First All Grain in the books

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Desert_Sky

Since 1998
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Well after a rocky start, with a thermometer breaking and and no babysitter, I mashed in last night at 830pm. Hit my mash temp of 152 right on the money. Thank you ProMash. I did ok for effeciency too. I was shooting for 5 gallons @ 1.048. I got 5.5 gallons @ 1.042. 72% ain't too bad for my first run. My Phil's false floor worked like a champ. I only had to vorlof (sp) a little bit each time.

This is going to be my best yet. Its a Blonde Ale and came out with a bright straw color. After the trubb settled I could actually see a couple inches into the carboy....talk about crystal clear, wow. I woke up for work 3 hours later, and theres a nice layer of krausen already, and airlock is starting to pick up speed.

It took quite a bit longer than my normal brewtimes. Started at 830, finished cleaning and got into bed at 230. But the whole process wasn't too bad. I think it's safe to say I'm hooked. And SWMBO os really excited being that the grains and hops cost a whopping 11 bucks.

Recipe for the Bombshell Blonde if anyone is interested.

Because everyone likes a blonde that goes down easy
7 lbs 2 Row
1 lb CaraPils
1 lb Crystal 10L

Cascade 1/2 oz 45
Cascade 1/2 oz 30
Saaz 1/2 oz 15
Saaz 1/2 oz 0

Mash temp 152
Mash out 168
Sparge 170

Cali Ale wlp001

It was a real simple recipe to get my feet wet. Well, mission accomplished. Thanks guys for all the advice lately, you really made things alot easier.
 
Congrats! 6 hours is pretty good. That's what it takes me. Believe my 1st AG was around 7 or so.
 
Thanks man. I do have a question though. I was going over my Promash session report. And since I took my OG reading from the fermenter, it shot my efficiency up from 72% to 88%.

Cool with me, but Im not understanding why it shot up so much.
 
You have that radio button to pick on where you took your measurement from. kettle or fermenter. If you pick fermenter and make sure you have the right recorded volume of wort that'd be your efficiency. If you checked gravity from kettle your volume would be higher naturally. Or I'm preaching to the choir.

I usually test both pre-boil and post boil. I'm right in the middle of cooling right now but my "from kettle" efficiency kind of sucked today at 65%. I'll post after I test gravity once I get it in the fermenter as well.
 
And from the fermenter I ended up at 72%. 75 minute boil. The best test of efficiency is before the boil however.
 
Well It's just about there. Another week and they are all headed to the fridge. I doubt they wil last long. They really are good . But..... I screwed up somewhere. Either I didn't cool the wort fast enough, or I was too quick to pull them out of the secondary. The latter is probably what happened, I was too eager to drink my first all grain.

Anyways, chill haze sucks ass. They look fantastic at room temp, but cool them down and you can no longer read a newspaper article through a pint. This weekend Ive changed the recipe and will give it another shot.

[/vent]
 
What water to grain ratio did you use? Doing the rough math in my head 5.5 gallons sounds about right for a 1.3 ratio after the grain absorbs the water.

Jason
 
yea it was 1.3

this next one is going to be a bit maltier & the hop bill is totally changed.

Im not going to rush this one, and see if the haze goes away. Also now that I think about it, the boil and hotbreak wasnt all that great either. Bah, whatever it is, hopefully Ill correct it on this batch.
 
Congrats! I'm slowly aquiring the necessary equipment to go All Grain after being dormant in brewing for over a decade. I have two carboys of hard ciders bubbling for some brew fests next month, but after visiting the forum, I've decided to make the plunge and my first brew will be AG right out of the shoot.

I'm getting thirsty just lurking.

Cheers!

Primary #1 German Apfelwein
Primary #2 German Apfelwein
Secondary# nix
Secondary #nix
Conditioning- nix
Drinking-nix
 
Beer Snob said:
Did you batch sparge or fly this one?

It was a batch sparge. I think that is yet another variable for the haze. i do have a sparge arm i was going to try out for the first time on this batch as well. I just have to find a way to elevate it higher than my MLT.

*edit
I took the day off and Im on my 6th one of these. damn they really are good though. Its all a learning process and I get to try it all over again tomorrow which is the best part.
 
Chimone said:
I took the day off and Im on my 6th one of these. damn they really are good though. Its all a learning process and I get to try it all over again tomorrow which is the best part.
Heh, I'm slowly working on aquiring the equipment. I'm jealous already! Maybe I'll plan on a day off too. Sort of a Grand Opening Day of my first all grain once I'm there.

Jason
 
iloman said:
Heh, I'm slowly working on aquiring the equipment. I'm jealous already! Maybe I'll plan on a day off too. Sort of a Grand Opening Day of my first all grain once I'm there.

Jason

that really is a great way to go. take the whole day off, whether it be from work, or just other things in general. then your not adding time into the factor of the whole process, and you can relax even more
 
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