First AG- some thoughts so far

Started my first AG tonight. Made my equipment, and have other posts on it, suffice it to say I have a rect. cooler MLT w/ a braided stainless manifold.

Strike temp for water was 168*F-had trouble hitting the correct mash temp, but I think that my thermometers are wrong, and I overestimated the temp of the grain when calculating the strike temp. To be sure, I went a little higher on the sparge. I also added another gallon to the mash at the beginning at a higher temp to bring it up a little, and decreased the sparge by the same. Just vorlaufed and drained the first runnings. The MLT drains nice-very happy so far. The sparge is resting right now, and I am going to drain it in5 minutes and start my boil.

All right! Way to go! Yeah I had problems getting the strike temp right the first time. The last 3 has been great though. Seems you need one time to get it right you know..... Though my last AG I used a completely different method all together. Decoction. One thing that really mattered is putting very hot water in the tun first and letting it get nice and hot so the temp does not drop when you add the grain.

Yeah- I used tap hot water-don't think it was enough. Also, I am now realizing that my evaporation rate is higher than estimated. My volume might be a little short. I am thinking of accelerating my hop schedule to get what I need-IBUs might be a little off, but its that or less volume.

Definitely need to do a post mortem on this one tomorrow. Still in my boil-~15 left

I had a little trouble hitting my mash temp right too on my AG. I preheated the cooler with 170*F water, only about a gallon or so. Closed the lid and sloshed it around, then let it sit for a few minutes before draining it. Added the grain, added the strike water, and was about 5 degrees under, so I had to add more hot water. Then the temp dropped about 5 or 6 degrees over the next 45 minutes.

I gotta take better notes next time.

Truble said:

Also, I am now realizing that my evaporation rate is higher than estimated. My volume might be a little short.

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Well if you are come as short as I did....



In retropects I should have added water. It was 70 points and would have tasted a lot better and probably be drunk by now if it was in the 50s.

I ended up adding the water to make 5 Gallons. The airlock is already starting to go at 7:50am this morning, so that is about 8hrs, which is normal for my brews. It'll be a little weak, but I think it will be ok for my trial batch. I now know that I should probably overestimate evaporation and absorption loss initially, and work back down. Also, I need a better thermometer, as both of mine conspired against me.

All in all, I am glad that I went AG.

Sweet! I just started this morning. I have my MLT preheat water on and my 13.75 quarts of Mash In water cooking too. Time to warm up the 10 gallon Igloo Cooler.

Not sure what the weather is like down in Austin, but it would be a nice brew day up here in MA today. Nice and cool and dry.

Hope it goes well.

It's 68 degrees right now and cloudy, but dry. It will warm up later.

Mashed in perfect. Sitting at 153 degrees for another 70 minutes. Sparge water is heating up and kettle is waiting. Burner is outside with a full tank of propane. Time to get some ice for the pre-chiller.

It's going to be a good day.

How'd everything go?

So far so good. The boil went well. I'm chillen right now. My pre-chiller is rockin!



I'm assuming this is the cold break I've read about. It's not there any more as it has flocculated to the bottom.


I'll be areating soon and pitching the yeast.

Yep- I got that too. I like your pre chiller. did you use an immersion without it or have you always had it? I have some copper left over from when I built mine last year, and I have a spare cooler.

I use an immersion chiller in my 8 gallon turkey pot. I can boil 7 gallons down to 5.5 in 70 minutes. I just pitched the yeast. My O.G. on 5 gallons is 1.050 which is a good number. My Hefeweizen should finish out at 5% abv or better.

Today went pretty smooth. The .5# of rice hulls worked like a champ. No stuck sparge.

Now to finish cleaning up before SWMBO has a SF, but first a cold beer.

Nice. I actually got a great sparge too, but without any rice hulls. I am using a converted sanke 15Gal keg with a turkey fryer. I never have to wait for boils anymore!:rockin:

EdWort said:

Today went pretty smooth. The .5# of rice hulls worked like a champ. No stuck sparge.

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Yeah I used them in my last brew (a wheat). They are too bloody cheap to not take advantage of. Once you get one stuck, you never want one again. Kinda like boilovers........ you only need one.

