1st all grain batch...SUCCESS...and Happy Anniversary

[knelson]

I know I know, there is one of these threads a week, but I just thought I would share briefly my 1 st all grain experience. But First I wanted to say thanks to everyone on here for all the help and encouragement. I could not have been any better prepared to make the leap to all grain!!

So I basically hit all of my numbers dead on including my OG. I was impressed by how well my 10 gallon MLT held the heat even though it was about 10f outside. I did have one scare, that came when we went to start sparging. I put my thermometer in the mash to check the temp at the end of the mash so I could record it in my notes. To my surprise, we had somehow gained 10 degress during the mash???????? Of course I freaked out, until I noticed that I was reading the celsius scale on the thermometer.......oops.

Anyway I had already started to lauter so i did not get an actual reading so I assumed that I lost the usualy 1-2 degrees over the hour. After that everything was as usual with the boil.

The total process only took 4 hours which with the additional 60 minutes for the mash is my fasted brewday to date.

This brew marks my 1 year anniversary as a homebrewer. A year ago the thought of All-Grain made my head hurt. Today its just another step in the process. I cant wait to do my next batch.

thanks again to everyone...and to those contemplating making the switch. GO FOR IT...I found it much more fun than extract and I learned a lot more about the brewing process through my research.

 

[SKMO]

Sweet success story.

It's hard to explain exactly how easy it is to do all grain. Not rocket surgery by any means.

Kudos to you, you will never go back.

 

[knelson]

Sweet success story.

It's hard to explain exactly how easy it is to do all grain. Not rocket surgery by any means.QUOTE]

That is for sure. hmmmm...heat water, put in mash tun, dump in grains and wait. Especially with Beersmith. I could see it being a bit more difficult without the precise strike temps that Beersmith gives you.....Now Brad just needs to release v2.0 so I can get it on my Mac.

One other thing I meant to mention, is the willingness of the users on this site to help out the noobs. A lot of the basic questions that pop up daily are indeed important questions for new brewers to understand, no matter how amateur they may seem, but we were all there at one point. And now hopefully we find ourselves answering these questions for the noobs (fyi, I still consider myself a noon)

I have been spending time on a few other beer related sites and the level of hostility and condescending behavior is surprising. We are all here for a common purpose, to better understand brewing and to become the best brewers/make the best beer possible. So I appreciate the willingness to chip in regardless how basic a question may seem.