First AG Brewing = Total and Utter Insanity

Well....I did my first AG brew.

I started at 11:30AM and ended at around 9:30PM. So what does that tell you about how it all went? Just picture a chicken with its head cut off moving around pots and mashing and such and that was me.

Beer Style: A very simple English Bitter
Final Volume: 5 gal
Mash Type: Single Infusion
Sparge: Fly Sparge
Target Gravity: 1.045 (actual gravity was 1.056)
Yeast used: Wyeast Thames Valley Ale
Starting Boil Volume: 6.5 gallons
Boil Time: 90 min

My setup consists of two 10 gal coolers, one 7.5 gal pot and one 15 gal pot along with all the other tools and gizmos.

The first major problem was when I went to raise the temp of the mash (in the cooler) to 170 with 200 degree water. This did not work like I planned. I added almost 2 gallons of near boiling water and the mash didnt get above 160 even though the mash was at 150. I'm thinking its not a good idea to do 5 gallon batches in 10 gallon coolers. Too much extra space maybe?

So I had to move the whole mash to the kettle to get it up to temp. Man, way too much hot-side aeration...oh well.

So then comes the sparging. I'm guessing that you would have to have like 190 degree water in the cooler so that by the time the water comes out of the sparger its hitting the surface of the mash at close to 170. So the sparging didnt work that great either. I never got a stuck mash but I had to constantly stop and start the sparger because it was always way too much compared to the wort flowing out.

Well I'm sure this will all get easier. First time is always hardest trying to figure out everything as you go.

I'm sure I'll get good beer as its fermenting nicely right now. I was able to make a starter and use pure oxygen for the starter and the 5gal batch.

So anyways, the point of this post isnt really to ask any questions. Just telling about my experience. But now that I've finally done my first AG I know a lot of things I can do better next time around.

Now I just need more money so I can buy the equipment I really want. I need Pots with Spigots and Pumps and Plate Chillers and Stainles Steel Fermentors and a 2,000,000 btu Burner and a clean room for growing yeast and my own Beer Factory and some Oompa-Loompas and...........

I want a pony !

Welcome! The dark side runs deep! I've been brewing for a long time but I remember the first AG batch well... too well. I'm also about a month into fathering my first kid- the parallels are, er, staggering.... I hear it gets easier. Brewing does.

Cheers

Hmmmm. Wel,, you exceeded your target gravity so it couldn't have been all bad. my first all grain was a simple bitter, and I still like to brew them. One question--why did you add boiling water to raise the temperature to 170 in your cooler for mash out? you should be able to just do a simple infusion mash of at 152-154 for 60 minutes and then sparge with 170 degree water for mash out (hence the single infusion).

jeffg said:

Hmmmm. Wel,, you exceeded your target gravity so it couldn't have been all bad. my first all grain was a simple bitter, and I still like to brew them. One question--why did you add boiling water to raise the temperature to 170 in your cooler for mash out? you should be able to just do a simple infusion mash of at 152-154 for 60 minutes and then sparge with 170 degree water for mash out (hence the single infusion).

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Hmmmmm. I'm not exactly sure. I had just read about doing this in a several different instructions.

So I dont have to get the temp of the whole mash up to 170? I only need to sparge with 170 water?

It does get better. My first AG session was a few weeks ago, and it took about 8 hours, and I wound up with less than 50% efficiency. This past weekend was my second attempt - 5 hours and 70% efficiency. I really enjoyed both brew sessions, and I think they'll just get better from here! I'm sure the same will be true for you.

Unless you specifically want to mash out, you don't need to get the whole mash up to 170. You sparge with hotter water to thin out the mash and get more sugars into solution. Hotter than 170 will start to extract tannins. If you sparge at the right speed, the entire mash will be close to 170 by the time you're done.

Good luck!

I batch sparge, so it seems like a complete waste of time to try for the few extra points I'd get fly sparging. Makes brewing AG that much easier.

As for mash out....don't bother with that either. I'll raise my mash temps higher to get a better extraction, but my mashout occurs in my kettle when I boil.

With batch sparging, you can raise the temperature of the sparge water to raise the mash to about 170.
With fly sparging, as you only add water very slowly, this does not work.
You can sparge at the lower temperature, but you will lose a lot in efficiency.
I also find that the beers taste better with fly sparging, but I will admit that I only batch sparged twice. Both batch sparged batches had some slight off flavors, that I never get with fly sparging.

-a.

I also batch sparge and have not worried about raising the temp for mash out.. works good so far. It takes me 4 hours from start to clean up.

If I dont have enough room for a true infusion to bring the temp of my mash up to 170F, I simply take a couple gallons of the first runnings, boil it, then re-introduce it to the mash. Yah, it may not hit 170F, BUT it gets it alot closer so that when I start sparging, it is hot enough to get the sugars flowing. My last efficiency was 84%... 14 points higher than my previous 2 brews!

Brewpilot

boo boo said:

I batch sparge, so it seems like a complete waste of time to try for the few extra points I'd get fly sparging. Makes brewing AG that much easier.

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I'm not sure what you mean by a complete waste of time. I've always fly sparged and I love it. Once I get it going I can go do other things like measuring hops or sanitizing the fermenter. I can even look at HBT for a bit. I bet it doesn't take that much longer than batch sparging and I've always gotten great results.
To me batch sparging seems like it would be harder to do and require more attention.
I guess that's what makes home brewing such a great hobby. You can use what ever methods work best for you and more importantly procedures that help you enjoy the hobby more.

Rich, I guess it is what you are used to doing. If it is easy for you to do and you want to do it, then by all means.

For me, it is easier to batch sparge. I did try fly sparging using a plate to difuse the water that I poured on top of the mash and found it time consumming. I guess if I had all the proper thing a ma jigs and started doing it that way, then I would be accustomed to it.
It is assumed that fly will gain a few points over batch, but I get a great efficiency doing batch that I'll continue for now.

congrats on the ag! there is no turning back now.

it takes a few runs to get your system down, but it will get easier. just having the hands on experience, even if frustrating is worth more than reading one hundred volumes on brewing.

i like to fly sparge, cause i can drink about three beers during it.

I know it's hard to believe right now, but you actually did okay! You'll get better and your time will decrease with more brew sessions. Like anything in life, practice makes perfect.

I had problems with my first session a year and a half ago. I wrote about the session here. Still, with all the problems I had the ale turned out very, very well. It had a clear, light copper color, nice head and a slightly sweet taste. I should have upped the hop bill, but I wasn't complaining. And neither did anyone who tasted one!

All in all, I was very happy with mine, and you will be, too! You'll really see the advantages of AG brewing. For me, my first AG ale was, by far, the smoothest, cleanest, least harsh and most (for lack of any other term) delicate ale I'd ever brewed.