All-grain first time mistakes?

[aaronanddelania]

We've read the books and watched the tutorials. But that doesn't mean we haven't missed something. What were the common beginner mistakes that you made?

Thanks - aaronanddelania

 

[danorocks17]

not having an accurate thermometer. I was using one of those floating glass thermometer that came with my original brewing kit. yikes!

 

[poptarts]

make sure your pot is big enough for all grain, 8 gallons cuts it way close for 5 gallon batches... too close for me

 

[wi_brewer]

Putting too much thought into it and thinking it will be much more difficult than extract.

 

[USAF_CAVEMAN]

+1 one on the thermometer. Spend the money and get a good one because it will save you in the end. There is nothing worse than having an inaccurate thermometer that leaves you wondering whether your mash is at the correct temp or when you should pitch your yeast.

 

[aaronanddelania]

Thanks for the tips. I think our thermometer is up to snuff but our pot may not be large enough. Only time will tell.

 

[TechyDork]

I would say don't try to do too many things at once right away. I would focus on getting the process down for your first couple of brews and then slowly start working on getting things dialed in, like water chemistry, temp control, and volumes. It can be as complicated or as simple of a process as you want to make it.

 

[doby]

I agree with Techy,start simple, take good notes especially water volumes and temps till you get those down. It helped me to do the same simple brew a few times till I learned all the little things as I watched by efficency and beer improve

 

[Cposten]

Sanitation. Sanitation. Sanitation. Nothing worse than going through the process and having it ruined due to bacteria. Also thermometer. And having fun, dont let it become a job, enjoy it.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Home Brew mobile app

 

[schematix]

#1 Thermometer - get a digital probe thermometer with a long probe. I highly recommend the ThermoWorks RT610B-24.

#2 Mash Volumes - it's easy to fill up a tun. Buy a 10G circular style to start (cheap, easy and effective). Spend the money on a real false bottom. Forget trying to rig pipes or mesh tubes.

#3 Take good notes.

#4 Experiment a little each time. You have more flexibility to create something unique now.

#5 Money. You will need lots of it when you start to scale up!

 

[jimyson]

My first mistake was during sparging. I sparged with the amount of water that BS told me to use. My pre-boil volume was short and instead of checking the gravity of the runnings and the wort, I went and topped my BK of directly with water instead of running through the grain as I very likely still had plenty of sugars left. Obviously my OG was way low and the beer ended up being a 3.8% ABV Porter. Session? I think not.

 

[alphagolf]

Not really a mistake but a tip...have some DME on hand. Inevitably something will happen and you don't hit your target OG (mash temp, preboil volume, efficiency, etc). Just plan to make an adjustment with DME, crack a beer and enjoy the day and you will have a great time.

For my first all grain batch my preboil gravity was way low so I added all the DME I had on hand to salvage the batch. I didn't get all the way to my target OG but it was close enough to complete the planned recipe. Still don't know if my low efficiency was due to crush or mash pH but I narrowed it down to these two. During the brew my mind was racing trying to figure out what went wrong. Wish I had someone to tell me just collect all the necessary data, make the sugar adjustment as required and enjoy the day (figure out what went wrong later).

alpha

 

[RM-MN]

Thanks for the tips. I think our thermometer is up to snuff but our pot may not be large enough. Only time will tell.

So tell us, how large is the pot you have? I brew all grain in a 5 gallon pot...but I brew 2 1/2 gallon batches then. If I want to have a 5 gallon batch I can do it in a 7 1/2 gallon but it is tight for room. I really have to watch so it doesn't boil over at hot break and I have to be careful with the heat so I don't boil off too much and end up with less than 5 gallons.

 

[beertroll]

On my first all grain batch, I added the grain to my tun first, and then added the water on top of it. I plugged my false bottom up completely. My attempts to fix it just made things worse. In the end, I had a 10 hour brew day, with a small amount of very low gravity wort. Not a great start.

 

[aaronanddelania]

So tell us, how large is the pot you have? I brew all grain in a 5 gallon pot...but I brew 2 1/2 gallon batches then. If I want to have a 5 gallon batch I can do it in a 7 1/2 gallon but it is tight for room. I really have to watch so it doesn't boil over at hot break and I have to be careful with the heat so I don't boil off too much and end up with less than 5 gallons.

It's a 7 gallon. We're going to give the first brew a shot this weekend but I have a feeling we'll need to upgrade.

 

[BigFloyd]

Test your thermometer(s) in advance of brewing AG, both in ice water and boiling water. The floater I first used when doing the mash tun thing was a whopping 7*F off.

 

[MaxStout]

Not learning about water and pH. I just used the same bottled water I had used on previous extract batches and I ended up with a very astringent beer.

