Alright, so I'm planning on finally making the jump into all grain since I've had my equipment ready for a few months and my wedding is behind me and I've got some questions since it's been a few months since I've read up on the all grain process and frankly I'm a bit worried that I'll be rusty with only 3 batches done and all partial mashes!
Here's my recipe:
9.5 lb 2 Row
2 lb Crystal 20L
1 lb Caramunich
1/2 lb Chocolate Malt
1 1/2 oz Hallertauer 90 min
3/4 oz Hallertauer 10 min
Wyeast #2206 Bavarian Lager
I've got two 5 gallon aluminum stock pots that I'll be splitting the boil between on my electric stove top and I have a 10 gallon orange cooler HLT for sparging my grains. I plan on step mashing under the following schedule:
Protein rest for 30 min @ 122F by adding 16 1/4 quarts H20 @ 130F
Heat to 158F for 15 min
Heat to 168 for 10 min
Here's my first question. According to the Joy of Homebrewing I need to add 1/2 quart of 200F H20 per pound of grain to raise my temps by 18F. If I do this, I'm not going to hit the 158F mark(and by association the 168F point) without adding way more water than I want(I'm doing a 5 gallon batch). What do I need to change with this process for everything to work out fine? I want to end with about 6 gallons of wort for my 90 minute boil which should put me at 5 gallons when everything is all said and done.
My next question is about cooling. I have a CFC but my tap water temp is ~70F so I can only get my beer down to mid to low 70s after running it through the CFC. Is it going to hurt my beer to cool it down the rest of the way in my kegerator? I was planning on sealing it in my fermentation bucket and tossing it in the kegerator as long as I need to for it to hit ~50F so I can pitch my yeast but I imagine this would probably take overnight, correct?
Finally, I plan on making a starter for my yeast. If I use 2 packs of yeast I can get away with a 1L starter according to MrMalty. Sadly, I do not have a stir plate and I can't really guarantee that I'll be able to monitor it enough to shake it frequently so I picked "simple starter with O2 start". If I switch it to "intermittent shaking" I can drop down to 1 yeast pack and 1 3/4 L of starter according to MrMalty but I'm not sure if it's worth risking since I may not be able to shake it every few hours depending on what time I can actually get around to making the starter. I won't be receiving my ingredients for the beer until Monday night and was hoping to brew Wednesday; will that give me enough lead time to make the starter? Sure seems like a stirplate is going to be worth the $30-$40 investment!
Thanks again for the help; you guys(and gals) all rock! :rockin:
Here's my recipe:
9.5 lb 2 Row
2 lb Crystal 20L
1 lb Caramunich
1/2 lb Chocolate Malt
1 1/2 oz Hallertauer 90 min
3/4 oz Hallertauer 10 min
Wyeast #2206 Bavarian Lager
I've got two 5 gallon aluminum stock pots that I'll be splitting the boil between on my electric stove top and I have a 10 gallon orange cooler HLT for sparging my grains. I plan on step mashing under the following schedule:
Protein rest for 30 min @ 122F by adding 16 1/4 quarts H20 @ 130F
Heat to 158F for 15 min
Heat to 168 for 10 min
Here's my first question. According to the Joy of Homebrewing I need to add 1/2 quart of 200F H20 per pound of grain to raise my temps by 18F. If I do this, I'm not going to hit the 158F mark(and by association the 168F point) without adding way more water than I want(I'm doing a 5 gallon batch). What do I need to change with this process for everything to work out fine? I want to end with about 6 gallons of wort for my 90 minute boil which should put me at 5 gallons when everything is all said and done.
My next question is about cooling. I have a CFC but my tap water temp is ~70F so I can only get my beer down to mid to low 70s after running it through the CFC. Is it going to hurt my beer to cool it down the rest of the way in my kegerator? I was planning on sealing it in my fermentation bucket and tossing it in the kegerator as long as I need to for it to hit ~50F so I can pitch my yeast but I imagine this would probably take overnight, correct?
Finally, I plan on making a starter for my yeast. If I use 2 packs of yeast I can get away with a 1L starter according to MrMalty. Sadly, I do not have a stir plate and I can't really guarantee that I'll be able to monitor it enough to shake it frequently so I picked "simple starter with O2 start". If I switch it to "intermittent shaking" I can drop down to 1 yeast pack and 1 3/4 L of starter according to MrMalty but I'm not sure if it's worth risking since I may not be able to shake it every few hours depending on what time I can actually get around to making the starter. I won't be receiving my ingredients for the beer until Monday night and was hoping to brew Wednesday; will that give me enough lead time to make the starter? Sure seems like a stirplate is going to be worth the $30-$40 investment!
Thanks again for the help; you guys(and gals) all rock! :rockin: