I'm about to brew my first all grain batch and first batch ever any ideas?

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DrunkenJamaal

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I am jumping into the all grain first although I have not brewed a batch I have welded my own system and I am about to test it hopefully this weekend!
 
You're a brave one. Best of luck, think carefully about your process and step through it before you brew. Make a simple beer in terms of og that way if you need to tweak your process you wont have to wait a while to figure it out.

A blond, simple stout, or wheat would be good.
 
Good luck. When the wort is coming to a boil, don't get distracted. Be ready to reduce heat and stir. Until the hot break is over, wort will go from docile to volcano extremely quickly. Other than that, all grain is not harder. Just longer and bigger (volume wise) equipment.
 
I also started out like you, my first brew was AG on untested equipment, I had a perfect brewday! My advice would be write down all the steps in order, with the proper times ect. I had my hop additions pre-measured and in labeled bags. first bag was labeled "#1 1.0oz cascade @60min, set timer to 30min." next bag was "#2 0.5oz cascade @30min set timer to 15min." ect. it really ensured I did not forget to make additions ect. or forget to set the timer for the next addition.
 
As AZ mentioned write down the steps. Also have all your calculations done for temps and volumes before-hand. And heat extra mash and sparge water. Good Luck. You'll have a ball.

If you're looking for ideas for recipes, I think a good hop-bomb is a good first beer. You won't need to worry about flavor complexity if the hops will strip the paint on your car.
 
Like others said, step through the process ahead of time. I would recommend making a step-by step list with all the pre-calculated numbers to keep on hand for the big day like the one listed below, but will vary depening on your process and equipment. I'm not sure what equipment you have, but it's a good idea to have two kettles to heat water. Heat your strike water to the calculated temp in one kettle and boil water in the other in case you miss the mash temp and need to raise it. The last thing I would say is make sure that as you're going through the process don't forget to write down the volumes of water if you deviate from the plan, i.e. if you have to add boiling water to raise the mash temp.

Step1: Heat X gallons strike water to XXX degrees
Step2: Pour strike water into mash tun
Step3: Pour in [water adjusments] and grains and stir
Step4: Check temp every XX minutes for XX minutes
etc...
 
Put a crap load of hops in it to hide any impurities!! LOL, that's what I did on my first brew! (Although that was an extract :p) GL!!!!
 
Just don't forget to record your extract efficiency for future recipes. The best advise I can give is that it's better to overshoot your water a bit and boil down than to undershoot and add up. I would assume 70% efficiency and choose a forgiving grain bill. Something consisting mostly of a high-quality American 2-row pale ale malt would be good. American amber with lots of hops wouldn't be a bad starting point. I would definitely go with a recipe for your first brew.

You can get as detailed as you want but I assure you that by and large, all-grain brewing is very forgiving as long as you sanitize and don't really F something up. As long as your mash temps stay in the proper range you'll be fine. Just do a little homework to ensure that it does. Try not to aerate before the boil is finished and yeah, be generous with the hops.

And make a starter!
 
plan everything and figure out what you are going to do if/when it turns to **** and the best of luck to you :D hope it works great and if it doesnt dont get disheartened but it doesnt sound like you will :D
 
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