Burgs
Well-Known Member
The recipe was Northern Brewer's all-grain Patersbier kit (I'm not sure why I'm doing Belgians in the winter, but whatever) and I'm happy to say, I didn't flood, burn, scorch or shatter anything!
I used brew365.com for my mash water calculations and Bobby_M's All Grain Primer for sanity checks throughout the process.
Mash
I first heated just under 3 gallons of strike water up to 170-175 ish and drained those into my mash tun to preheat it. I also think I instantly warped the MLT by doing this, but from reading on here - I see that's pretty common.
After 5-10 minutes this equalized to 162-163 which was my target strike temperature. I then doughed in with 9 lbs of Belgian pilsner malt and my fiance stirred, stirred, stirred until it was all good and mashy. I was a little high on the temp at first - around 153 I think, so I added a little bit of cold water. I checked the temp - 150! Target mash temp was 149, awesome! My initial mash thickness was 1.25, so I don't think that extra bit of water hurt me any. Just a lil thinner.
Sparge
I then got started heating my sparge water - just a touch over 5 gallons heated up to 185. I checked the mash halfway through the 60 minute rest and the temp was holding steady, didn't lose a degree. Once 60 min was up I drained my 1st runnings into a smaller 5 gallon rubbermaid cooler and sealed the lid to keep it nice and warm.
I brought the rest of my mash out to the kettle where my sparge water was now ready. Actually, it was a little too hot, so I killed the flame. The temp of the water dropped quickly because it was so cold out, but honestly I was still a little too high.
After adding my sparge volume, my grain bed was at around 180-185 so I added cold water until I was right at 170, stirring constantly throughout. During this stage I also heard some more loud cracks where the MLT was warping again! Damnit.
Boil
I moved the 1st runnings from the smaller cooler to the kettle, and then the 2nd runnings from the mash tun to the kettle and put the flames to it. I collected probably 6.5 gal of total wort with a preboil gravity of 1.042 (measured later). The boil went smoothly & my fiance cleaned the mash tun (nice). It was fckn freezing outside so I probably got a little more boiloff than usual, but not enough to make much of a difference. 1 oz of German Tradition went in @ 60 min and half an oz of Saaz @ 10. I did forget the whirfloc, oh well.
I'm used to having to take the kettle and put it in an ice bath in addition to using my immersion chiller, but the cold weather combined with the lower temp of our tap water made chilling very easy. My exit hose from the chiller did end up freezing after I had stopped using it though, ha.
Into the Fermenter
Drained my wort into a 6 gallon better bottle and aerated as best I could for 10 min or so. Gravity reading was somewhere between 1.046 and 1.048 (recipe calls for 1.047) - the reading was tough to take cause my sample had lots of bubbles on the top. Last step was to pitch my 1L starter of Wyeast and attach the blowoff.
This morning I woke up and checked everything out - basement temp is a little cold for this yeast, but it should be happy upstairs.
Things I'd change for next time:
-- vorlauf before taking 2nd runnings. I got some grain in the kettle because I forgot to do this
-- only heat my sparge water up to 175-180. The hotter temp I used got the grain bed a little too hot and contributed to the stress of my MLT
-- brew on a slightly warmer day.
Thanks to everyone on HBT as I'd be way more clueless about this process had I never read the experiences of others who had bothered to post them. I honestly think that AG is a little more time investment, but just as easy as extract... and a little more rewarding. I'm ready to do the next one already! Cheers!
I used brew365.com for my mash water calculations and Bobby_M's All Grain Primer for sanity checks throughout the process.
Mash
I first heated just under 3 gallons of strike water up to 170-175 ish and drained those into my mash tun to preheat it. I also think I instantly warped the MLT by doing this, but from reading on here - I see that's pretty common.
After 5-10 minutes this equalized to 162-163 which was my target strike temperature. I then doughed in with 9 lbs of Belgian pilsner malt and my fiance stirred, stirred, stirred until it was all good and mashy. I was a little high on the temp at first - around 153 I think, so I added a little bit of cold water. I checked the temp - 150! Target mash temp was 149, awesome! My initial mash thickness was 1.25, so I don't think that extra bit of water hurt me any. Just a lil thinner.
Sparge
I then got started heating my sparge water - just a touch over 5 gallons heated up to 185. I checked the mash halfway through the 60 minute rest and the temp was holding steady, didn't lose a degree. Once 60 min was up I drained my 1st runnings into a smaller 5 gallon rubbermaid cooler and sealed the lid to keep it nice and warm.
I brought the rest of my mash out to the kettle where my sparge water was now ready. Actually, it was a little too hot, so I killed the flame. The temp of the water dropped quickly because it was so cold out, but honestly I was still a little too high.
After adding my sparge volume, my grain bed was at around 180-185 so I added cold water until I was right at 170, stirring constantly throughout. During this stage I also heard some more loud cracks where the MLT was warping again! Damnit.
Boil
I moved the 1st runnings from the smaller cooler to the kettle, and then the 2nd runnings from the mash tun to the kettle and put the flames to it. I collected probably 6.5 gal of total wort with a preboil gravity of 1.042 (measured later). The boil went smoothly & my fiance cleaned the mash tun (nice). It was fckn freezing outside so I probably got a little more boiloff than usual, but not enough to make much of a difference. 1 oz of German Tradition went in @ 60 min and half an oz of Saaz @ 10. I did forget the whirfloc, oh well.
I'm used to having to take the kettle and put it in an ice bath in addition to using my immersion chiller, but the cold weather combined with the lower temp of our tap water made chilling very easy. My exit hose from the chiller did end up freezing after I had stopped using it though, ha.
Into the Fermenter
Drained my wort into a 6 gallon better bottle and aerated as best I could for 10 min or so. Gravity reading was somewhere between 1.046 and 1.048 (recipe calls for 1.047) - the reading was tough to take cause my sample had lots of bubbles on the top. Last step was to pitch my 1L starter of Wyeast and attach the blowoff.
This morning I woke up and checked everything out - basement temp is a little cold for this yeast, but it should be happy upstairs.
Things I'd change for next time:
-- vorlauf before taking 2nd runnings. I got some grain in the kettle because I forgot to do this
-- only heat my sparge water up to 175-180. The hotter temp I used got the grain bed a little too hot and contributed to the stress of my MLT
-- brew on a slightly warmer day.
Thanks to everyone on HBT as I'd be way more clueless about this process had I never read the experiences of others who had bothered to post them. I honestly think that AG is a little more time investment, but just as easy as extract... and a little more rewarding. I'm ready to do the next one already! Cheers!
