Starting my second batch... a few questions, and please rate my PM brewing procedure

Hi everyone, I have been gone for some time while I've been enjoying my first batch of beer. It was a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone and it turned out amazing (dare I say, better than the real thing?) Anyway, I took some time away from homebrewing but I have now returned to this wonderful and rewarding hobby.

I cleaned out my carboys, bought some new supplies, and I'm once again ready to brew. I bought a "Red Ale" kit at my local homebrew store (partial mash) but I think I've forgotten some of the basics.

My first brew was anything but scientific. I made several mistakes that I thought would cost me big time (including spilling some vodka into my wort), but luckily they didn't and the beer turned out great. I wanted to really nail the procedure this time around so that I can be a consistently good brewer. Here's my current procedure.

Two stainless steel brewpots, one two gallon and one 5 gallon.

I pour 1 gallon of water into the two gallon pot. I bring the water up to around 150-155 degrees and I leave it on "low heat". I do not keep track of the temperature from there but it never gets anywhere near boiling. (Am I using enough water in this step?)

I put my grains into the water and I let it steep for 25 minutes. While doing this, I bring 2 gallons of water to a full boil in my 5 gallon pot. After the 25 minutes, I hold the grain bag over the water and I sparge with another gallon of water (room temperature, I do not heat up the sparge water). I'm left with 2 gallons of water in my small pot.

After the full boil is reached in the 5 gallon pot, I turn off the flame and add my malt extract and stir until fully dissolved. At this point, I add the water from the small pot to the larger pot, add the beginning hops, and begin the hour long boil. I watch for boilovers and I stir occassionally. During the last 15 minutes of the boil, I start my yeast starter (if I'm using dry yeast) and I add the finishing hops (if necessary.)

After the boil is complete, I put the pot into a cold water+ice bath. I add salt to the water to lower the freezing point of water, allowing the water to get cold faster. I let it sit for about 15 minutes or so. I add one gallon of water into my carboy. Then, after the wort is cool enough, I pour the wort through a strainer into my carboy (using a funnel.) I stop halfway and shake the carboy around to aerate the wort. I then pour the rest of the wort in and dispose of the hop junk that gets collected in the strainer. I then move the carboy to the closet, pitch the yeast, put on the airlock, and I'm done! Fermentation began at about the 30 hour mark last time, I wonder how long it will take this time. I generally let the beer sit in the primary for 3 weeks and then rack to a bottling bucket and bottle it. I did not use secondary fermentation last time and I had no off flavors and my beer was very clear. I probably won't do seconary fermentation this time either.

Are there any serious errors that I'm making with my procedure? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

Brew Dude said:

Two stainless steel brewpots, one two gallon and one 5 gallon.

I pour 1 gallon of water into the two gallon pot. I bring the water up to around 150-155 degrees and I leave it on "low heat". I do not keep track of the temperature from there but it never gets anywhere near boiling. (Am I using enough water in this step?)

I put my grains into the water and I let it steep for 25 minutes. While doing this, I bring 2 gallons of water to a full boil in my 5 gallon pot. After the 25 minutes, I hold the grain bag over the water and I sparge with another gallon of water (room temperature, I do not heat up the sparge water). I'm left with 2 gallons of water in my small pot.

After the full boil is reached in the 5 gallon pot, I turn off the flame and add my malt extract and stir until fully dissolved. At this point, I add the water from the small pot to the larger pot, add the beginning hops, and begin the hour long boil. I watch for boilovers and I stir occassionally. During the last 15 minutes of the boil, I start my yeast starter (if I'm using dry yeast) and I add the finishing hops (if necessary.)

After the boil is complete, I put the pot into a cold water+ice bath. I add salt to the water to lower the freezing point of water, allowing the water to get cold faster. I let it sit for about 15 minutes or so. I add one gallon of water into my carboy. Then, after the wort is cool enough, I pour the wort through a strainer into my carboy (using a funnel.) I stop halfway and shake the carboy around to aerate the wort. I then pour the rest of the wort in and dispose of the hop junk that gets collected in the strainer. I then move the carboy to the closet, pitch the yeast, put on the airlock, and I'm done! Fermentation began at about the 30 hour mark last time, I wonder how long it will take this time. I generally let the beer sit in the primary for 3 weeks and then rack to a bottling bucket and bottle it. I did not use secondary fermentation last time and I had no off flavors and my beer was very clear. I probably won't do seconary fermentation this time either.

