Back to Basics... What do you wish you knew before starting AG?

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I agree I was surprised how easy it was.

This. And I wish I had gone straight to the Northern Brewer bulkhead assembly. I screwed around with a DIY deal that leaked, there wasn't enough room for the ball valve handle, etc. When I finally got the NB one, didn't leak a drop and was much easier to install and use.
 
Expensive only hurts one time! I went the cheap route on a few things and then ended up going back for the expensive ones in the end......if you're short on cash at the time, save up for the equipment you want, dont just get what you can afford at that moment
 
There's a Sunday session with Denny Conn as guest from a few years ago. Find it and listen to it. He's my kind of AG brewer. Takes keep it simple stupid to a whole new level.
 
PurpleJeepXJ said:
That if you leave spent grain in a pile outside for a week in the GA heat it will smell like death...

That's definitely not in any videos I've seen! :)
 
There's a Sunday session with Denny Conn as guest from a few years ago. Find it and listen to it. He's my kind of AG brewer. Takes keep it simple stupid to a whole new level.


Can anyone share a link for this?
 
I can when I get home. It's at the brewing network website under Sunday session podcasts, like 5 years ago if you want to look for it. I should be able to find out when I get home from work though.
 
Make sure you use a good thermometer and a lot of stirring of your mash. I made the mistake of using a digital probe thermometer that didn't take well to submersion. After a few beers, it corroded on the inside, eventually reading 20F too low. That quickly screwed up a few beers. Nothing like mashing at 140 when you are expecting it to be 154!

With that... Make sure you callobrate the thermometer in advance.
 
I agree with a lot of posts... it's more simple than I had originally thought. All of the posts, opinions, experts, etc. were intimidating.

Also, I'd not worry about efficiency unless you'd like to do it as an engineering hobby. It's much easier to add 1 or 2 extra pounds of grain to a recipe than it is to increase efficiency by 5%, i.e. 65% efficiency of 14 pounds may be as good as 75% efficiency of 12 pounds. In fact, some people believe that it's better to have less efficiency for more grains because of fewer tanins, and the cost for a home brew batch is only a few $.

Finally, I'd drink lower alcohol beers during all-grain days... they seem to take longer than expected, so my ratio of 1 beer/hour of brewing is a painful day if they are IIPA's :) [What is the standard beer/hour of brewing out there?]
 
I've not done many AG brews--about 10 under my belt--but wished I had known that a refractometer cannot tell you FG, only OG. I spent a week cussing out the manufacturer of the dang thing under my breath, because I assumed my beer was under attenuated.

Turns out, I'm a *******.
 
Stir. Stir! STIR! after adding hot water.

NASA should look into using grains + water as an advanced insulating substance. The wacky soup can be 140 degrees in one place, and 158 degrees a couple of inches over, and it can hold those temps for a surprisingly long time. You can imagine the kinds of unnecessary hot-water disasters this can lead to. As a corollary (I know you said only one thing), take readings from all around the mash, and stir if the temps are radically different.

Seconded. I stir vigorously, and when I'm done, I do it again. I also like using digital RTDs or thermocouples just because they're quick to get readings. But I've seen ten degrees of difference even in a stirred mash. To the point where I've considered fabricating a worm drive agitator paddle for the tun. But mostly cause I like throwing needless money at crap like this. :)
 
I like all the "prep the night before and have a detailed plan" comments. For whatever reason, I seem to be incapable of this. I am a wing it, start at 6 in the evening, brew while making dinner/ doing yard work/ building some contraption kind of guy. I do not suggest this. I always forget my whirlfloc. One day I will tape it to my face, and see if that helps.
 
I actually sat in on some friends doing all grain a few times before I made the move and was very book smart on the whole process. My first was actually at the AHA Big Brew so many others were around had I gotten stuck. Been brewing ALL Grain since and have been getting very efficiencies and many complements on my beers.
 
