About to try AG, please look over my technique

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badmajon

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How does this sound? I think I'm ready to make the jump into AG, this is what I've gathered from the internet.

1) add 10 qts (2.5 gallons) of strike water to milled grains in mash tun, slightly above 152 degrees (to make up for heat loss) let rest for 45-60 minutes at 152 degrees. Drain into pot, while pouring back the first amount of cloudy stuff. Do not stir just drain.

2) batch sparge by adding 5 gallons of 170f water to mash, and stir then allow to settle, when collecting get rid of particles by vorlaufing- collect first 2 quarts (or cloudy stuff) then add back to mash tun, drain into pot when clear.

Rest goes like normal extract brewing.


questions:

Is this process correct?
What (range of) specific gravity should I be looking for with my wort? What should I do in case I don't make it?

Grain/Water Ratio:

10 lbs grain
10 qt strike water
5 gallons sparge water (aiming to fill 5 gallon carboy and taking into account absorption etc)

= 7.5 gallons of liquid

Also, does anyone know where I can buy pre-milled grains? I'm not quite ready to throw down $130 on a mill.
 
I've been reading tons on AG, as I am about to make the jump myself (just need to get my cooler converted!). I think your technique sounds just about right. The strike water seems a little thick, I think I will be going with at least 1.25qt/lb. It seems to me that there are less reports of low efficiency and stuck mashes with a thinner mash (more water). Especially if you are batch sparging, I think you can just lower your sparge volume since you are trying to calculate for your boil volume. Vorlaufing is the same from your initial drain as well as batch... wasnt sure since you only used the term 'vorlauf' for the batch sparge drain.
All in all your tecnique sounds good to me! Again, I haven't ever done AG, and I am trying to get a handle on it as well as you can imagine. So don't take my word for it, since these are my assumptions from hours and hours of reading, versus hundreds of brewdays.
I think that any LHBS would mill your grains for you, and everytime I order online, there is the option to crush grains. So I think you can get em done anywhere while you purchase them.
If anyone else has more to add, I would love to hear it myself!
 
10 lbs of grain wants at least 13 quarts but I'd go a full 4 gallons. The strike temp needs to be a bit more than slightly over the mash temp. If you're talking about a cooler mash tun, you'll want to put the water in somewhere between 170-175 and let it cool down to about 165F before stirring the grain in.

Your first runnings will be about 3.75 gallons so you'll sparge with another 3 gallons or so.
 
There are some useful calculators HERE that should help in getting your strike temp correct and your sparge temps ect spot on. Hope this helps out!
 
Bobby_M said:
10 lbs of grain wants at least 13 quarts but I'd go a full 4 gallons. The strike temp needs to be a bit more than slightly over the mash temp. If you're talking about a cooler mash tun, you'll want to put the water in somewhere between 170-175 and let it cool down to about 165F before stirring the grain in.

Your first runnings will be about 3.75 gallons so you'll sparge with another 3 gallons or so.
Click to expand...

I'll second this... I use my strike water to pre-heat my mash tun. If necessary, I add a bit of water to either raise or lower the temperature before adding the grains. I find it much easier to do this, since you'll be within a couple of degrees of your target (assuming you use the calculator to figure out what temp the water should be pre-dough-in).
 
Check out the calculators listed above, they will help. I would recommend downloading Beersmith or one of the other brewing programs. You can get the program free for 30 days, just download a week or so before you are planning on brewing. You can play you mash thickness and it really with temperatures.

My best advice is this; have a good plan and hit your temperatures. I've been doing AG for the last year and this is what I find to be key. It's really hard to make bad beer if you have a good recipe and you hit your temps. Good luck!:fro:
 
Thanks for the replies. I will increase my strike water for sure. Does anyone know of a place to buy pre-milled grains?
 
I think just about any homebrew store should offer milling, every one that I am aware of at least. you just need to request that they mill it for you.
 
Wow, that corona mill is pretty reasonable. Why are some so much higher (like grain gobbler = $125-150)?
 
HalfPint said:
+1 to Bobby.

+2 to buying some brewing software.

J
Click to expand...

It is always amazing to me that we will spend so much money on our set ups and still some folks don't want to spend 18 bucks on beersmith to help them with everything from strike points to IBUs to ingredient inventories... just amazing... that freakin' program is worth hundreds of dollars imho btw...

Rebel brewer sells it for $18... get it! And, I recommend beersmith over promash because beersmith is still supported and promash, not so much...

:mug:
 
Mistakes I made when I switched to all grain...

I sparged too fast. I think it should take you an hour or more. I barely crack the valve to start. I only want a few drops at first - to let the grain settle. (If you open it too fast you'll create a fast flow and this will rush the grain down = stuck sparge. ) A minute or two later I open the valve slightly more so the trickle of wort coming out is about 1/8" diameter. The slow sparge washes the grains better = better efficiency. Look for a uniform mostly flat grain bed. I hold a ladle above the grain bed and pour the sparge water carefully into the ladle so as not to disturb the grain bed.

I care about grain/water ratios but it is more important to add boiling water or cold water to the mash to hit the desired temperature. The mash temp is critical for conversion and style of beer (more or less fermentable etc). Some say to subtract that added water from your sparge, but I sparge with the full volume because I think I want to wash the grains fully. Excess volume can be evaporated during boil or with a longer boil.

I use a coffee grinder for my specialty grains. Don't run it constantly or you'll get flour. Pulse it and check. It would take you a while to do 10lbs this way... Your brew supplier should be able to mill.
 
finn_ethan said:
Mistakes I made when I switched to all grain...

I sparged too fast. I think it should take you an hour or more. I barely crack the valve to start. I only want a few drops at first - to let the grain settle. (If you open it too fast you'll create a fast flow and this will rush the grain down = stuck sparge. ) A minute or two later I open the valve slightly more so the trickle of wort coming out is about 1/8" diameter. The slow sparge washes the grains better = better efficiency. Look for a uniform mostly flat grain bed. I hold a ladle above the grain bed and pour the sparge water carefully into the ladle so as not to disturb the grain bed.

I care about grain/water ratios but it is more important to add boiling water or cold water to the mash to hit the desired temperature. The mash temp is critical for conversion and style of beer (more or less fermentable etc). Some say to subtract that added water from your sparge, but I sparge with the full volume because I think I want to wash the grains fully. Excess volume can be evaporated during boil or with a longer boil.

I use a coffee grinder for my specialty grains. Don't run it constantly or you'll get flour. Pulse it and check. It would take you a while to do 10lbs this
way... Your brew supplier should be able to mill.
Click to expand...

I really wish when people made comments like this, they'd clarify that they Fly Sparge.


Batch spargers can go as fast as they want.
 

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