First All Grain Brew Day: Results

Yesterday I did my first AG brew day, and I figured I would share my results for anyone looking to go all grain, and also to ask for input regarding my process. I'd appreciate it if you have any advice for how to improve my efficiency. I've already started a photo post here if you'd like to see the equipment I've used.

Equipment:
5 Gallon Igloo for MLT w/ Stainless Steel braid filter
Turkey Fryer Kit (30qt aluminum kettle)
7.5 gallon bottling bucket with spigot (for collecting runnings)


Modified Bee Cave Brewery Haus Pale Ale:
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 75.00 %
2.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 16.67 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 15.9 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (30 min) Hops 24.6 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (5 min) Hops 2.9 IBU
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

Projected Specs:
Projected OG @ 70% efficiency: 1.055 (Style: 1.045-1.060)
Projected FG: 1.013 (Style: 1.010-1.015)
SRM: 8.1 (Style: 5.0-14.0)
IBU: 44.8 (Style: 30-45)
ABV: 5.46%

Actual:
Pre-boil SG: 1.052
Post-boil SG: 1.054 (69% efficiency)

Process:
1. Add 11# grain to MLT
2. Heat 3.7g strike water to 170F
3. Dough-in: Mash temperature was 158F
4. Adjusted mash temperature with 1/2qt 68F water, bringing mash temp to 153F
5. At 30 mintues into mash, heated sparge water to 175F
6. Ending mash temp 152F after 60m (-1F), added 2 qts of 175F to MLT
7. Vorlaufed until clear, then drained into bottling bucket (got 2.3g @ 1.073 SG)
8. Added 2 gallons 175F water to MLT, vorlaufed and drained (1.059 SG for 2nd runnings)
9. Added remaining 2-2.2g of 175F of 175F water to MLT, vorlaufed and drained (1.028 SG for 3rd runnings)
10. Got a total of 6.1-6.2g of pre-boil wort @ 1.052 SG
11. Drained wort into brew kettle
12. Brought wort to boil
13. Once boiling added bittering hops; 1oz Willamette (5.5%AA)
14. At 30 minutes noticed the water was at 5g mark already; added 1 gallon more water. Also added immersion chiller to boil to sanitize.
15. After bringing back to boil, added 1oz Centennials (10.1%AA)
16. At 15 mintues left in the boil, added 1/2tsp of Irish Moss
17. At 5 mintues left in the boil, added 1/2oz Willamette, 1/2oz Centennial
18. After 60 minutes, flame out and turned on immersion chiller
19. Cooled wort down to 70F
20. Racked wort into 6.5g carboy, using funnel and strainer
21. Added yeast and capped with sanitized rubber stopper and blowoff tube assy.

End Result:
Pre-boil Volume: 6.1g
Added 1g water @ 30m: 7.1g
Post-boil Volume: 5.75g

Pre-boil Gravity: 1.052
Post-boil Gravity: 1.054
Efficiency Rating: 69%

First Runnings SG: 1.073 (2.2g)
2nd Runnings SG: 1.059 (2g)
3rd Runnings SG: 1.028 (2g)

Questions:
1. When batch sparging, should I stir in water?
2. When batch sparging, should I wait a few minutes until I drain?
3. Did the double batch sparge actually help? Next time I may just add the full 4g and do one large batch sparge.
4. What can I do to increase my efficiency: Longer mash, larger mash tun, lower/higher temp?

What I learned:
1. Make sure strike temp is no warmer than 168F. 170F resulted in missed mash temp by 3F.
2. Have 1g filtered water available to add to brew pot in case of boil-off
3. A 3-tier setup would be nice...

I haven't done all grain yet, but from everything I've read, you are supposed to stir up the mash when you add the sparge water and then wait for it to resettle before draining. That's about all I can comment on...

Welcome to the addiction!

I usually add the grain to the strike water - you get fewer dough balls that way.

Questions:
1. When batch sparging, should I stir in water?

- Yes

2. When batch sparging, should I wait a few minutes until I drain?

- Yes but only a few minutes

3. Did the double batch sparge actually help? Next time I may just add the full 4g and do one large batch sparge.

- Batch sparging with 2 equal volumes will maximize your efficiency. This means adding a small amount of water to your mash and then drain. Add second sparge and then drain.

4. What can I do to increase my efficiency: Longer mash, larger mash tun, lower/higher temp?

- 69% is fine . You can in fact have too high an efficiency which can lead to problems. If you want to boost it more the 2 biggest bangs for your buck will be your grain crush and/or increasing the volume of water you use for sparging (with resulting increased boil time to reduce your volume)

GT

TwoHeadsBrewing said:

Process:
1. Add 11# grain to MLT
2. Heat 3.7g strike water to 170F
3. Dough-in: Mash temperature was 158F
4. Adjusted mash temperature with 1/2qt 68F water, bringing mash temp to 153F
5. At 30 mintues into mash, heated sparge water to 175F
6. Ending mash temp 152F after 60m (-1F), added 2 qts of 175F to MLT

Click to expand...

You're doing a "mash out" and it's detrimental to efficiency if you're going to do a double sparge. Skip this. If you really want to stick to it, at least use boiling water to inch the grainbed up to 168F. Actually, even 2 quarts of boiling will not quite do it.

7. Vorlaufed until clear, then drained into bottling bucket (got 2.3g @ 1.073 SG)
8. Added 2 gallons 175F water to MLT, vorlaufed and drained (1.059 SG for 2nd runnings)
9. Added remaining 2-2.2g of 175F of 175F water to MLT, vorlaufed and drained (1.028 SG for 3rd runnings)
10. Got a total of 6.1-6.2g of pre-boil wort @ 1.052 SG

Click to expand...

The lower preboil volume you have here is hurting a bit. I guess you can't fit anymore in the boil, but maybe collect another 1/2 gallon and add it to the boil after 30 minutes.

First Runnings SG: 1.073 (2.2g)
2nd Runnings SG: 1.059 (2g)
3rd Runnings SG: 1.028 (2g)

Click to expand...

You can see by the higher last runnings there that there's still some sugar left. I usually end up with 1.020 or lower on the last runnings.

Questions:
1. When batch sparging, should I stir in water?
2. When batch sparging, should I wait a few minutes until I drain?
3. Did the double batch sparge actually help? Next time I may just add the full 4g and do one large batch sparge.
4. What can I do to increase my efficiency: Longer mash, larger mash tun, lower/higher temp?

Click to expand...

1. Yes yes yes. If you didn't, you already have your answer on why the eff was low.
2. Only as long as it takes to stir it in really well.
3. Yes, but not since you did the mash out infusion. Skip the mash out, keep the second sparge.
4. Read my site: www.suebob.com/brew/allgrain.htm

What I learned:
1. Make sure strike temp is no warmer than 168F. 170F resulted in missed mash temp by 3F.
2. Have 1g filtered water available to add to brew pot in case of boil-off
3. A 3-tier setup would be nice...

Click to expand...

1. This is dependent on grain bill, grain temp, mash tun temp, etc. You can't make blanket decisions on this one but you'll learn the nuances over time.

2. No, collect a little more wort out of the tun as your preboil and save it to add to the boil if you lose too much. Why dilute with 1.00 water when you could have 1.020 wort to add.

BobbyM, thanks a ton for the suggestions. I'm definitely going to try it next time I brew (probably this weekend). I think the one thing hurting my efficiency is that there was still sugars left in the MLT. I think next time I'll add another 2 gallons and set it off to the side, and add this to the boil to account for boil off. Thanks for the tip!