Brew Day Checklist

Been working on a comprehensive Brew Day Checklist that will allow me to DWHAHB more often as I brew without fear of missing a key step.

Please add and critique:

1. Smack Pack - T Minus 2
2. Make a Starter - Morning of T Minus 1
3. Enter Recipe in Beersmith
4. Measure/Weigh Ingredients
5. Calibrate Grain Mill (currently set at .030)
6. Grind Grain
7. Preheat Mashtun (used 3 gal 165 deg water)
8. Heat Strike Water
9. Add enough strike water to mashtun to fully cover false bottom.
10. Pour grain into mashtun
11. Add remaining strike water
12. Stir the mash to break up any dough balls
13. Add 5.2 stabilizer
14. Measure temperature of mash (nailed it at 150 degrees for this recipe)
15. Mash for 60 minutes
16. Stir and double check temp at 1/2 way mark (still holding firm at 150)
17. Heat sparge water to 175 degrees
18. Vorlauf (took about 4 quarts to run clear this time)
19. Sparge (took about 25 minutes, only needed 3 gallons of sparge water with this recipe)
20. Measure pre-boil SG
21. Bring wort to a boil
22. Add malto dextrin, candi sugar and boiling hops
23. Add Irish Moss (15 minutes before Flame Out)
24. Drop immersion chiller into boil pot (about 7 minutes before flame out)
25. Add Aroma Hops (about 5 minutes before flame out)
26. Flame Out / Turn on Water to Chiller
27. During the boil, sanitize all equipment used after flamout, including boiling O2 Stone
28. Once wort drops below 100 deg, use a sponge soaked in Starsan to sanitize sides
29. Pour wort into plastic bucket, continue chilling
30. When wort hits 75 deg, pull out IC, cover with sanitized lid and bring into house
31. Oxygenate for one minute
32. Pour into glass primary
33. Pitch yeast into glass primary
34. Add water to desired level indicated on premarked primary
35. Using wine thief, take a sample of wort and measure OG
36. Insert 1 inch blowoff tube and carry to the basement
37. Clean Equipment

My efficiency was 71% this time, a personal high, but still mediocre. I used 1.5 quarts per pound of grain, and with over 15 pounds of grain for a 5 gallon batch, it only left 3 gallons to sparge with. I was using the standard 1.25 quarts/pound, but after reading Pol's thread on increasing efficiency with a thinner mash, and the fact that I was struggling with efficiencies in the low sixties, I figured WTF.

I could try to close the gap lower than .030 on the mill (it's a Monster 3-roller mill), but maybe 71% for that large of a grain bill isn't that bad.

I do steps 1-6 the day or two prior to brew day. Just less stuff to deal with. Then I fire up the strike water while I finish that first cup of morning coffee.

Your efficiency seems fine - especially for a bigger beer.

GT

I would enter your recipe into beersmith far sooner than that, like a week or two sooner, but that is just me.

Why are your pouring into a bucket, then pouring into a glass primary? Can you either siphon into the glass primary, or ferment in the bucket? It seems like one more source of potential contamination. If you need to do it this way, can you pour into the carboy in the basement? I would much rather carry a bucket of wort than a carboy of wort. You would feel that way, too, if you ever broke a carboy in your hands. In fact, my 6 gallon carboys are now for the wine. The buckets are for the beer.

Wables said:

I would enter your recipe into beersmith far sooner than that, like a week or two sooner, but that is just me.

Why are your pouring into a bucket, then pouring into a glass primary? Can you either siphon into the glass primary, or ferment in the bucket? It seems like one more source of potential contamination. If you need to do it this way, can you pour into the carboy in the basement? I would much rather carry a bucket of wort than a carboy of wort. You would feel that way, too, if you ever broke a carboy in your hands. In fact, my 6 gallon carboys are now for the wine. The buckets are for the beer.

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The bucket is actually my original primary fermenter, probably about 12-13 gallons, and I use it to keep the Starsan solution in during the brew day. It is not a problem keeping it santized and I can get the wort much cooler once I can move it from the kettle to the bucket and continue with the IC until I reach the desired temperature. I also find it easier to oxygenate and pitch dry yeast in (although I add my liquid starter to the primary).

Once I have finished building my CFC/pump system, it will be academic as I will transfer from the kettle to the primary directly, chilling in the process.

I have broken a carboy (5 gallon secondary), but only because I was using a jury rigged drying rack, not while carrying. I don't have a problem carrying carboys around but I am a fairly avid weightlifter.

I like the idea. You could format it into a checklist that is separated into pre-brew day activities, sanitizing activities, brewing activities etc. Print it out along with your recipe, the brew sheet from Beersmith.

Attach a batch # to the set of papers and your final bottled beer. Then, you have a complete process control of all of your steps, recipe, and any notes on what you did/what went wrong for each batch.

I always dump in my 5.2 in mt while im heating my strike water, sometimes i'll forget if I do it after mashing in. And just dump all the strike water in first then mix grains, it will be easier.

Edcculus said:

I like the idea. You could format it into a checklist that is separated into pre-brew day activities, sanitizing activities, brewing activities etc. Print it out along with your recipe, the brew sheet from Beersmith.