Are there any serious errors that I'm making with my procedure? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

Click to expand...

The first thing I would do is to put two gallons in the brewpot, and bring that up to 150-155 and keep it there. Then put your grain bag in. You don't want to go above 160 or so, and "less than boiling" isn't a good way to judge. You can keep a candy thermometer in there, and the lid on, so that you can hold it at 150-155 for the 25 minutes. Turn the burner back on if you have to, but you probably won't have to. (If you are doing a PM, not just a steeping grains batch, you will mash with 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain, and keep it at 152 (not fluctuating) for 45-60 minutes).

Then you sparge with 170 degree water from your other brewpot (not room temperature water) over your grains. A colander is great for that. Let it drip most of the liquid in, then discard the grains. Then you can turn this up to bring it to a boil.

After it's boiling, take it off the burner and add your extract. Bring that back onto the heat, and when it starts to boil, start your timer at 60 minutes and add your bittering hops. Add the other hops as needed.

You can rehydrate your dry yeast while the brewpot is cooling. It only should rehydrate about 15 minutes.

When the brewpot is under 90 degrees (cooling the way you described), strain it into your carboy and top up with cool water to 5 gallons. Check the temperature again with a sanitized thermometer, and add your yeast if you are around 70 degrees.

That's it!

I would monitor the temp through the whole mash. Chances are with only one gallon the temp is creeping up the whole time you're mashing, even on the lowest setting. 30 minutes is a bit short, if you aren't doing an iodine test, I'd say let it mash another 15-30 minutes. The amount of water depends on how much grain you have. The normal ratio is around 1-2qts per gallon. I think you should sparge with hot water (but below 170) to get the most sugars dissolved and rinsed out. Other than that, it looks good.

Thanks for your input guys. Is 1 gallon enough water to steep the grains in? I have heard conflicting opinions on this issue. Do I need to get it closer to 2 gallons?

Actually, I just read the instructions on my kit. It says steep grain in 3 quarts of water (which is less than 1 gallon) at 155 degrees for 25 minutes, and then rinse with 3 quarts hot water (170 degrees). I'm going to follow the directions, but steeping in 3 quarts of water seems a bit low...

What kind of grains are in the recipe, it sounds like you're doing a kit that calls for steeping specialty grains. In that case, it wouldn't technically be a partial mash as there's no starch conversion going on. Steeping at hot temps anywhere below 170F should be fine in that case. I think you should still sparge with 160ish water to get the most out of the grains though.

Yeah, I guess it isn't a partial mash. Someone I know calls it that, so I picked it up. I'm just steeping specialty grains, I guess.

I'm not 100% sure what the grains are, I haven't opened up my kit yet. I know one of them is roasted barley... Yeah, I'll use 160-170 ish water to rinse and about 155 - 160 to steep. Is 3 quarts to steep and 3 quarts to rinse sound about right?

That is pretty much how I started- but my beers got much better after trying http://byo.com/feature/1536.html this procedure.
Also, there is a big difference between re-hyrating dry yeast and doing a starter with liquid yeast. A starter needs to be done a day or so before pitching. I have never had a 30 hour lag time, check the temp of your wort before you pitch the yeast (below 80 at least). 15 minutes is not usually enough time to cool that much wort. Also, look up whirlpooling in the wiki instead of pouring through a strainer.
Relax, read on. You are in the right place and will learn a ton.

Brew Dude said:

Yeah, I guess it isn't a partial mash. Someone I know calls it that, so I picked it up. I'm just steeping specialty grains, I guess.

I'm not 100% sure what the grains are, I haven't opened up my kit yet. I know one of them is roasted barley... Yeah, I'll use 160-170 ish water to rinse and about 155 - 160 to steep. Is 3 quarts to steep and 3 quarts to rinse sound about right?

Click to expand...

Yeah, that sounds reasonable, you basically need enough water to submerge the grains and that amount again to sparge. Since there's no conversion going on, it's not really that critical. As long as the color and flavor are steeped out of the specialty grains, it should be fine.