First AG brew!

Well, after 5 successful extract brews on the stovetop, decided to make the jump to all-grain. For my first batch I went with an amber ale of my own design. Hit about 72-73% efficiency double batch sparging with the cooler and hose braid setup, pretty happy with that for first go, hit my mash temp of 152 dead on and didn't lose a degree over the hour :rockin: Pitched my starter of Pacman that I harvested from a few 12oz bottles of Rogue Mocha Porter and already starting to bubble a few hours later :rockin:

More pictures... Only problems was the chiller I bought the fittings were like epoxied on instead of soldered, and the inlet fitting of course loosened up and leaked when chilling, got a tad bit of water into the boil near the beginning until I was able to adjust the faucet until it was just dripping out instead of spraying into the wort. Will need to fix that before next brew day and I seriously don't understand why the fittings were epoxied instead of soldered.

Looks good. Might watch out for an exploding air lock. That carboy looks very full!

Just over 5.25 gallons in a 6ish gallon carboy. Blowoff tube attached down into container of sanitizer for the first few days

Did not see blow off tube. Looks good!

I'd say those fittings were epoxied because they aren't the right type of fitting. They look like brass hose barbs. They could be soldered, but soldering brass to copper is a little more tricky than copper to copper. I made my own chiller and I soldered copper, threaded fittings on the coil and then screwed on threaded garden hose fittings. I also had leak issues with my set-up before I did this... Everything looks pretty good! You'll be happy with AG!

Stauffbier said:

I'd say those fittings were epoxied because they aren't the right type of fitting. They look like brass hose barbs. They could be soldered, but soldering brass to copper is a little more tricky than copper to copper. I made my own chiller and I soldered copper, threaded fittings on the coil and then screwed on threaded garden hose fittings. I also had leak issues with my set-up before I did this... Everything looks pretty good! You'll be happy with AG!

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Thanks, that makes sense. For the price of the chiller I'm not too upset, just was freaking out near the end of the boil when I thought I wasn't going to be able to use the chiller. I'm thinking about sealing up the fitting with jb weld, it never touches the wort and can withstand constant 500F maximum so I should be good there. My outlet fitting didn't have any issues

underdog378 said:

Thanks, that makes sense. For the price of the chiller I'm not too upset, just was freaking out near the end of the boil when I thought I wasn't going to be able to use the chiller. I'm thinking about sealing up the fitting with jb weld, it never touches the wort and can withstand constant 500F maximum so I should be good there. My outlet fitting didn't have any issues

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I tried something similar to JB Weld, but it couldn't hold the pressure, so that is when I decided to brush up on my soldering skills.

Just an update, took a gravity reading today about a week later. Wish I would've taken a picture of the beer, the color is spot on what I was looking for, I'll get one when it's finished!

Anyways, seems finished at about 1.014. (Mashed at 152) Was very pleased with the Pacman that I harvested. I was off and running a couple hours after pitching my starter, had a very active fermentation for about 2 days, slowed down on the 3rd day and by the end of day 4 the yeast had started dropping out and now a week later the krausen has completely dropped minus a few small yeast rafts and is practically crystal clear. I have used mostly 1056 in my first few brews and hadn't seen this kind of floculation before.

Sample tasted really good, clean fermentation from the pacman it seems, the hops seem to balance out the sweetness well in my slightly hoppy amber, and I think this might be my best one yet. Most of my beers one week in tasted decent but definitely a little harsh. This one I could practically sit down and drink a couple pints of the warm uncarbonated beer, lol. I think 2 more weeks in primary and then off to the keg!

Solid. The only thing I see is that the boil kettle should be covered (IMHO) for the 50min or whatever of chilling. (I actually drape it with tinfoil as well as being covered, because the lid is ajar from the chiller.) I suppose you just took the lid off to take the picture. Surely. And did you keep that spoon in the wort the whole time sanitized, or mess with it in and out during the chill? (Dear God, can’t you see those fungi spores in the air everywhere? Plain as day!)

But that’s just me. I’m hyper sensitive to everything in the house 10min before flame-off. It’s a mindset – like riding a motorcycle, “They all want to kill me.”

Stauffbier has a good point about the brass to copper. Some recon warns that brass takes a lot longer to heat up. (Make sure you take out the rubber washers before you sweat/solder). You should take it completely apart and clean the joints entirely vs. just trying to spot patch. Definitely.