Put a little sticker on your carboy that says, "Take OG before pitching yeast, you idiot!"
 
Do all your prep the night before, i've finally figured out how great it is. I write up a template in my notebook with everything I normally record, so all I have to do is fill in the blanks instead of scrambling to do everything while writing it down. Also leave a space so you can record your times, mash-in, sparge out, boil start, hop additions.

There's a lot to keep track of and do, but if you get everything you can ready the night before you spend most of your time sitting around drinking watching the HLT, Mash Tun, and brew kettle. :)

+1,000 on this. Prepping the night before makes brew day so much less hectic. I also wish someone told me how peeved my wife would be with my brewing habits.
 
I'm only 5 AG brew days in and Here's what I learned.. without echoing everything mentioned above..
1. Pre-Measure additions and label them.(hops, Irish Moss, etc.) have them in baggies and/or cups labeled with times.
2. Have a brew day sheet with everything already calculated out on it as well as spots for readings along the way. Times, Temperatures, Volumes.
3. I don't start drinking beer until after the Sparge. Too many things that I need to watch and do before then and I don't want to miss them. (Yes I do start after the boil is coming up)
4. Relax.. it's really not as hard as it's made up to be.

** if you have a SWMBO over estimate your time. the last thing you want to do is tell her you'll be done by X time and it's Really X+2 Hours.. makes for unpleasantness.
 
Jshine42 said:
** if you have a SWMBO over estimate your time. the last thing you want to do is tell her you'll be done by X time and it's Really X+2 Hours.. makes for unpleasantness.

Lol, true! Around out house, it's pretty well understood that brew day is pretty much the entire day.
 
Jshine42 said:
** if you have a SWMBO over estimate your time. the last thing you want to do is tell her you'll be done by X time and it's Really X+2 Hours.. makes for unpleasantness.

Lol, true! Fortunately, around our house, it's pretty well understood that brew day is pretty much the entire day.
 
Get Beersmith. It's amazing how much you learn while setting everything up to perfectly reflect your system. Keep some DME on hand just in case a bonehead mistake still occurs. Clean while you go. Enjoy the moment and don't get all freaked out about small details that aren't going to make or break the final product.
 
Get Beersmith. It's amazing how much you learn while setting everything up to perfectly reflect your system. Keep some DME on hand just in case a bonehead mistake still occurs. Clean while you go. Enjoy the moment and don't get all freaked out about small details that aren't going to make or break the final product.

+1 great advice!
 
JiP said:
Finally, I'd drink lower alcohol beers during all-grain days... they seem to take longer than expected, so my ratio of 1 beer/hour of brewing is a painful day if they are IIPA's :) [What is the standard beer/hour of brewing out there?]

Agree with this. Drinking high ABV beers all brew day leads to a sloppy day for me.
 
I keep seeing brewers say how surprised they were on how easy it is to AG, I couldn't agree more! I started out extract brewing as most do, following directions to the T, worrying about the time at every moment, checking my temps way more often then needed, etc. It may be because of all the batches I did extract that I got the AG part right but I think AG is even easier than extract! Hope it turned out GREAT!
 
Jshine42 said:
I'm only 5 AG brew days in and Here's what I learned.. without echoing everything mentioned above..
1. Pre-Measure additions and label them.(hops, Irish Moss, etc.) have them in baggies and/or cups labeled with times.
2. Have a brew day sheet with everything already calculated out on it as well as spots for readings along the way. Times, Temperatures, Volumes.
3. I don't start drinking beer until after the Sparge. Too many things that I need to watch and do before then and I don't want to miss them. (Yes I do start after the boil is coming up)
4. Relax.. it's really not as hard as it's made up to be.

** if you have a SWMBO over estimate your time. the last thing you want to do is tell her you'll be done by X time and it's Really X+2 Hours.. makes for unpleasantness.

+1 this is so right on. I brew umteen times in my head before brewday. The cheat sheet keeps me on schedule and helps me avoid missing something.
 
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