I finally made the leap to all grain this afternoon and everything went seamless. Better than my first extract. I did six extract brews and then decided to do this as an experiment to see if i could do it. I went into it really not knowing too much and not being very confident but it seemed easy enough. I got a turkey fryer on the cheap 48 qt Rubbermaid cooler with stainless braid and made a short IC (20'). So i jumped into it today and it couldn’t have gone smoother.
ESB:
Batch size 5.25gal
10lb maris otter pale malt
1lb crystal 60
Touch of chocolate malt for color
1oz fuggles 60min
1oz fuggles 30 min
1oz fuggles 5 min
Doughed in with 3.5 gal of water @ 170 (maybe a bit higher)
The cooler made some weird noises when I put the strike water in almost like ice cracking, no leaks though.
Added grains and hit 152-153 and held for an hour
After hour added1 gallon @ 190 to make half of my boil volume (it didn’t change
Collected 3.125 gallons on first runoff, planned on getting3 .25 but now I know)
The temp in the tun like I wanted to but no big deal voulourof(sp) only took a few quarts)
I sparged with 3.5 gallons @ 190 hit 170 on the dot) a qt extra to compensate for the loss i had in the first funoff (the funny thing is I am looking at my notes and I collected 3.75 gal on the sparge that’s more than I put in there, could be a mistake with my chicken scratch)
I collected my sweet wort in my bottling bucket and stupidly dumped it in the pot so if there really is something with HSA ill have it on this brew, haha on my sparge I started a siphon from the bucket then half way through waiting for it to go I realized the bottling bucket has a spigot, much better, ill remember for next time)
I planned on coming up with 6.5 gallons pre-boil but had 6.875, no big deal.
Fired up the burner came to boil in 10 minutes or so added my hops cracked a homebrew and kept a nice rolling boil for an hour.
Threw my chiller in with fifteen minutes left.
Took only about 15 minutes to chill down to pitching temps, could have been faster if remembered to make sure the water was flowing slower.
Siphoned the wort into the fermenter GOT EXACTLY 5.25 gallons @1.051
I put the recipe into beer smith guessing a 65% efficiency and it told me 1.051 and hit that perfectly I am happy with 65%
Shook like a mad man for a few minutes and pitched some re-hydrated dry yeast.
That was it couldn’t have been more easier. I doughed in at 3:15 and pitched at 7:15, almost on the dot.
Things I will do different next time definitely need a couple good thermometers so i can read by the degree instead of increments of ten (it was basically a guessing game). Preheat the mash tun a little higher I probably mashed more around 150 than 154 but couldn’t tell exactly. Try to stir grains while adding them instead of all at once, remember that even though I am not dealing with malt syrup sweet wort is very sticky, drink more homebrew during the boil, take neater notes, and that’s about it. All in all it was a great brew day I can’t wait to do it again. As I am finshing this post up I looked behind me about 2 hours later I got bubbles!
ANy suggestions or critiques of my method would definitly be welcomed.
ESB:
Batch size 5.25gal
10lb maris otter pale malt
1lb crystal 60
Touch of chocolate malt for color
1oz fuggles 60min
1oz fuggles 30 min
1oz fuggles 5 min
Doughed in with 3.5 gal of water @ 170 (maybe a bit higher)
The cooler made some weird noises when I put the strike water in almost like ice cracking, no leaks though.
Added grains and hit 152-153 and held for an hour
After hour added1 gallon @ 190 to make half of my boil volume (it didn’t change
Collected 3.125 gallons on first runoff, planned on getting3 .25 but now I know)
The temp in the tun like I wanted to but no big deal voulourof(sp) only took a few quarts)
I sparged with 3.5 gallons @ 190 hit 170 on the dot) a qt extra to compensate for the loss i had in the first funoff (the funny thing is I am looking at my notes and I collected 3.75 gal on the sparge that’s more than I put in there, could be a mistake with my chicken scratch)
I collected my sweet wort in my bottling bucket and stupidly dumped it in the pot so if there really is something with HSA ill have it on this brew, haha on my sparge I started a siphon from the bucket then half way through waiting for it to go I realized the bottling bucket has a spigot, much better, ill remember for next time)
I planned on coming up with 6.5 gallons pre-boil but had 6.875, no big deal.
Fired up the burner came to boil in 10 minutes or so added my hops cracked a homebrew and kept a nice rolling boil for an hour.
Threw my chiller in with fifteen minutes left.
Took only about 15 minutes to chill down to pitching temps, could have been faster if remembered to make sure the water was flowing slower.
Siphoned the wort into the fermenter GOT EXACTLY 5.25 gallons @1.051
I put the recipe into beer smith guessing a 65% efficiency and it told me 1.051 and hit that perfectly I am happy with 65%
Shook like a mad man for a few minutes and pitched some re-hydrated dry yeast.
That was it couldn’t have been more easier. I doughed in at 3:15 and pitched at 7:15, almost on the dot.
Things I will do different next time definitely need a couple good thermometers so i can read by the degree instead of increments of ten (it was basically a guessing game). Preheat the mash tun a little higher I probably mashed more around 150 than 154 but couldn’t tell exactly. Try to stir grains while adding them instead of all at once, remember that even though I am not dealing with malt syrup sweet wort is very sticky, drink more homebrew during the boil, take neater notes, and that’s about it. All in all it was a great brew day I can’t wait to do it again. As I am finshing this post up I looked behind me about 2 hours later I got bubbles!
ANy suggestions or critiques of my method would definitly be welcomed.