First Brew Day Report! (w/ pics!)

A group of friends had our first brewday yesterday. We jumped right in and started with AG. We decided upon a hoppy american amber (a -vague- Nugget Nectar clone, big thanks to kpr121 for the recipe and tips!).

Recipe Specifications
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Boil Size: 6.95 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.24 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.071 SG
Estimated Color: 7.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 67.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 78.5 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
11 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 1 73.3 %
2 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 16.7 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 10.0 %
1.50 oz Nugget [13.00 %] - First Wort 20.0 min Hop 4 37.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 18.4 IBUs
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 6.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 4.8 IBUs
1.25 oz Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 15 lbs
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 18.75 qt of water at 173.5 F 152.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 4.31gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
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Brewday started at 8:30 AM with planning/cleaning. Went to LHBS at 10:00am upon opening to pick up hops/malt/yeast.
Came back and started boiling strike water, BAM first big problem. Propane hose bent and caught on fire. Went to Home Depot to pick up new hose. They didn't have a hose with a psi regular with the proper fitting. Came back took old hose to ace hardware and they crimped the exposed hose. Problem fixed (4 hours later...). Started heating strike water.
Mashing went much easier than expected. Hit our mash/sparge temperatures pretty easily. Once we got our first runnings I threw in the FWH and started heating those in the brew kettle. 2nd runnings brought us up to our preboil gravity and we brought it up to a boil.
Halfway into our boil I realized my wortchiller connector to garden hose was broken. We improvised with tape and constant holding of the hose.
Our post-boil volume was low, a little over 5 gallons. I think we left some wort in the whole-leaf hop bags, and just much more water evaporated then expected. First time brew I have no idea about any efficiency levels yet.
After racking and aerating we have a little over 4.5 gallons of wort in our 6 gallon carboy. Our OG was a little higher than estimated OG (1.076 to 1.071). We rehydrated the dry yeast and pitched at 63 degrees. Tucked away in a closet. The carboy is at my buddies house I am heading over there tonight after work to take a look at primary fermentation. But super excited. All Grain was not nearly as daunting as I expected to be and cant wait to brew again in 3 weeks (same as bottling day). Here are some pictures that were taken. Most of our phones died into the day so most are from the early parts. Overall we finished just after 8pm so a total of 12 hours dedicated to this fun hobby. Granted only a couple of them were brewing but....hopefully it goes faster next time!
Cheers!

More pics!

Wow. Going to have to say, for a first time group of brewers, you guys really did your research an executed things well. I didn't even learn what first wort hopping was until my 5th brew. Hope it all works out!

Your high OG and low volume suggest that you boiled off more than you intended. Adjust that for the next recipe, repeat everything the same and you should nail both marks. Good job on your first brew!

I would suggest a hose to drain your runnings. Try to minimize oxidation as much as possible during the process, ie. no dripping the wort into the kettle...but chances are incredibly high that it won't cause you any issues...just nitpicking.

Gotta love SNAFUs on a brew day....

Jealous you have buddies who want to brew with you. Also, yay Heady Topper!

Thanks for all the support and tips guys. Very excited for the next brew day!

tre9er said:

I would suggest a hose to drain your runnings. Try to minimize oxidation as much as possible during the process, ie. no dripping the wort into the kettle...but chances are incredibly high that it won't cause you any issues...just nitpicking.

Click to expand...

Since it's pre-boil will that really matter? And you need good oxidation when you transfer to primary, does it hurt something before that point?

Hot side aeration? I thought that was a homebrew boogeyman.

Hot side aeration is something that is widely debated among homebrewers, yet taken very seriously among professionals. I don't worry myself about it, because I haven't tasted the cardboard, yet...but a small piece of silicone tubing is a cheap enough precaution, don't you think?

tre9er said:

Hot side aeration is something that is widely debated among homebrewers, yet taken very seriously among professionals. I don't worry myself about it, because I haven't tasted the cardboard, yet...but a small piece of silicone tubing is a cheap enough precaution, don't you think?

Click to expand...

Sure do, I use a hose when I drain, just to be safe

Ok, silly question. Right before pitching we are told to oxygenate the beer. I do this by pouring the beer back and forth from the boil kettle to the fermentor bucket like five times from a height of 3 feet. Let me tell you it works! I usually get first bubbles in three hours or so. Even with the big IIIPA I did a few weeks back that started out at 1.110! I later added some water to bring it down to 1.192. Is the concern here that it is being done while hot? Wont the boil de-oxygenate it anyway?

Just wondering. All my beer comes out pretty tasty, but hope I'm not doing something wrong.

EZCyclone said:

Ok, silly question. Right before pitching we are told to oxygenate the beer. I do this by pouring the beer back and forth from the boil kettle to the fermentor bucket like five times from a height of 3 feet. Let me tell you it works! I usually get first bubbles in three hours or so. Even with the big IIIPA I did a few weeks back that started out at 1.110! I later added some water to bring it down to 1.192. Is the concern here that it is being done while hot? Wont the boil de-oxygenate it anyway?

Just wondering. All my beer comes out pretty tasty, but hope I'm not doing something wrong.

Click to expand...

Most of the issues debated have to do with "hot-side aeration" which is when the wort is at mash, sparge, or boiling temps. Pitching temps are much cooler. Your method adds the element of introducing infection from the ambient air, but so does mine (stick blender).

Funny you say that, I just got my first infection. lol. BUT it was after racking into secondary, so it's from something else.

EZCyclone said:

Funny you say that, I just got my first infection. lol. BUT it was after racking into secondary, so it's from something else.

Click to expand...

Every exposure introduces risk. I rarely secondary, even when I add fruit.