First all grain attempt, with pictures

Well, after three years of brewing I tried my first all grain brew. I thought it would be harder than it was, but I would not call it easy. Here is what I did and some pictures. Can all of you let me know what I did wrong or should change? Also, what did I do right and should repeat? Thanks!!!

First here is my recipe for my Autumn Amber.

Recipe: Autumn Amber Midwest TYPE: All Grain
Style: American Amber Ale
---RECIPE SPECIFICATIONS-----------------------------------------------
SRM: 12.3 SRM SRM RANGE: 11.0-18.0 SRM
IBU: 29.3 IBUs Tinseth IBU RANGE: 20.0-40.0 IBUs
OG: 1.056 SG OG RANGE: 1.045-1.056 SG
FG: 1.011 SG FG RANGE: 1.010-1.015 SG
BU:GU: 0.523 Calories: 141.5 kcal/12oz Est ABV: 5.9 %
EE%: 72.00 % Batch: 5.00 gal Boil: 6.43 gal BT: 60 Mins

---WATER CHEMISTRY ADDITIONS----------------


Amt Name Type %/IBU
9 lbs Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.8 SRM) Grain 87.7%
8.0 oz Caramel Malt - 80L (Cargill) (80.0 SRM) Grain 4.9%
2.1 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.3%
2.1 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.3%

Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 4.2 oz Total Hops: 3.90 oz oz.
---MASH PROCESS------MASH PH:5.40 ------
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD WATER CHEMICALS BEFORE GRAINS!!<<<<<<<
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 3.17 gal of water at 166.6 F 152.0 F 60 min

---SPARGE PROCESS---
>>>>>>>>>>-RECYCLE FIRST RUNNINGS & VERIFY GRAIN/MLT TEMPS: 72.0 F/72.0 F
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD BOIL CHEMICALS BEFORE FWH
Fly sparge with 4.68 gal water at 168.0 F
---BOIL PROCESS-----------------------------
Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.048 SG Est OG: 1.056 SG
Amt Name Type %/IBU
8.0 oz Cane (Beet) Sugar (0.0 SRM) Sugar 4.9%
1.00 oz Hallertauer [5.99 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 21.0 IBUs
0.15 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4.5 IBUs
1.50 oz Fuggles [4.00 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 1.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.60 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 1.4 IBUs
0.25 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 0.6 IBUs

Yeast US-05


Here are the pictures and description of my process.

Here is my setup. I tried to make a tiered system. Next time I will raise the MT higher and pump the sparge water into it.


Since I was making an Autumn Amber, I figured that it was appropriate to drink Oktoberfest. I started off with Spaten, which is excellent.


Here is my new March pump which was used to the first time. It worked very well.


Also, here is my brew buddy Nash. He is a 6 year old Boxer that we rescued 5 years ago. My wife makes him dog treats with spent grain, specialty grain from extract brewing so far.

I boiled 4 gallons of water to preheat the MT for 20 minutes. After heating my water for mashing in, I drained the MT, added it, and added my grains. I ran across this mash paddle at a Chinese restaurant supply company for $25. It leaves lots of room for brewery growth.

After mashing in I opened a Schlafly's Oktoberfest and kicked back and ate some lunch.


After 60 minutes I started sparging and collected the first runnings and returned to the MT. I also opened up one of my own Oktoberfests.

After this I put in my sparge arm that I made from 4' of 1/2" copper tubing. It seemed to work well.





It took about 40 minutes to sparge all of my wort. I started the heat while sparging so it did not take long to get to boiling after it was done. I have been using these big tea balls for hops and they have been working well. I found them at the Chinese supply company also.

So the wort is happily brewing away and to celebrate doing something new I opened the last bottle of my first ever brew. It was a Brewers Best kit that I got from my LHBS where I got by equipment kit. It was called a continental pilsner but used ale yeast. It was still good after all this time, but the hops had really faded and there was oxidation too. It looked good too.




Lastly I cooled it down with my 45' 1/4" IC. I got it down to 75 in about 15 minutes.

I oxygenated it for 6 minutes at .5 lpm and then transferred to my fermentation bucket. I pitched my yeast and then put the bucket in my fermentation cooler.

What was your OG? Everything looks good to me, but you if you got something like 1.020 there were obviously problems that I missed

Sorry, it was 1.045.

Not bad. Lower than you were shooting for, but still decent. Are you using a false bottom in your mash tun?

emetcalf said:

Not bad. Lower than you were shooting for, but still decent. Are you using a false bottom in your mash tun?

Click to expand...

Yes, it has a domed false bottom that covers the entire bottom.

It looks like you got ~65% efficiency, so its actually better than I thought. Your crush is probably a little coarse, so you might be able to improve that. But for a first time AG, thats a pretty nice setup.

I found one other info mistake. The recipe was for 5 gallons but I ended up with 5.5. Beersmith changed the predicted OG from 1.055 to 1.050 when I changed the final volume.

I'd like to try this recipe as a BIAB.

Initial tasting points to this being very good. Also, the aroma was one of the best I have done.

I really like the label placement (labeling the caps) on your homebrew. So Simple and effective. Where did you get those labels?

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

Diver165 said:

I really like the label placement (labeling the caps) on your homebrew. So Simple and effective. Where did you get those labels?

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

Click to expand...

My wife found them online. I think that it was $21 for 20,000 labels. She uses a template that came with them and prints them off for me. I cover them with clear fingernail polish, one of hers that she does not like. This makes them waterproof otherwise they can smear with condensation or come off in a cooler.

I will get the website and post it later. Definitely get the glossy though, they are the most waterproof. Also, these were printed with a laser printer. I do not know what will happen with an inkjet.

How did your pump go? I'm just asking because normally you would mount itwith the flow left to right (or with the outlet vertical up) to avoid lossing prime if you have any cavitation issues (ofcoarse this is not a problem if you have no cavitation issues ).

dude Nice Pictures.

mattd2 said:

How did your pump go? I'm just asking because normally you would mount itwith the flow left to right (or with the outlet vertical up) to avoid lossing prime if you have any cavitation issues (ofcoarse this is not a problem if you have no cavitation issues ).

Click to expand...

I did not have any issues with the pump but after here about this I am going to flip the pump head.

brewguy82 said:

dude Nice Pictures.

Click to expand...

thanks

Diver165 said:

I really like the label placement (labeling the caps) on your homebrew. So Simple and effective. Where did you get those labels?

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

Click to expand...

Here is the link to the labels.

http://www.worldlabel.com/Pages/wl-ol5275.htm