First Time AG questions

So I am stepping up to AG, I have about a dozen extract brews under my belt. I am going to brew my first all grain tomorrow and have a few questions about batch sparging. The brew I am going to make is Yoopers Anchor steam clone. I will be following the Beer Smith brew sheet for this. I did input my MLT volume and deadspace (I measured dead space fore MLT and boil kettle) into beersmith.

After I pre-heat my MLT with hot water, drain and then add the strike water, dough-in (after any temp adjustments)and let sit for 60 mins @154. Do I need to stir mash during the 60 minutes or just let it sit. After 60 minutes do I vorlauf and do first runnings. Or do I add water to mash out first then do first runnings? I plan on batch sparging with two equal batches. For the two batch sparges, once i add the sparge water do I need to let it sit and do I need to stir after sparge water is added?

Thanks in advance.

Anchor Steam Clone
Brew Type: All Grain Date: 11/20/2007
Style: American Pale Ale Brewer: Tim
Batch Size: 5.50 gal Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 7.00 gal Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 % Equipment: Tims Brew Equip
Actual Efficiency: 0.00
Taste Rating (50 possible points): 35.0

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 90.91 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 9.09 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 23.9 IBU
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [8.00 %] (30 min) Hops 9.2 IBU
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [8.00 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs San Francisco Lager (White Labs #WLP810) [Starter 1500 ml] Yeast-Lager

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.051 SG (1.045-1.060 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 0.000 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.016 SG (1.010-1.015 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 0.000 SG
Estimated Color: 9.4 SRM (5.0-14.0 SRM) Color [Color]
Bitterness: 33.1 IBU (30.0-50.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 12.0 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 4.52 % (4.50-6.00 %) Actual Alcohol by


Mash Profile Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body Mash Tun Weight: 13.00 lb
Mash Grain Weight: 11.00 lb Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Grain Temperature: 72.0 F Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Sparge Water: 3.21 gal Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 13.75 qt of water at 169.4 F 154.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Add 7.70 qt of water at 198.2 F 168.0 F 10 min

If you're batch sparging, you don't need to do a mash-out. I think it was Bobby_M who had some videos talking about the benefits of doing a double batch sparge without a mash out. If you get a chance, look up his videos- great info there!

Anyway, I'd vorlauf and drain the first runnings. Add 1/2 the sparge water (about 185 degree sparge water to get the grain bed up to 168). Then, you can vorlauf and drain and the do it again, with water about 175. The goal is to keep the grain bed temperature at around 168.

I don't stir my mash once it's thoroughly stirred and the temperature has equalized.

One thing I didn't realize for my first AG was about stirring at the beginning, though. Sure, you want to stir to get rid of the doughballs and thoroughly wet the grain. But even after that, you stir a bit, and check the temperature throughout the mash. Give it at least 5 minutes to equalize before adjusting. In my first AG, I added hot water to bring it up, then cold water to bring it down- back and forth, until I left it alone for a few minutes to stabilize.

Have some hot water on hand just in case you miss the temp, and some cold water, too. You should be pretty close with Beersmith, though, but be prepared to adjust if needed.

Good luck!

YooperBrew said:

If you're batch sparging, you don't need to do a mash-out. I think it was Bobby_M who had some videos talking about the benefits of doing a double batch sparge without a mash out. If you get a chance, look up his videos- great info there!

Anyway, I'd vorlauf and drain the first runnings. Add 1/2 the sparge water (about 185 degree sparge water to get the grain bed up to 168). Then, you can vorlauf and drain and the do it again, with water about 175. The goal is to keep the grain bed temperature at around 168.

I don't stir my mash once it's thoroughly stirred and the temperature has equalized.

One thing I didn't realize for my first AG was about stirring at the beginning, though. Sure, you want to stir to get rid of the doughballs and thoroughly wet the grain. But even after that, you stir a bit, and check the temperature throughout the mash. Give it at least 5 minutes to equalize before adjusting. In my first AG, I added hot water to bring it up, then cold water to bring it down- back and forth, until I left it alone for a few minutes to stabilize.

Have some hot water on hand just in case you miss the temp, and some cold water, too. You should be pretty close with Beersmith, though, but be prepared to adjust if needed.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Thanks Yooper for the info. I will do 2 batch sparges with no mash out. In the beersmith file you posted is that what temps you fermented to?

Primary 21 days @ 58F
2ndary: 14 days @42F
4 weeks conditioning @52F

Thanks

Also, you don't need to drain the preheat water. Just heat the strike water a few degrees higher than needed and let it stand with the lid closed. Then add the grain once it has cooled to about the calculated strike temp.

After collecting your first runnings, measure how much you have (I use a notched dipstick to) and you can easily tell exactly how much sparge water to add in order to hit your pre boil volume. The grain will be saturated at this point so what you put in is what you get out. Good luck and have fun.

rockytoptim said:

Thanks Yooper for the info. I will do 2 batch sparges with no mash out. In the beersmith file you posted is that what temps you fermented to?

Primary 21 days @ 58F
2ndary: 14 days @42F
4 weeks conditioning @52F

Thanks

Click to expand...

Yes- but you can definitely ferment it warmer if you want to. If you ferment it in the 60s, it'll be a bit fruitier. I've done it both ways, and I'm not sure which I prefer!

Well I got the first AG brew under my belt today. Had a little trouble at first hitting my mash temp but finally got it at 153.2. I only dropped 0.6 degress after 60 minutes. I messed up my batch sparge volumes and ended up only get 6 gal in the boil kettle, but I did hit pre-boil gravity (predicted 1.043, actual 1.046). After 60 min boil i ended up with 4.5 gal of wort. My OG was 1.062 so I added a gal of water to get me to 1.053 and 5.5 gal in the fermenter.

What do you guys use to measure you sparge water volumes and actual wort runnings?

Thanks to YooperBrew for recipe and advise on sparging. Also thanks to masonsjax for advice on sparging.

I pour my brew water out of gallon jugs into the strike water pots, so i know about how much water is there. I used to use a quart measuring cup to pour the sparge water in, but be warned if you use glass heat it up first.

To measure my runnings, I made a measuring stick. I poured one gallon of water into my brew pot and dipped a dowel in and put a notch where the water came up to. Then I put in another gallon and did another notch. Since the pot was square up to that point, I just added more notches at intervals equal to the distance between the first and the second notch.