Truble said:

Nice. I actually got a great sparge too, but without any rice hulls. I am using a converted sanke 15Gal keg with a turkey fryer. I never have to wait for boils anymore!:rockin:

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Yeah but remember, rice hulls are not a requirment for all of them. Stuff like wheat.... Dude did a rye that gave him a lot of fun from what I recall. Perhaps he would like to describe his Hell here

Yeah. I was just doing 2 row and crystal. I know that there are some brews that do better with the hulls. Once I get my base mashing down I will start worrying about that

Truble said:

Yeah. I was just doing 2 row and crystal. I know that there are some brews that do better with the hulls. Once I get my base mashing down I will start worrying about that

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That pic above had absolutly no 2 row.... I should have posted the recipe here hahahahahaha

Beer Snob said:

Kinda like boilovers........ you only need one.

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I tell ya, I'm glad I learned about the spray bottle. I boil 7 gallons in a 8 gallon pot and I've done 5 batches in the last couple of months since getting back into brewing and not once have I had a boil over.

It's a pretty sweet trick that works to the T.

I got a spare chiller and cooler. I must make a pre chiller when I get a round tuit.
Anyone know where I can get a round tuit? lol.

Seriously though, Edwort, I now use fermcap in my 7 gal kettle and now I don't even need the spraybottle.

What's Fermcap?

EdWort said:

What's Fermcap?

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Looks controversal.....

http://www.tastybrew.com/forum/thread/27461

I think I'll pass...........

EdWort said:

I tell ya, I'm glad I learned about the spray bottle. I boil 7 gallons in a 8 gallon pot and I've done 5 batches in the last couple of months since getting back into brewing and not once have I had a boil over.

It's a pretty sweet trick that works to the T.

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Spray bottle? How does it work to control boilovers?

beer4breakfast said:

Spray bottle? How does it work to control boilovers?

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When you see a boilover starting you spray a water bottle on it. I have had limited sucess with this, but perhaps Ed can tell us some secrets!

Sanke Keg pot-tough to boilover 7+gal in a 15 gal pot

Truble said:

Sanke Keg pot-tough to boilover 7+gal in a 15 gal pot

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HA!... Yeah you would have to really work hard to boil that one over National Homebrew day I saw some pots where the wort was like real close to the top though.... looked like tightrope walking.

I suppose if you do a 10 or 6 Gal batch you would push it. This was the first batch I have done in it so far.

Beer Snob said:

When you see a boilover starting you spray a water bottle on it. I have had limited sucess with this, but perhaps Ed can tell us some secrets!

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I learned it from my All Grain Mentor a few months ago. Spraying cold water on the foam breaks down the surface tension. I posted a video at YouTube, but it's not available yet.

I'll post the link when they publish it.

My "AG mentor" does 17 gallon boils in a 20 gallon kettle - puts the liquid level less than 2 inches from the top. He keeps a fan pointed at the top of the kettle and turns it on if there's a hint of boil-over. Seems to work quite nicely.

Ok, they have it up and running. See it in action. My Youtube Premier, Bavarian Weizenbier Boil.

Gotta love homebrew-cam!!! I used to use the spray bottle with my partial boils-very easy way to keep em in control.

Well fermcap makes a boil like this http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/nflder/beerbrew013.jpg

look like this http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/nflder/beerbrew024.jpg and as you can see I get a vigerous boil.

Hey Boo Boo, I figure a grey foggy day and you'll have a built in sprayer. I guess mauzy would best simulate the sprayer though. Seriously though, does that fermtech stuff really work? My boils look like your first image for the first few minutes (~5), and then the foam subsides considerably. Does the fertech additive eliminate that early foaming completely??
right on,
another newfie

newfie said:

Hey Boo Boo, I figure a grey foggy day and you'll have a built in sprayer. I guess mauzy would best simulate the sprayer though. Seriously though, does that fermtech stuff really work? My boils look like your first image for the first few minutes (~5), and then the foam subsides considerably. Does the fertech additive eliminate that early foaming completely??
right on,
another newfie

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Works for me. Since using it I have had no boilovers.

Acording to reports it is supposed to help with the retention
of head forming properties also. I haven't found any
diference in my head formation using it however. I usually
get the head I want in my brews.