First All Grain Batch - Success!

Hey Everyone,

I finally made the switch to go all grain - upgraded equipment with some Christmas money. Brewed my first batch today, an American Wheat, and I think I nailed it.

Per Beersmith, my estimated OG is 1.053, I measured 1.051. My first runnings measured 1.071 when hot, 1.081 at room temp. Efficiency came in at 75.1%.

Needless to say I'm pretty psyched for the switch to AG, can't wait to give this one a sample. I was not having great success with extract brewing, 3 batches and none of them were too good. All palatable and alcoholic (which makes for drinkable), but I keep finding myself drinking microbrews I've bought even with plenty of extract homebrews around.

Anyways just thought I'd share, I've been reading threads on here for quite some time, with little contributions to date as I'm just learning.

Cheers!
Roger

Glad to hear your first experience with AG was a good one. I too just recently made the move after having brewed Extract for 1.5 years. My efficiency was close to 65% on my first batch but it will still be a nice drinkable brown ale.

Brew on!!

Extract brewing was O.K. but AG tastes better and has infinite possibilities.

Have fun!

Congrads, Switching to AG is like a painter getting a hundred new paint colors to use. Between all the great recipes being shared and the ability to endlessly tweak them to your own preference there is nowhere to go but up. Also, no shame in still enjoying great microbrew rather then just your own. I always have at least 10 gal on draft of my own stuff and I will always go try new beers.

SlapYoMomaBrew said:

Congrads, Switching to AG is like a painter getting a hundred new paint colors to use. Between all the great recipes being shared and the ability to endlessly tweak them to your own preference there is nowhere to go but up. Also, no shame in still enjoying great microbrew rather then just your own. I always have at least 10 gal on draft of my own stuff and I will always go try new beers.

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Even if I ran my own brewery and had 5 of my own kegs on tap indefinitely, I would still buy other craft beer. There is no better way to know the market, the product and further the art of brewing then by trying anything and everything from the swill to the Pliny the Elders.

I am planning on brewing a killer IPA this weekend and I still bought Firestone Walker's Union Jack IPA... never had it before but wanted to try it, and dial in what I am looking for in my IPA. All I will say is that Union Jack easily rocketed into my top 10 West Coast IPA list. Solid body with some bite!

BREW ON!

congrats on switch to AG!

I just kinda did it myself - started brewing 20 years ago, did 5-6 batches, 1 of them AG, then moved to smaller places and didn't have room for equipment. started back up last year, did 2 extracts, 1 AG, though those AGs were in a Zapap and were struggles. last month, Santa brought me what I needed to complete my brew rig and this weekend will be my first brew day with a complete setup

and the pipeline isn't quite complete, so I do a fair share of "research" in the single-bottle section at Total Wine. trying new styles and different breweries is all part of the obsession

a complete idiot once said, "it's all beer, it's all good"

Just switched myself. I can't believe that it took the same amount of time as my last extract with steeping grains and cost half as much.

VTrookie said:

Even if I ran my own brewery and had 5 of my own kegs on tap indefinitely, I would still buy other craft beer. There is no better way to know the market, the product and further the art of brewing then by trying anything and everything from the swill to the Pliny the Elders.

I am planning on brewing a killer IPA this weekend and I still bought Firestone Walker's Union Jack IPA... never had it before but wanted to try it, and dial in what I am looking for in my IPA. All I will say is that Union Jack easily rocketed into my top 10 West Coast IPA list. Solid body with some bite!

BREW ON!

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VTrookie - I agree! I look at micro brews as not only delicious in many cases, but as research or inspiration on what I want to attempt to make. Some of my best ideas are from taking what others have done and nit-picking it to my taste.

captainkirk83 said:

Just switched myself. I can't believe that it took the same amount of time as my last extract with steeping grains and cost half as much.

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captainkirk83 - I definitely took me a lot more time on this batch than my previous extract batches. I think it was the learning curve with all new equipment. Getting the curve down I bet it'll still take a little longer for me, but most of that is being due to the SWMBO kicking me out of the kitchen to brew in the garage...

roger617 said:

VTrookie - I agree! I look at micro brews as not only delicious in many cases, but as research or inspiration on what I want to attempt to make. Some of my best ideas are from taking what others have done and nit-picking it to my taste.

captainkirk83 - I definitely took me a lot more time on this batch than my previous extract batches. I think it was the learning curve with all new equipment. Getting the curve down I bet it'll still take a little longer for me, but most of that is being due to the SWMBO kicking me out of the kitchen to brew in the garage...

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In fairness and full disclosure used an easy ag recipe (centennial blonde) and did only a 2 gallon batch. Also I was so nervous about messing it up I went over the process in my head precisely 1372 times.

captainkirk83 said:

In fairness and full disclosure used an easy ag recipe (centennial blonde) and did only a 2 gallon batch. Also I was so nervous about messing it up I went over the process in my head precisely 1372 times.

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simple and small, you still made beer and that's what counts.

remember; you're doing what people just like you did 1000 years ago without the advantages you have of superior equipment, ingredients and technique. plus they didn't have access to a nearly unlimited pool of resources like HBT.

Congrats on the switch! There is just something about AG brewing that is so much more enjoyable! Can't wait to hear how that first batch of wheat comes out!

Tried my first bottle tonight, and I am pleased with the results! The next go around I will have to cold crash this one. It is a wheat recipe, and I figured I'd not cold crash to keep the yeast in suspension. Well there ended up being a lot more that fell out once bottled. I just have to pour carefully and all is well!

I've already brewed my 2nd all grain and it is fermenting now. Went for a Chocolate Milk Stout. High hopes for this one!! Thanks again everyone for your feedback, and for all the great information I've been able to find on this site.