A few questions about AG and my setup

Hello everyone.

I'm going to attempt to take the plunge into AG using a pale ale recipe I found in a book that I had bought. But I need to know if i'm approaching this right.

Here's the grain bill:

9lbs 2-row Pale Malt
1lb Crystal 40*L
8oz Crystal 20*L

The Mash instructions call for a 90 minute infusion with 2.9 gallons of water at 150* F and a sparge of 5 gallons at 170*F

Ok. This is how i think im gunna do it (hopefully you guys will tell me if this will work.)

I have a cooler that I converted into a mash/lauter tun. it holds roughly 6 gallons of water. I used a section of braided hose as my filter. (sorry i dont have a pic)

So first I'll put the grain into the tun. Then I'll add 2.9 gallons of the heated water and let that steep for 90 minutes.
After the 90 minutes, I'll drain the liquid from the tun into the brew kettle, recycling the first few quarts to ensure a clean runoff.

Then I'll start sparging the 5 gallons of water, while draining into the brew kettle.

So after all is said and done, I should have 7.9 gallons of water in the kettle that will boil down to 5 gallons, right?

This all grain thing is kinda complicated, but i really want to create quality beers.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Matt

you need to account for the gallon or so the grain will retain and draining it all can compact your grain bed and stall your sparge

First off, add the strike water to the tun BEFORE you add the grain. You will also want to pre-heat the tun before you add the strike water. I have found that if you add the strike water to a cool tun the temp drop is too much.
I pre-heat the tun with hot water, drain it, then add strike water that is about 5 degrees warmer than the target temp. I let the temp drop to the target and then add the grist. I've had good luck with hitting my mash temp and the temp holding better.
Todays malt is highly modified so you don't need to do a 90 minute rest. One hour is more than enough. If you want to do 90 it won't hurt anything.

Looks good other than that. Good luck and enjoy!

Post your results when completed.

Yeah, preheat the cooler and that will help. I just mash in at about 1.2 quarts per pound and let it sit for 60 minutes. I figure the grain will absorb .1 gallon for each pound of grain. Then I add more water so that I have half of the final volume that I want. In your case about 4 gallons. Stir and drain. I add the 2nd amount of water so that I have the final volume that I am looking for.
Read here -> http://www.hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/
Its explained very nicely.

MattieSy said:

So first I'll put the grain into the tun. Then I'll add 2.9 gallons of the heated water and let that steep for 90 minutes.
After the 90 minutes, I'll drain the liquid from the tun into the brew kettle, recycling the first few quarts to ensure a clean runoff.

Then I'll start sparging the 5 gallons of water, while draining into the brew kettle.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Matt

Click to expand...

Hey Matt,
Others have covered the water absorption, temp and time issues... When you batch sparge, run off the first tun of water after recirculation, close the valve and add the second batch of water, stir to get as much sugar content as possible in the water, recirculate again THEN drain the second batch into the kettle... In an hour boil you will evaporate 10 -15% average (your system may vary so you may have to boil longer to reach your target volume if it is less, or you may need some top up water ready to add to the fermenter just in case you boil off too much) After you brew a few batches you will begin to understand your system efficiency, evaporation rate etc. and this can all be dialed in to get closer to the beer you want to make... TAKE NOTES!!!!

The link that Blender posted has some good info... also Google Batch Sparge for other links...

Hope that helps,
later,
mikey

RichBrewer said:

First off, add the strike water to the tun BEFORE you add the grain... I let the temp drop to the target and then add the grist. I've had good luck with hitting my mash temp and the temp holding better.

Click to expand...

It seems to me you'd have more control over the temp if you did the opposite: (after pre-heateing the tun) add the grain and a little less than the calculated amount of strike water. Then add additional water until you hit the target temp.

Seems like this way there's no danger of being over the target temp, which could happen if you've got the full amount of strike water in the tun before you add the grain.

cweston said:

It seems to me you'd have more control over the temp if you did the opposite: (after pre-heateing the tun) add the grain and a little less than the calculated amount of strike water. Then add additional water until you hit the target temp.

Seems like this way there's no danger of being over the target temp, which could happen if you've got the full amount of strike water in the tun before you add the grain.