All personal opinion. Good luck!

Curious where you got your chiller, I had the same issue with mine.

sivdrinks said:

Curious where you got your chiller, I had the same issue with mine.

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Nybrewsupply. Not really complaining since it was cheaper than anywhere else but the pictures when I bought it showed compression fittings instead of the epoxy. I took it apart, cleaned it up and roughed it up really well and reattached it with jbweld. If that doesn't work I'll tear it all apart and change the fittings.

ipso said:

Solid. The only thing I see is that the boil kettle should be covered (IMHO) for the 50min or whatever of chilling. (I actually drape it with tinfoil as well as being covered, because the lid is ajar from the chiller.) I suppose you just took the lid off to take the picture. Surely. And did you keep that spoon in the wort the whole time sanitized, or mess with it in and out during the chill? (Dear God, can’t you see those fungi spores in the air everywhere? Plain as day!)

But that’s just me. I’m hyper sensitive to everything in the house 10min before flame-off. It’s a mindset – like riding a motorcycle, “They all want to kill me.”

Stauffbier has a good point about the brass to copper. Some recon warns that brass takes a lot longer to heat up. (Make sure you take out the rubber washers before you sweat/solder). You should take it completely apart and clean the joints entirely vs. just trying to spot patch. Definitely.

All personal opinion. Good luck!

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50 minutes for chilling? I drop 5.5 gals from boil to 70 F in about 12-14 minutes with my coil. I tried covering once, then all that condensation that collects on the cover falls into the brew... that is far more risky IMO than those asteroid size beer spoiling fungi floating through the air.

underdog378 said:

Nybrewsupply. Not really complaining since it was cheaper than anywhere else but the pictures when I bought it showed compression fittings instead of the epoxy. I took it apart, cleaned it up and roughed it up really well and reattached it with jbweld. If that doesn't work I'll tear it all apart and change the fittings.

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Me too, let them know. They gave me a $15 credit back. I guess I'll solder or JB weld it.

sivdrinks said:

Me too, let them know. They gave me a $15 credit back. I guess I'll solder or JB weld it.

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Thanks for the heads up I'll shoot them an email. I'll let you know how the JB weld holds up. I used the qwik weld since that's what I had, which can withstand 300F and the regular stuff can withstand 500F, both higher than it'll get.

Looking good underdog. I was just like you in that it only took me a handful of extract brews before I jumped into AG. You'll never look back.

younger96 said:

50 minutes for chilling? I drop 5.5 gals from boil to 70 F in about 12-14 minutes with my coil. I tried covering once, then all that condensation that collects on the cover falls into the brew... that is far more risky IMO than those asteroid size beer spoiling fungi floating through the air.

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I cover my pot with sanitized foil after it gets below 120F or so.. Never had a problem with condensation drops infecting my beer...

I totally forgot to update this post with pictures of the brew. Its been in the keg for a few weeks now and is tasting great, here are some before and after pics. I just entered it in my first homebrew competition and the judging is this sunday, I'll update again when I get my results.

Good looking beer there. My Amber Ale is about the same color and clarity but for the life of me I can't get the head retention like that in a regular pint glass. A pilsner glass will lace like crazy but not a normal pint. Weird.

Breck09 said:

Good looking beer there. My Amber Ale is about the same color and clarity but for the life of me I can't get the head retention like that in a regular pint glass. A pilsner glass will lace like crazy but not a normal pint. Weird.

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This was definitely the best lacing I've had on any of my beers. Part of it may be that I have 2lbs of crystal malt in there.

That looks great! I've still only done extract batches on the stove... getting the urge to try all grain, but I've been very happy with most of the extract batches that I've done so far, so I haven't had a real reason to switch.

Got my competition results back and I am extremely pleased for being not only my first competition, but my first all-grain beer and one of my first recipes I designed. I had scores of 44 and 40, my final assigned score was 42 and good for silver medal in a combined American Ales category!

underdog378 said:

Got my competition results back and I am extremely pleased for being not only my first competition, but my first all-grain beer and one of my first recipes I designed. I had scores of 44 and 40, my final assigned score was 42 and good for silver medal in a combined American Ales category!

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Nice job!