First All-Grain attempt this weekend!

I'm going with a plain jane Pale-Ale and my setup pretty much copies this.

Wish me luck! I'm pretty excited.

Good luck! Let's see that recipe!

A pale is a good place to start AG. Plan on a longer startup for the ferment and more time in the secondary for settling. Don't forget the Irish Moss.

That website was one of my main references, too! Good luck! BTW, I love the name of your bitter!

BeeGee said:

Good luck! Let's see that recipe!

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This is from Asheville Brewer's Supply in Asheville, NC:

7# Briess 2 row
1#Durst Vienna
.5# 40 L Crystal
1oz. perle pellet hops (60 mins)
1oz. perle pellet hops (40 mins)
1oz. cascade pellet hops (10 mins)
1oz. cascade leaf hops (dry or finish)
White Labs California Ale Yeast

Thanks for all the well wishes!

Looks classic! Not that far off one I do if you swap vienna for munich and switch up the hop bill just a hair. I really like Perle, too. You could consider tossing in 1/2 your finish hops at flameout, and then dryhop with 1/2.

BeeGee said:

You could consider tossing in 1/2 your finish hops at flameout, and then dryhop with 1/2.

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I haven't actually dry hopped a beer yet (he said "dry hopped . . ."). I'm not sure if I'll actually do that or just throw that last ounce in with 5 min or so left to boil. Any thoughts?

if you've never dry hopped, give it a shot. I loved what it did to my IPA (which was my first dry-hop batch).

-walker

Walker said:

if you've never dry hopped, give it a shot. I loved what it did to my IPA (which was my first dry-hop batch).

-walker

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well let me ask you this: I just started saving yeast on my last batch and intend to do it with this one. Do you have to do any extra filtering to get the dry hopped hops out or would you just leave them in with the rest of the trub that I'm bottling to save?

I would do the half and half. I really like the results from dry hopping. If you go with just the last minute addition of the entire ounce, I'd really consider doing it at flameout as opposed to with 5 minutes left so you don't lose too many aromatics.

Are you saving yeast from your secondary? That's where the dry hops should go. I usually harvest yeast from my primary which is said to be healthier than the spent yeast that winds up in the secondary.

ian said:

well let me ask you this: I just started saving yeast on my last batch and intend to do it with this one. Do you have to do any extra filtering to get the dry hopped hops out or would you just leave them in with the rest of the trub that I'm bottling to save?

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You usually wash yeast from the primary and dry-hop in the secondary, so you won't have to deal with the hops when you wash.

-walker

BTW: having washed yeast, I decided it was easier to just make a large starter with my yeast, pitching half, and saving the other half. No messing with trub in the fermenters at all this way.

BeeGee said:

Are you saving yeast from your secondary? That's where the dry hops should go. I usually harvest yeast from my primary which is said to be healthier than the spent yeast that winds up in the secondary.

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Saving from primary. Glad you said that! I would have tossed them into the primary.

Yes, dry hop in the secondary! It provides a nice hop aroma. Smells like heaven come bottling day!

Any real concerns with putting half in at boil's end and saving the rest for a week to ten days for secondary? Would the remaining half go stale or anything? I assuming that a ziploc bag in the fridge would be sufficient to save them?

seal them in a ziplock or tupperware and put them in the freezer. they'll be fine for several weeks, I suspect.

-walker

I keep hops for months in the freezer...two ziploc bags with the air squeezed out. Ideal would be some type of vacuum system. If you keep them in a ziploc in the fridge or the freezer you're not going to notice any degradation at all over the course of 7-10 days.

BeeGee said:

I keep hops for months in the freezer...two ziploc bags with the air squeezed out. ...

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I don't 'double bag', but a ziplock in the freezer is how I do it, too!

BeeGee said:

I keep hops for months in the freezer...two ziploc bags with the air squeezed out.

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Do you buy in bulk? I've been considering that.

I am talking with some of the other local guys here in the Raleigh area about buying in bulk and splitting the orders up between us to avoid having them sit around too long and go stale.

I've never bought bulk before, though...

-walker

well, I guess when I said bulk I meant like a pound or two. What is technically considered bulk?

I did this year buy some hops in 'bulk' that I know I use a lot. Around 8 oz was what I considered bulk just to see how it would go. I know they'll degrade over time regardless of what you do, but so far they seem to be holding up well (good color, good aroma, lupulin glands look healthy). I think a great system would be to buy a lb or so at a time, and then use a vacuum sealer to seal them off in 1oz freezeable packets.

BeeGee said:

I think a great system would be to buy a lb or so at a time, and then use a vacuum sealer to seal them off in 1oz freezeable packets.