Click to expand...

I see your point but I'm not crazy about pouring dry grain onto my false bottom. It would be hard to stir the grains in the bottom of the tun and they may clump there. I would rather gradually pour the grain into the water and stir it well to moisten it. If you wanted to you could add less of the hot water into the tun, add your grain, and then add more water to adjust the temp but I've had pretty good luck adding the whole amount of water. I always hit within a degree of my target temp.

Edit: If you do go over your target you can add a bit of cold water to adjust it. In a cooler Mash Tun, it is much easier to adjust the temp down than it is to adjust up.

Oh and dont forget to drink..... I did not drink enough.... oy.. did I not drink enough.

Hmm. Maybe I don't get it, but why are you guys refering to this as a batch sparge as opposed to a regular sparge? Or is batch sparging the standard approach? One more thing, how do you guys feel about this guy's method?


http://cruisenews.net/brewing/infusion/page1.php

I'm starting to get ancy... i cant wait to brew!!!

:rockin:

MattieSy said:

Hmm. Maybe I don't get it, but why are you guys refering to this as a batch sparge as opposed to a regular sparge? Or is batch sparging the standard approach? One more thing, how do you guys feel about this guy's method?


http://cruisenews.net/brewing/infusion/page1.php

I'm starting to get ancy... i cant wait to brew!!!

:rockin:

Click to expand...

That page is an example of batch sparging. Some people use another approach which is commonly referred to as fly sparging. Your method as outlined in the OP is batch sparging. I still don't think you need to let it sit for 90 minutes if you are using 2 row barley.

MattieSy said:

Hmm. Maybe I don't get it, but why are you guys refering to this as a batch sparge as opposed to a regular sparge? Or is batch sparging the standard approach? One more thing, how do you guys feel about this guy's method?


http://cruisenews.net/brewing/infusion/page1.php

I'm starting to get ancy... i cant wait to brew!!!

:rockin:

Click to expand...

A batch sparge is when you just dump all the sparge water in the mash/tun and drain it as fast as it will drain. The person in this link is doing that. As apposed to fly sparge, where you lightly spray water over the mash and keep its level at about 3 inches above the mash. You are draining at the same time the spray of water is happening to keep the water constantly level. You get a higher efficiency with fly sparging.

Batch or infusion sparging is tooted as the easiest way to do. In his book, Palmer explains the difference in extraction efficiencies of all the methods and explains that in batch or infusion sparging you just need more grain to get the same efficiency.

Good link, I've seen it before. Question for all the more experienced.... the level or wort in the pot seems really high.... is this how much wort you want? Seems like a boil over is gurenteed to happen here....

Blender said:

That page is an example of batch sparging. Some people use another approach which is commonly referred to as fly sparging. Your method as outlined in the OP is batch sparging. I still don't think you need to let it sit for 90 minutes if you are using 2 row barley.

Click to expand...

You can test for conversion using a drop of Iondine. People here seem to suggest that 2 row is pretty highly modified and dont need much to convert.

Thanks to all for all the fast and very informative responses!!

Seems like a great board to have stumbled upon!!

I'll keep you all posted on how this first AG batch comes out!

Cheers,

Matt

RichBrewer said:

First off, add the strike water to the tun BEFORE you add the grain. You will also want to pre-heat the tun before you add the strike water. I have found that if you add the strike water to a cool tun the temp drop is too much.
I pre-heat the tun with hot water, drain it, then add strike water that is about 5 degrees warmer than the target temp. I let the temp drop to the target and then add the grist. I've had good luck with hitting my mash temp and the temp holding better.
Todays malt is highly modified so you don't need to do a 90 minute rest. One hour is more than enough. If you want to do 90 it won't hurt anything.

Looks good other than that. Good luck and enjoy!

Post your results when completed.

Click to expand...

I just throw in the water heat the water right in the tun with a heatstick. that way there is no temp drop at all. Then toss in the grains and away you go.

what's a heat stick?

fishmonkeystew said:

what's a heat stick?

Click to expand...

A heat stick is basically a hot water heater element fabricated into a stick that you can plug in and heat stuff up with. You can find more info if you google it I'd bet. They just look super dangerous to me, but what do I know.