First foray into All Grain - Is my grain bill too weak?

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Bradinator

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Hi all,

I am planning my first attempt at a light, all grain session ale using the ingredients I have on hand. Now I was not planning on doing an all grain batch, but I found a very excellent post on improved stove top brewing so I went shopping. Now I am the proud owner of an insulated 6.5 gallon aluminum pot.

I plan to brew using this method. I was originally planning small trial batch for my first All grain, based off my old and very tiny 2 gallon kettle so I have a slightly limited grain bill, but I think it could still work if I can get a decent efficiency (I am assuming 60%).

Here is the recipe:

5.0lbs of Pale 2-row
1.5lbs of rolled oats
1.0lbs of honey (added at last 20 minutes of boil)
1oz of Cluster @ 60min

Now if I do not have to drive down to the HBS I would rather not, but if this recipe is going to fail I will make the trip.

Advice appreciated!
 
Seems a little lite to me. What OG are you shooting for? Seems like the beer could come in around 2.5% based on the grain bill. This is barring that I dont know how the honey will affect the percentage in the outcome. Just my 2 cents and limited experience. Good luck with it and let us know how it comes out.

-Jon
 
For a two gallon batch it looks like you should end up with a pale 5% if you hit 60% which should be too easy. I am sure it will be 70%
 
I am shooting for around 1.035 OG. I guess I should mention that the final batch volume is going to be 4.50 gallons (I am deathly afraid of boil overs, so my initial boil volume will be 5g).
 
with 5# of grain and the adjuncts your OG on this is only going to hit somewhere between 1.024-1.026.
and around 2.5%ABV
 
I am getting different results from BeerSmith, but maybe I got something wrong. Even with 60% efficiency I am seeing an OG of 1.040 (4% abv) I have plenty of dextrose on hand to raise the body of this beer if needed.

I am also not against a light sessionable ale. To be honest I prefer my beers to be on the lighter side so I usually brew at around 3% to 4% as my desired final ABV.
 
Holy S- Honey Iced Tea.
My bad dude! I messed up Beer smith got it right I was calculating it on paper.
I wrote down 2# Pale Malt. not 5#
 
Okay that makes sense. For the rolled oats, is a single step infusion fine? Do I need to grind the oats up at all prior to the infusion (ei, make them more like quick oats)?
 
Okay that makes sense. For the rolled oats, is a single step infusion fine? Do I need to grind the oats up at all prior to the infusion (ei, make them more like quick oats)?

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, But I'm pretty sure you don't want to mash with non-gelatinized oats unless you cook (boil them in water for 3-5 min) them prior to adding them to the mash.
 
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, But I'm pretty sure you don't want to mash with non-gelatinized oats unless you cook (boil them in water for 3-5 min) them prior to adding them to the mash.

That is correct a slight cooking so that they don't gum up in your Mash. get them cooked then dump them in with the rest.
 
Unfortunately by the time I saw these replies I was already done the mash. I think it may have affected my efficiency as I think I only got 55%. Hopefully this won't impart any odd or unwanted flavours to the beer, but I guess I won't know for another 4 to 6 weeks.

Either way I am enjoyed the process of all grain brewing and will be doing it again for sure.
 
You shouldn't have any 'odd' flavors, just may not get all the bang for the buck. Treat this as a learning experience that never ends... take notes, refer to them when you want to use oats for example; you made a huge leap, and you made beer regardless - good luck!
 
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