner, fuller flavor.

Have fun!

Cheesefood said:

... Popped the yeast when I got back to the parking lot...

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Was that what you were doing? I saw you in my rearview mirror as I was leaving the HBS and I thought you were popping something else!

Orfy hit it on the head; a lot of variables there. That's why I'm lost without ProMash! I'd agree with boldone; 3-1/2 to 4 gals. for the mash water, depending on how thick you want it.

I always seem to end up having 7 to 7-1/2 gals of sparge water on hand. Sometimes I use a little less, sometimes a little more, but I never seem to be off by more than +/- a half gallon. Better to have too much than too little. You can always use any excess water for clean up.

Good luck! Your set up looks to be good and you shouldn't need any luck.
RDWHAHB!

So, did everything come together on Saturday?

Rhoobarb said:

So, did everything come together on Saturday?

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yeah, Cheese, inquiring minds want to know!

Fill us in on the next day aeration too. Do you have a link that talks about the benefits of that?

Congratz Cheese!!! I was actually shocked to see this post. I'm doing my first AG tonight as well!!!!!! I was just logging on to do a quick bit of research about adding the water to the grain or grain to the water ... yikes, I'm a little nervous.

Good luck Cheese, and I'll let you know how my turns out as well!!!!


EDIT: Now that I read through the post I see this was on the 23rd.... how did it go?

Perhaps when he said he was going all-grain he literally converted his coporeal being into a bag of 2-row.

No. I tested out my gear and, during my last tweak of my kettle, I shredded the O-rings to the point where they couldn't hold a tight enough seal. There was a lot of leakage. I need to call Grainger to order new O-rings, unless I can find somewhere close by that stocks them (Grainger by my office does not stock them).

Cheesefood said:

No. I tested out my gear and, during my last tweak of my kettle, I shredded the O-rings to the point where they couldn't hold a tight enough seal. There was a lot of leakage. I need to call Grainger to order new O-rings, unless I can find somewhere close by that stocks them (Grainger by my office does not stock them).

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Grrrrr. Last minute tweaks are the evil. I can vouch for that for sure.

Well, at least your last minute tweak didn't result in 10 gallons on the driveway like mine did this weekend!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=223796#post223796

So, are you a go for this weekend? Or is the mission scrubbed?

Rhoobarb said:

So, are you a go for this weekend? Or is the mission scrubbed?

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Going out with friends tonight. Hopefully getting to it tomorrow, otherwise I'm not free until the weekend of the 24th. Better tell the wife I'm not doing errands with her tomorrow and get that starter going tonight.

Cheesefood said:

Going out with friends tonight. Hopefully getting to it tomorrow, otherwise I'm not free until the weekend of the 24th. Better tell the wife I'm not doing errands with her tomorrow and get that starter going tonight.

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Brewing at the crack of dawn myself tomorrow (insert your own Tony Orlando joke here). Hope you're able to get to it tomorrow. Good luck!

Rhoobarb said:

Brewing at the crack of dawn myself tomorrow (insert your own Tony Orlando joke here). Hope you're able to get to it tomorrow. Good luck!

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Vet appt for the dog @ 9:30. Last time SWMBO went by herself, we ended up paying $1,000+ for teeth cleaning, mole removal and biopsy and all sorts of other add-ons. This time it's just going to be rabies shot, tag, and out the door.

Cheesefood said:

... Last time SWMBO went by herself, we ended up paying $1,000...

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Yikes!

Rhoobarb said:

Yikes!

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Makes a good arguing point.

"So how much did that turkey fryer cost?"
"Oh, about .2 dog-mole removals"

"How much for those kegs?"
"Enough to brush a dog's teeth"

Cheesefood said:

Makes a good arguing point.

"So how much did that turkey fryer cost?"
"Oh, about .2 dog-mole removals"

"How much for those kegs?"
"Enough to brush a dog's teeth"

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As I read that figure, I was thinking about how much brewing related schtuff I could buy with an extra $1K!

I'm heating my strike water as we speak. The adventure begins.

Good luck. I'm sure you have researched it enough not to need luck, but anyway.......

Cheesefood said:

I'm heating my strike water as we speak. The adventure begins.

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C'mon Cheese -- are you gonna post your AG recipe? I would like to make this my inagural AG batch too (well, first full-sized batch I mean) , especially if I can use the Cheesefood authentic recipe!

First Q:

I mashed in at 175'. My MLT is sitting in my garage, and it's a balmy 27 outside. My garage door is partially open (since I was running my fryer). Will this upset my mashing? Should I add more hot water in a little while? I'm about 20 minutes in and I used 4 gallons for an 11 pound grist.

FlyGuy said:

C'mon Cheese -- are you gonna post your AG recipe? I would like to make this my inagural AG batch too (well, first full-sized batch I mean) , especially if I can use the Cheesefood authentic recipe!

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It's completely untested, but sure.

I hope your mash isn't at 175f and that you meant you mashed with 175f water to get your mash temps of 149f - 156f.
Open it up and stir it and take your temp readings again. If it is too low you can infuse more hot water to get the temps back up.

boo boo said:

I hope your mash isn't at 175f and that you meant you mashed with 175f water to get your mash temps of 149f - 156f.
Open it up and stir it and take your temp readings again. If it is too low you can infuse more hot water to get the temps back up.

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Yes, strike was 175', added to mash and took a temp and it was quickly in the 165 range.

I'm trying to figure out the Schedule in Pro Beer Tools. How hot do I sparge? I used 4 gals of strike water, so how much sparge water? 5 gallons @ 165'?

EDIT: <165' @ 45 minutes. Not too bad.

Use what ever you need to get your kettle volume. I use sparge water at 180f or so to get my mash up to about 165f for my first runnings and then sparge with 165f water for my second runnings.

You system may be slightly different.

Oops did I see you had it at 165 as a mash temp. Way too high.

I may be missing something but 165 degree mash seems high.

Agreed on the 165 being high. Is that correct Cheese? I couldn't imagine a strike temp of 175 only dropping to 165 though when its that chilly out.

Yes...what cooler are you using? What kind of thermometer?

FWIW, when we have temps like that, I bring the mash tun inside.

When Walker was here, he had his MLT facing the wind and lost like 15 degrees off his mash temp during the hour....mine was out of the wind and I lost 1&#176;.

Same exact set up.

Dude said:

Yes...what cooler are you using? What kind of thermometer?

FWIW, when we have temps like that, I bring the mash tun inside.

When Walker was here, he had his MLT facing the wind and lost like 15 degrees off his mash temp during the hour....mine was out of the wind and I lost 1°.

Same exact set up.

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10 gal Gott-style, with lid (which I took off).

It's down below 160 now. I've got about 15 minutes left for a 90 minute mash. I'm surprised no one posted the howtobrew.com link yet. EAC's.

desertBrew said:

Agreed on the 165 being high. Is that correct Cheese? I couldn't imagine a strike temp of 175 only dropping to 165 though when its that chilly out.

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Must have been 155f.

I strike with 168 - 170f to get 150 - 152f.


You DID mash lower than 160f didn't you?