So, I now have the yellow stripe on my bumper for an AG'er. That's a rookie, for those non-NASCAR fans. Going into this, I didn't know what was going to happen or what to really expect.
I started off as I do every session (heh, like I'm some pro or something...I've only done this four times). I sanitized everything and setup my station and got to wort, I mean work
My main goal of the day was to concentrate on the steps for all grain; I wasn't too concerned with efficiency or anything too technical. I wanted to make sure I hit acceptable temperatures in the mash tun and develop the skills necessary to produce a decent batch of beer the AG way. I figured by going at it this way, I could only improve on what I had already learned.
Things went as planned, nothing major happened (like boil over, crazy temp swings, etc...). I heated up 3.5 gallons of water to 170, poured it into the mash tun. Next, I doughed in the 11 pounds of grain which brought the tun temp down to 156. The 'doughed in' phrase kinda cracks me up a bit. Why don't people just say 'stirred in'. Then, I mashed the grain for the hour. I was able to collect 2.5'ish gallons after recirculating 2 quarts of wort.
Sparging was next, this is where I think a mistake could have been made... I had heated 5 gallons of water to 180 (while mashing). So, after collecting the first runnings, I filled the tun up with about two more gallons and let it sit for a few minutes before draining it into my bucket. I had to do this a couple times to get 6'ish gallons to boil. My gravity reading (going into the kettle) after it was all said and done was 1.037... is that right, who knows. I was a little concerned since the target (post boil) was 1.054...
Now that it's done, I can say I think it was successful & it should be an ok ESB. It was a lot of fun and I'm ready to do it again soon!
Measured Gravity after boil: 1.054
Feel free to check out all pics & the entire write-up on my website: BrewingExperiment.com
Recipe:
10.00 lb English Munton
0.75 lb 60L Crystal Malt
0.25 lb 120L Crystal Malt
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent (60 min)
0.25 oz Fuggles (20 min)
0.25 oz Goldings, East Kent (20 min)
1 Whirlfloc tablet (20 min)
0.25 oz Fuggles (0 min)
0.25 oz Goldings, East Kent (0 min)
1 Vial White Labs WLP002 English Ale Yeast
I started off as I do every session (heh, like I'm some pro or something...I've only done this four times). I sanitized everything and setup my station and got to wort, I mean work
My main goal of the day was to concentrate on the steps for all grain; I wasn't too concerned with efficiency or anything too technical. I wanted to make sure I hit acceptable temperatures in the mash tun and develop the skills necessary to produce a decent batch of beer the AG way. I figured by going at it this way, I could only improve on what I had already learned.
Things went as planned, nothing major happened (like boil over, crazy temp swings, etc...). I heated up 3.5 gallons of water to 170, poured it into the mash tun. Next, I doughed in the 11 pounds of grain which brought the tun temp down to 156. The 'doughed in' phrase kinda cracks me up a bit. Why don't people just say 'stirred in'. Then, I mashed the grain for the hour. I was able to collect 2.5'ish gallons after recirculating 2 quarts of wort.
Sparging was next, this is where I think a mistake could have been made... I had heated 5 gallons of water to 180 (while mashing). So, after collecting the first runnings, I filled the tun up with about two more gallons and let it sit for a few minutes before draining it into my bucket. I had to do this a couple times to get 6'ish gallons to boil. My gravity reading (going into the kettle) after it was all said and done was 1.037... is that right, who knows. I was a little concerned since the target (post boil) was 1.054...
Now that it's done, I can say I think it was successful & it should be an ok ESB. It was a lot of fun and I'm ready to do it again soon!
Measured Gravity after boil: 1.054
Feel free to check out all pics & the entire write-up on my website: BrewingExperiment.com
Recipe:
10.00 lb English Munton
0.75 lb 60L Crystal Malt
0.25 lb 120L Crystal Malt
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent (60 min)
0.25 oz Fuggles (20 min)
0.25 oz Goldings, East Kent (20 min)
1 Whirlfloc tablet (20 min)
0.25 oz Fuggles (0 min)
0.25 oz Goldings, East Kent (0 min)
1 Vial White Labs WLP002 English Ale Yeast