help with pale ale recipe /first batch in my life/

ok. so I have got my first pale ale ingredients kit which contains:

-Pale ale weyermann 3,8 kg
-Carahell Weyermann 0,2 kg
-Marynka hops 35 grams
-Lubelski hops 25 grams
-safeale yeast us-05 11,2 grams

I have to emphasize that I have brewing kit with false bottom two bucket (one inside another)system, and a fermentor.

te instructions goes like this:
MASHING
1. mash at 152 to 154 F until the iodine test shows no starch
2. next heat up to 168 F (wtf????) and filter
3. recomendation is to make a thick mash 3 liters of water per 1 kg of grain

COOKING
1. Cook for 60 minutes
2. add hops (one for one hour and the other for 15 minutes)


In this recipe I don't get the second step of mashing. How am I going to heat up to 168 F if I'm mashing in a plastic bucket?

If anyone would be so kind to help me with this I would be very thankful! I really don't want to ruin my first batch....

You don't heat up the stuff in the bucket- you heat up more water (enough to get your boil volume, could be as much as 2 gallons or more) and then "sparge". Sparging is rinsing of the grain bed.

You'll draw off the first runnings from the mash, and then put in the sparge water. (I like to do two additions, so I put 1/2 of the sparge water at a time). You stir very well, allow it to settle and draw it off. Then do it again. You add all of those runnings together for your boil volume.

can you please explain how to sparge with false bottom system?

this guy is doing it inside a pot. I don't get it.....

Actually what you have is not a false bottom. That is different. You have a two bucket
system. Does the bottom bucket have a spigot?

If yes, then after mashing drain the entire contents of the bucket into your kettle. Close the valve and then add 1/2 half your sparge water at around 180 degrees. Drain again into your kettle. Repeat these last two steps.

If the bottom bucket does not have a spigot it would be best if you have a friend help you. After mashing, lift the top bucket out of the bottom. Have the friend quickly dump the contents of the bottom bucket into a kettle. Basically you sparge the same way as has been mentioned. The reason it would be good to have a friend help you is that there is going to be a lot of wort dripping from the top bucket and you want to save as much as possible from spilling onto the floor or elsewhere while you are dumping the bottom bucket.

Here's a photo pictorial, but it doesn't have buckets:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter18-4.html

Denny Conn made the bucket system famous. Here is his link: http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

ok this is what I have:
buckets one inside another



the bottom of a top bucket

ok, now I have a logical question, why wouldn't I mash inside a kettle. what are the reasons?

I can't see any reason not to do it like that. for example, I could add my grains to my strike water inside a kettle at 154 F, then mash like this until iodine test shows no starch, and then heat up to 168 F, and then just pour all this stuff to my filtering bucket.......

after this I could sparge.....

400d said:

ok, now I have a logical question, why wouldn't I mash inside a kettle. what are the reasons?

I can't see any reason not to do it like that. for example, I could add my grains to my strike water inside a kettle at 154 F, then mash like this until iodine test shows no starch, and then heat up to 168 F, and then just pour all this stuff to my filtering bucket.......

after this I could sparge.....

Click to expand...

Ah, the old school Zapap lauter tun. This is not a mash tun, just the lauter tun. Most of the people here use a combined mash/lauter tun. That's where the confusion is coming from. You got it right, mash in your kettle, and then transfer it to your lauter tun,let it drain and then sparge. To sparge you can do it fly style, or, while a bit of a pain, there is no reason that after it has drained, that you can't dump the grain back into the kettle with your hot sparge water, mix it up, and then back into the lauter tun.