Lots of Questions, first all grain - O' Flannagain Stout

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

OregonNative

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
163
Reaction score
4
Location
Louisville, KY
Hi Guys,
I've decided that its time to begin my first all grain. I have all the supplies, I just finished my MLT cooler, and I'm ready to go.

The first recipe I'm doing is the "O' Flannagain Standard Stout" (link below)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/o-flannagain-standard-41072/

I'm very concerned about doing my first all grain. I keep worrying about screwing it up. I keep hearing its easy, but I'm not sure if I understand everything correctly.

The recipe calls for...

6.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 64.86 %
1.00 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 10.81 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 10.81 %
0.75 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 8.11 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.41 %
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 17.2 IBU

Time for a ton of questions..

1. Do I grind up everything in that list except the hops? (Of course I know that the hops do not get ground up)
2. How much water should I start out with to mash?
3. Should I add a full 1.1 gallons after mash (to make up for what the grain absorbed)?
4. How much sparge water should I use? The batch is 5 gallons, and I'm not sure how much will be lost during boil.
5. Do I add the sparge water before or after boil?
6. Any idea of strike temp, or should I wing it? I know I need to take the grain temp.

Here is how I'm planning it..

1. Grind up grain bill.
2. Heat up water for mash tun.
3. Pour the water in the cooler, hot enough to warm the cooler before reaching strike temperature.
3. Pour in ground up grain once strike temp is set.
4. Stir up the grain until no dry grain is left on top of the water.
5. Seal it up once temperatures hit 156/157 F (as recommended by O' Flannagain).
6. Once an hour has passed, add 1.1 gallons of water to mashtun to make up for the water that the grain has absorbed.
7. Cycle wort out & back into mashtun until it runs clear.
8. Pour the clear wort into the boil pot.
9. Heat up sparge water (not sure how much)
10. Pour hot sparge water into mashtun.. wait 5-10 minutes.
11. Cycle it through to make sure its clear.
12. Add cycled sparge water to boil pot.
13. Boil for 1 hour & add hops once boil has begun.
14. Cool down wort.
15. Pour in carboy.
16. Pitch Yeast.
17. Put bung & airlock on carboy and let it do its thing.


WHEW! I hope thats about it.. I'd love some feedback guys. I hope I'm not way wrong. Sorry for all the questions. I'm sure you guys hate me by now for all the questions. ;)
 
1. Do I grind up everything in that list except the hops? (Of course I know that the hops do not get ground up) If you're grinding the grains yourself, yes; or you can buy them pre-milled
2. How much water should I start out with to mash? most people use 1.25 qts/lb = so, ~3.2 gallons
3. Should I add a full 1.1 gallons after mash (to make up for what the grain absorbed)? no - you'll make up for it with your sparge water
4. How much sparge water should I use? The batch is 5 gallons, and I'm not sure how much will be lost during boil. have at least your batch size available for sparge -- you'll want about 6.5 gallons pre-boil
5. Do I add the sparge water before or after boil? not sure what you mean by this...
6. Any idea of strike temp, or should I wing it? I know I need to take the grain temp. some others can run the #'s but it depends on your grain temp, lbs of grain, MLT heat absorption, etc; but 169* usually works

Here is how I'm planning it..

1. Grind up grain bill.
2. Heat up water for mash tun.
3. Pour the water in the cooler, hot enough to warm the cooler before reaching strike temperature.
3. Pour in ground up grain once strike temp is set.
4. Stir up the grain until no dry grain is left on top of the water. continue stirring longer than you think -- no dough balls!
5. Seal it up once temperatures hit 156/157 F (as recommended by O' Flannagain).
6. Once an hour has passed, add 1.1 gallons of water to mashtun to make up for the water that the grain has absorbed. not needed if you have enough sparge
7. Cycle wort out & back into mashtun until it runs clear. yes - they call this vorlaufing
8. Pour the clear wort into the boil pot.
9. Heat up sparge water (not sure how much) shoot for around 5 gallons
10. Pour hot sparge water into mashtun.. wait 5-10 minutes. if you're gonna batch sparge -- stir like mad, then vorlauf and drain; you don't really need to wait
11. Cycle it through to make sure its clear.
12. Add cycled sparge water to boil pot.
13. Boil for 1 hour & add hops once boil has begun.
14. Cool down wort.
15. Pour in carboy.
16. Pitch Yeast.
17. Put bung & airlock on carboy and let it do its thing.


WHEW! I hope thats about it.. I'd love some feedback guys. I hope I'm not way wrong. Sorry for all the questions. I'm sure you guys hate me by now for all the questions. ;)

You'll do fine - I was nervous before my 1st AG; and it's true - it's easier than you think. Just make sure you have your plan written down and follow it.

You'll also want to take some samples of your runnings; cool them down, and take a hydro temp (if you care about your efficiencies)

have fun! :mug:
 
1. Do I grind up everything in that list except the hops? (Of course I know that the hops do not get ground up)
2. How much water should I start out with to mash?
3. Should I add a full 1.1 gallons after mash (to make up for what the grain absorbed)?
4. How much sparge water should I use? The batch is 5 gallons, and I'm not sure how much will be lost during boil.
5. Do I add the sparge water before or after boil?
6. Any idea of strike temp, or should I wing it? I know I need to take the grain temp.

1. Yep. You will want to mill all of the grains on this list except for the Flaked Barley. It is not necessary to mill Flaked grain, but I still do, myself, because I dump everything into a bucket first, mix well, then grind.
2, 3, 4, 6. Brew software is a godsend for the AG brewer. I'm plugging your recipe into BeerSmith to generate you some numbers. One sec on those.
5. Before boil. The procedure is (for a single batch sparge, other techniques vary)... Drain mash tun, close valve. Pour in batch sparge water, stir, let sit for a couple minute. Drain batch sparge water. Begin boil.
 
p.s. find a post by Bobby_M and read his all-grain primer (link in his signature) if you haven't already -- it was the single document that pushed me over into AG. I had read Palmer and Papazian and a lot of stuff on here -- but Bobby's short decriptive paper did it for me.
 
OK, I'm back. Sorry, busy noon hour here. :)

A copy of brewing software is pretty much a must-have for the AG brewer. I personally use BeerSmith and love it dearly (and they offer a free trial version, too), other people use BeerTools or ProMash with great success. Software makes calculations for you so that you don't have to work through them by hand.

The following #'s are assuming a 48qt Mash Tun, 7.5gal Brewpot, and the option to skip pre-heating the tun selected (so that it adjusts your temps so that you DON'T have to pre-heat). Different scenarios will result in different amounts, and temps.

Dough in with 2.87 gal at 174.3*F. Results in mash temp of 158*F.
Drain mash tun, then infuse 4.9 gal at 168*F. Stir, vorlauf, and collect sparge wort.
Estimated pre-boil volume is 6.41 gal of 1.037 SG. Boil 60 minutes to collect 5 gallons at 1.043 SG.
 
Hey Everyone,
AZ, thanks man! I've always been told its so much easier than it looks. It will still be my first.

Chriso, thanks bro! You're a god send. Those numbers helped a ton and answered most of my questions. I'm milling some grain right now! :D

Bobby, great links man. It cuts through it all and keeps it basic. Thanks for sharing the info.

Thanks everyone so much for the help. I'm going to either brew tonight or tomorrow.

Cheers all!
Pat
 
Back
Top