 

[Bobby_M]

The easiest mistake to make is trying to fight the mash temp battle upwards... If you're using a cooler, put the strike water in there way way hotter than you think it needs to be. Give it time to come down before you put the grain in. Then when you stir the grain in, don't panic that it's too hot until it has a few minutes to equalize. Then if it's still too hot, add a little cold water and stir or just keep stirring with the lid open. Adding heat is way harder.

 

[runkelia]

My first AG brews were all about hitting my temperatures. Take notes on what temp. water you pre heat your tun with, take notes on how much heat loss there was in the cooler, having a digital probe thermometer helps. Get yourself a calculator for your water temperatures. I made a measuring dowel to determine how much your first runnings yield, and how much sparge water you need. Stay consistent in your process, otherwise it will take longer to figure out why you are not hitting your temperatures.

 

[HopZombie99]

Good thread. I just did my first all grain BIAB. I think I really suffered with wort extraction from the bag. I wasn't used to having so much grist in there and could hold the bag up and squeeze it at the same time. I believe I will have to sort out some sort of a pulley mechanism so I can squeeze with two hands while its suspended. I think this is why I was off on my OG. I couldn't get the wort out of the bag. It was still really wet (dripping) when I was cleaning it out. Disappointing.

I also really screwed up the volume going into the boil kettle. My mash was way, way to thick. I ended up adding 3 litres to the mash from my tea kettle. Having such a low mash volume meant that I was supposed to sparge with 20 litres.... That seemed crazy to me as it was supposed to be a 35 litre boil. I ended up with way too boil volume and topped up with about 9 litres post boil. Not what I was looking for.... Good learning experience tho.

 

[K5MOW]

Putting too much thought into it and thinking it will be much more difficult than extract.

Yes this one is me.

Roger

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

The easiest mistake to make is trying to fight the mash temp battle upwards... If you're using a cooler, put the strike water in there way way hotter than you think it needs to be. Give it time to come down before you put the grain in. Then when you stir the grain in, don't panic that it's too hot until it has a few minutes to equalize. Then if it's still too hot, add a little cold water and stir or just keep stirring with the lid open. Adding heat is way harder.

I've had pretty good luck with this (http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml) calculator. I'm usually able to get my mash within a few degrees using this. Also handy for calculating mash volumes.

The biggest thing for me was grossly underestimating how much time it would take to get a batch going. My first BIAB was started around 6-7 and I didn't get finished until about 3am (now a proud early morning brewer ). The moral of the story is have everything possible already measured out so you're not planning as you're prepping. You can get an extract batch done in a few hours...all grain is much more time consuming.
I've got it to the point now where the most time consuming thing I need to do is heat my strike water.

 

[jimyson]

Not really a mistake but a tip...have some DME on hand. Inevitably something will happen and you don't hit your target OG (mash temp, preboil volume, efficiency, etc). Just plan to make an adjustment with DME, crack a beer and enjoy the day and you will have a great time.

For my first all grain batch my preboil gravity was way low so I added all the DME I had on hand to salvage the batch. I didn't get all the way to my target OG but it was close enough to complete the planned recipe. Still don't know if my low efficiency was due to crush or mash pH but I narrowed it down to these two. During the brew my mind was racing trying to figure out what went wrong. Wish I had someone to tell me just collect all the necessary data, make the sugar adjustment as required and enjoy the day (figure out what went wrong later).

alpha

Great tip! Too bad I didn't pull it out as I had some on the shelf that I use for starters. Lessons learned, that's what it's all about.

 

[RM-MN]

I've had pretty good luck with this (http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml) calculator. I'm usually able to get my mash within a few degrees using this. Also handy for calculating mash volumes.

The biggest thing for me was grossly underestimating how much time it would take to get a batch going. My first BIAB was started around 6-7 and I didn't get finished until about 3am (now a proud early morning brewer ). The moral of the story is have everything possible already measured out so you're not planning as you're prepping. You can get an extract batch done in a few hours...all grain is much more time consuming.
I've got it to the point now where the most time consuming thing I need to do is heat my strike water.

I've learned techniques and improved my efficiency to the point that an all grain batch takes about the same amount of time that an extract batch. It can be done.

 

[BeerGrylls]

I've been in the habit of organization. I have a big "brew day" Rubbermaid bin that has all of my essentials so I'm not running around gathering supplies. I wrote myself a process sheet with instructions for myself so I don't forget anything. Notebook to take notes for future batches. Been crushing my grains the night before, and have my burner and hlt ready to rock so I can start the flame as soon as I wake up. Wash things as you go. By the end of the day i have nearly no clean-up left. That way, my brew day is simple, easy, and as stress-free as possible.