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That's exactly what I was thinking, but those vacuum sealers are kind of expensive. I can think of better brewing equipment to drop that much on. . . .

Yeah, I'd pretty much need another use for a vacuum sealer before buying one (I take Alton Brown's 'no singletasker' advice seriously!). But so far doublebagging with the air squeezed out seems to be working for me. And these are leaf hops I'm talking about...I imagine pellet hops would store even better.

Ian, I hope everything goes well. If you did your homework, then I'm sure it will. I've only done 8 or so batches of AG with the majority of them being lagers. Lets hear all about it when you can post to see how you made out. Cheers.

well, I'm now an "all-grain" brewer. I hope it turns out, it didn't go without its fair share of mishap.

The main one being that I ran out of propane just as the boil started. So I had to zip to the convenience store and get a replacement tank. All the while my wort is cooling. It only cooled to about 205 before I got the heat back on it.

The mash tun worked like a charm, although it never really got less cloudy as I repoured the runnings back in to settle the grain bed. Not too worried about that. It held the initial temp throughout the mash, I was surprised that I didn't notice any drop.

It did have tons of chunks in it that I'm think are just protein strands.
This morning (I brewed yesterday) I don't see much yeast activity yet, but am not panicking yet. I used a whirlfloc tablet in this batch and I will say that this is the clearest its ever been in primary.

Nice work! Definitely give it 24hrs to get pumping, although some start faster. Did you take any efficiency readings?

BeeGee said:

Did you take any efficiency readings?

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Not really sure how to do efficiency readings but it had a pre-boil gravity of 1.04 (that was taken right before the last batch sparge so it might be off a little). I forgot to take a reading before pitching yeast.

The way I do it is take a gravity reading after all my runoff is complete and in the kettle. That way I have a reasonably accurate volume reading which is pretty important. I then compare that gravity reading to the theoretical yield for my grainbill at that volume. The main point is to see if you can improve your efficiency and thereby use less grains while achieving the same gravity.

Off the top of my head, and not knowing your pre-boil volume, I think 1.04 is a good pre-boil SG for 8.5# of grain...your batch sparge would have lowered that # a bit, but I'd still say it's pretty reasonable.

The pre-boil volume was about 6 gallons. Using BobbyC's Beer Alchemy program we estimate that the pre-ferment gravity was about 1.042 and that the efficiency was around 75%. Estimating because there wasn't an exact volume measurement or actual pre-ferment gravity. I'm fairly pleased with that, as long as the dang yeast gets to work!

Most first AG batches don't go without a hitch or 2. Soon you'll get a process down and it will be second nature!!! Congrats!

ian said:

Using BobbyC's Beer Alchemy program

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What's this?

It's a mac thang.

Dude said:

What's this?

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http://www.kentplacesoftware.com/products/BeerAlchemy.html

Fermenting like its boiling! Lots of chunky stuff in there, I assume that this is proteins?? I poured into the primary with a strainer and all of this cloudy/chunky stuff went righ through it. What exactly is this?

Sounds like the break material...it's okay assuming you're planning to rack to a secondary once fermentation has abated.

As a follow up:
I racked to secondary last night and had a little taste. I guess its just what I was going for, a fairly mild easily accessible beer. My wife said it was kind of watery (yes she actually tasted a little coming out of primary even with little bits of trub in it! What a woman!)

I should have listened to you guys when you said to dry hop that last ounce of leaf cascades. Oh well, I will next time. But, it is pretty clear and the yellowest in color that I've done yet. Coming through the siphon it was nearly clear (little color). I bet that when friends/family try this one they will like it the best as it resembles a commercial (bud or miller) the most in color. To add to the fact that this is my first AG I may also make it my first kegged batch if I get all my stuff together in time.

ian said:

As a follow up:
I racked to secondary last night and had a little taste. I guess its just what I was going for, a fairly mild easily accessible beer. My wife said it was kind of watery (yes she actually tasted a little coming out of primary even with little bits of trub in it! What a woman!)

I should have listened to you guys when you said to dry hop that last ounce of leaf cascades. Oh well, I will next time. But, it is pretty clear and the yellowest in color that I've done yet. Coming through the siphon it was nearly clear (little color). I bet that when friends/family try this one they will like it the best as it resembles a commercial (bud or miller) the most in color. To add to the fact that this is my first AG I may also make it my first kegged batch if I get all my stuff together in time.

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Awesome!

Welcome to the darkside!

Ian, considering your pre-boil gravity I would not worry about it being thin. Once you carbonate it the tastes will start to shine through.

El Pistolero said:

It's a mac thang.

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Mac.... a mac.... OHHH YEAH... My papperweight here