Attach a batch # to the set of papers and your final bottled beer. Then, you have a complete process control of all of your steps, recipe, and any notes on what you did/what went wrong for each batch.

Click to expand...

I like it. You could combine the santizing activities with a comprehensive equipment checklist.

wildwest450 said:

I always dump in my 5.2 in mt while im heating my strike water, sometimes i'll forget if I do it after mashing in. And just dump all the strike water in first then mix grains, it will be easier.

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You know I've thought about that, especially since I'd forget my head if it wasn't screwed on (ask me where Sunday's stirbar is ). For some reason I am nervous that the 5.2 won't be able to properly adjust if the mash isn't already setup, but I have no idea how it works to begin with.

This is good stuff, I'm going to follow this on my next brew, maybe it will help me cut my time down. I was actually getting ready to put something like this together before my brew so thanks for doing it for me.

Hmmm, I dunno; usually the first thing I do is crack open a homebrew

joety said:

You know I've thought about that, especially since I'd forget my head if it wasn't screwed on (ask me where Sunday's stirbar is ). For some reason I am nervous that the 5.2 won't be able to properly adjust if the mash isn't already setup, but I have no idea how it works to begin with.

Click to expand...

Wow, now that's brewing paranoia.

Got Trub? said:

I do steps 1-6 the day or two prior to brew day. Just less stuff to deal with. Then I fire up the strike water while I finish that first cup of morning coffee.

Your efficiency seems fine - especially for a bigger beer.

GT

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+1. In fact I usually have my water filtered and ready to heat so all I have to worry about is the COFFEE This really speeds up the brewing day. Crushing grains a day or 2 before brewday doesn't hurt. I was well under 4 hours for brewday if I did steps 1-7 ahead of time. That is until I started double decocting my lagers....we are up to 5-6 hours IF I do steps 1-7 before.

I do like the idea of the list as I am continually going up an down the basement stairs. Good exercise I guess.

wildwest450 said:

Wow, now that's brewing paranoia.

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Hey, don't worry. The point of all of this is to make it easier to RDWHAHB.

Edit: In a couple more years my 5 year old and assistant brewmaster will be able to handle the checklist part on his own.

Daddy, wait!!! You forgot to add the 5.2!!!!

wildwest450 said:

I always dump in my 5.2 in mt while im heating my strike water, sometimes i'll forget if I do it after mashing in. And just dump all the strike water in first then mix grains, it will be easier.

Click to expand...

I always dump my 5.2 in the strike water beforehand and mix well, then I pour the grains and water in at the same time to get a good even mixture and no dough balls. That requires two people but I usually have some help on hand.

One thing I seem to forget is the Iodine Test.. I don't see that on your list.. maybe a lot of you don't do it. I don't whenI forget..

If I brew on Sunday, I would make my starter Friday night, let it sit on counter overnight with the unopened vial of yeast.. By morning they're at same room temp. Dump yeast into starter, and put it on stir plate. Saturday evening, make another starter. Let that sit overnight. Sunday am, add that to my starter that has the yeast. By time wort is chilled, yeast is pretty happy.

As for grain mill, have that figured out before brew day. I mill my grains while water is heating up. But measure the amount of grain a day or two before, and leave it in a warm place so your mash temps won't be thrown off by cold grain.

Also, get your recipes in software as soon as you start thinking about them. I put solid recipes in a folder, then pull from those as I rebrew, then save the tweaked recipe with a batch number. If I like a change in a tweaked recipe, I update the one I pulled from. Always subbing out a hop or grain.

I like the checklist. Make it into a brew log with some areas for notes. Always a good reference. On my brew log, a have a place for goals for the beer at top. On the bottom is tasting notes and what I'd change next time.

I also have a separate fermentation log for each beer.

Cheers!

Neat idea. If I were to do one, I don't think it'd be as detailed. Maybe something like.

1. Mash
2. Close the bleepin' valve on your bleepin' boil kettle!!!!
2.a. Double check that you closed the bleepin' valve on your boil kettle!!!
2. Drain mash tun.
3. Finish brewing.

Prolly guessed that that incorporates the latest battle scar in my hobby. I suppose I'd add to it over time.

HopSong said:

One thing I seem to forget is the Iodine Test.. I don't see that on your list.. maybe a lot of you don't do it. I don't whenI forget..

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Personally I have done 6 All Grains and have NEVER done an iodine test. My understanding is, most of the conversion happens in the first 15 minutes of the mash. So doing a 60+ min mash, I don't bother with that.

biestie said:

Neat idea. If I were to do one, I don't think it'd be as detailed. Maybe something like.

1. Mash
2. Close the bleepin' valve on your bleepin' boil kettle!!!!
2.a. Double check that you closed the bleepin' valve on your boil kettle!!!
2. Drain mash tun.
3. Finish brewing.

Prolly guessed that that incorporates the latest battle scar in my hobby. I suppose I'd add to it over time.

Click to expand...

Haha, ditto for the the drain valve on your conical, where, if you are like me, just got got done cleaning and sanitizing. By missing this step, I did 10 gallons of work for 7 gallons of beer once.