 

[billl]

The biggest mistake - panicking. Lots of people have one little thing go slightly off and then go nuts trying to adjust and compensate. That rarely ends well. eg if you miscalculate volumes and end up a gallon short, who cares? Just ferment a 4 gallon batch. It's not the end of the world. Just take good notes so that you can sit down later and figure out where you messed up.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

I've learned techniques and improved my efficiency to the point that an all grain batch takes about the same amount of time that an extract batch. It can be done.

That sounds like heaven. All else being equal, how can you get the mash+boil time for all grain to equal the boil time for an extract batch?

 

[Corey_SS]

The mistake I made for the first couple AG brews was not stirring enough. I was batch sparging but I wasn't stirring nearly enough, and hurting my efficiency.

 

[BeerGrylls]

I've learned techniques and improved my efficiency to the point that an all grain batch takes about the same amount of time that an extract batch. It can be done.

Teach us please!

 

[RM-MN]

That sounds like heaven. All else being equal, how can you get the mash+boil time for all grain to equal the boil time for an extract batch?

If you are doing extract with steeping grains, you steep for half an hour (kit directions, YMMV). I do BIAB, mill the grains really fine for that and have full conversion in less than half an hour. Now the two times are pretty much equal. While one person is stirring in extract, I'm squeezing the wort out of the bag and sparging. I'm milling my grains while the water it heating so I don't have to wait for that step either.

 

[aaronanddelania]

Thanks so much for all the tips. You guys are great.

 

[doby]

Good thread. I just did my first all grain BIAB. I think I really suffered with wort extraction from the bag. I wasn't used to having so much grist in there and could hold the bag up and squeeze it at the same time. I believe I will have to sort out some sort of a pulley mechanism so I can squeeze with two hands while its suspended. I think this is why I was off on my OG. I couldn't get the wort out of the bag. It was still really wet (dripping) when I was cleaning it out. Disappointing.

I also really screwed up the volume going into the boil kettle. My mash was way, way to thick. I ended up adding 3 litres to the mash from my tea kettle. Having such a low mash volume meant that I was supposed to sparge with 20 litres.... That seemed crazy to me as it was supposed to be a 35 litre boil. I ended up with way too boil volume and topped up with about 9 litres post boil. Not what I was looking for.... Good learning experience tho.

IMHO if you have to go to the trouble of rigging a pulley system you may as well batch sparge, the equipment with a little planing cost very little, plus with the exception of heating water quickly and the boil can be done in your kitchen

 

[doby]

I've learned techniques and improved my efficiency to the point that an all grain batch takes about the same amount of time that an extract batch. It can be done.

I agree! my first all grain took 6 hours but with experiance I got it down to 4 hours 10 min, when I brew with extract I always do mini mash and that takes 3 hours 50 min

 

[fartinmartin]

I bottled today two batches, first batch 40 - 500ml bottles nice smooth operation. Then batch two just a small brew 12 - 250ml bottles all smooth, then after capping the last one realised I hadn't primed the second batch, so had to individual prime and recap, what a PITA !

 

[alphagolf]

Nice work fartinmartin. I once racked to my bottling bucket without prepping my priming solution but I caught it before getting the bottles filled. I feel your pain though

 

[ACarver]

Make sure all valves are closed!!!

Luckily never happened to me, but had a friend the other day lose most of his first runnings when draining to kettle from his mashtun. I finally caught it and after sparging only had about half his estimated pre-boil wort.

Next lesson has already been discussed previously in the thread. Don't worry so much. We just laughed it off, added some more water and threw in a pound of DME. Still a little low in gravity, but will make a nice session ale.

Welcome to all-grain!

 

[aaronanddelania]

Aaron made the yeast starter yesterday. We're brewing on Sunday. It seems to be a very basic recipe for all grain so fingers are crossed. Since we alternate brewing a beer for me and brewing one for him, I'm really hoping this turns out as this one is for me. Midas touch.

 

[chikincoop]

on your first try, you will most likely not hit your OG, so go with something that doesnt have a billion IBU's, or it could end up tasting like a weird salad. This is assuming adding DME to offset wont happen with everything going on.

 

[brewpool]

Reading and arithmetic in my case. Brewed my first all grain batch, an American Wheat, yesterday. I had to add extra water to the mash to raise the temp and figured I'd just subtract the extra from my sparge volume. Except I misread my sparge volume as 6 gallons not the 5 it should have been so I sparged with an extra gallon of water, dropping my gravity 10 points. D'oh. Lesson learned for next time I suppose. :smack:

 

[ReverendJ]

Pre-heat the mash tun, first time I did an all-grain my temp was off by over 10F because I didn't factor in the cold tun when adding the hot water to the grain.