All grain 1st time, and some questions

Hello all,

I am in the middle of mashing right now, and i had some questions. My mash temp was suppose to be 152 appr., but I only reached 150. Did I screw up my first AG batch. Secondly it is hard to lift 4.5 gallons of water and pour it out of a keggle w/out spilling. How does everybody get their water to there mashtun in a suffecient manner? TIA

At 150, the beer may simply be a bit more fermentable than if you mashed higher, so it may finish at a lower Fg.

I use a smaller pot for heating my water. I only use the keggle to boil the entire batch. I can barely lift it empty, let alone full!

Okay I am willing to except a little bit of a learning curve, but I didnt ruin it right?

You didn't ruin it. It may be a little lighter bodied and higher ABV than it would have been - no big deal.

I measure and pour my hot water into the mash run with a 1/2 gallon pitcher - just scoop it into the pot and pour into the mash tun.

Cool thanks Yoop and Pappers for the help. I feel like a noob all over again... Its great! Cheers.

slomo said:

Secondly it is hard to lift 4.5 gallons of water and pour it out of a keggle w/out spilling. How does everybody get their water to there mashtun in a suffecient manner? TIA

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I have a 15 gallon SS pot and I always heat up about 1/2 gallon extra because theat's about what I spill on my feet trying to lift it and pour into my MLT

Yeah I will be getting a kettle to boil water in because lifting that thing 3 feet into the air and then pouring was not cool, and was not safety first.

AZ_IPA said:

I have a 15 gallon SS pot and I always heat up about 1/2 gallon extra because theat's about what I spill on my feet trying to lift it and pour into my MLT

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Has nobody heard of ball-valves?
Lifting 5-10 gallons or more of H2O at strike temps is asking for a trip to the ER.

slomo said:

Yeah I will be getting a kettle to boil water in because lifting that thing 3 feet into the air and then pouring was not cool, and was not safety first.

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What I started doing was using a smaller MLT and using it as my HLT. It's still a 5 gallon MLT, but it holds water just fine and it's easier to use the small kettle and fill that, then lift THAT up higher once the lid is on tight!

150 vs 152 (as has already been stated) won't cause any problems.
As for lifting 4.5g water, I suggest weight training. I can do it without any problem, and I'm well over twice your age.

-a.

ajf said:

150 vs 152 (as has already been stated) won't cause any problems.
As for lifting 4.5g water, I suggest weight training. I can do it without any problem, and I'm well over twice your age.

-a.

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Twice MY age? You're 92? Good god, I'm impressed!

I'm about 135 pounds, so find it difficult to lift more than about 75 pounds. Some of you guys are a little bigger, I'm sure! But my keggle weighs 118 pounds with 11 gallons in it. Almost as much as me! I don't even like lifting the 4.5 gallons (which is 36 pounds alone, not including the 30 pound keggle).

ajf said:

150 vs 152 (as has already been stated) won't cause any problems.
As for lifting 4.5g water, I suggest weight training. I can do it without any problem, and I'm well over twice your age.

-a.

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Burn!

Although I use a smaller turkey fryer for heating water, I about blew out an O-ring trying to get my Keggle and 6G of water up on my kitchen counter.

I'm considering doing 10 gallon batches, and I'm going to try to use that as motivation to start picking up some iron again. Otherwise I'll never be able to lift it into my "immersion chiller" (garbage can of cold water).

I remember when I was 18, working in food service, I would carry a full keg in each hand to to the bar when they needed it.

jldc said:

Has nobody heard of ball-valves?
Lifting 5-10 gallons or more of H2O at strike temps is asking for a trip to the ER.

Click to expand...

I have a ball valve - just that draining the strike water into the MLT takes too long for me. I'd rather burn my toes