Normal absorption rate is about .12 gal./lb. That would mean just over a gal. for your 9 lb. of grain.
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Normal absorption rate is about .12 gal./lb. That would mean just over a gal. for your 9 lb. of grain.
I hope this isn't insulting, but you did say you were in a rush on brew day... The recommended amount of water for mashing is often given in quarts, and the recommended amount of water for sparging is often given in gallons. Is there any chance you gathered quarts instead of gallons for sparging?
OP
OP
How much dead space do you have in your mashtun and kettle? 10 gallons of total water seems way too much for 9 pounds of grain.
brhenrio
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No offense taken, I have made that error before. I had two full five gallon water jugs. I mashed in with way too much water because I couldn't get my pump to shut off and topped off my sparge water with my remaining two gallons in jugs. I had reserved 7 gallons for mashing and sparging. Estimated about 2 gallons for mashing, got 5 before I could get pump to shut off, and roughly 5 for sparging. I had a couple spills, was using a 15 gallon kettle so there is a little more loss than I was expecting too.
All told in the end, I was trying to sneak in a brew day and the misses wanted my help with other stuff, notably the 2.5 month old brewers assistant. So lots of shortcuts and some spills and some hiccups is where my water went.
I completely hear that. My second assistant is 1 month old. My wife really would have preferred I not brew the Saturday before Easter.
My first assistant is five, though. And as she insisted and demonstrated yesterday, that means she can fill bottles with one hand. These smart-ass assistants these days. smh
Lesson's learned on my 2nd AG brew
1. Heating the mash tun and the sparge coolers really helps maintain H2O heat targets. Using boiling water really get them hot!
2. Focus! Several steps last more than an hour. - I walked away from my sparging and lost 1/2 gallon of beautiful wort to the driveway b/c my container overflowed.
3. Stuck Sparge - be ready for this event! My sparge got blocked. Simply use another bucket with a spigot. Add about a gallon of 170 degree water. Place bucket above your mash tun then open both spigots forcing water back into the mash tun. This cleared my block, and I only used about a quart of water.
4. When checking gravity of any of your brew liquid you must adjust the reading for the temperature of your liquid. There are many online calculators. Most hydrometers are calibrated at 60 degrees F.
5. Never ever panic, you can recover from most mistakes/accidents.
After overflowing my wort onto the drive way and before adding my 6th gallon of wort to the boil pot I checked the wort original gravity. It was 1.046 and my target was 1.043. I added the 6th gallon and my OG was then right at my target 1.043. Had I not spilled the wort, I would have used the pre-boil volume calculated by BeerSmith. I planned on a 5.75 gallons going into the fermentor, and only got 5. No sweat - it should be great beer.
1. Heating the mash tun and the sparge coolers really helps maintain H2O heat targets. Using boiling water really get them hot!
2. Focus! Several steps last more than an hour. - I walked away from my sparging and lost 1/2 gallon of beautiful wort to the driveway b/c my container overflowed.
3. Stuck Sparge - be ready for this event! My sparge got blocked. Simply use another bucket with a spigot. Add about a gallon of 170 degree water. Place bucket above your mash tun then open both spigots forcing water back into the mash tun. This cleared my block, and I only used about a quart of water.
4. When checking gravity of any of your brew liquid you must adjust the reading for the temperature of your liquid. There are many online calculators. Most hydrometers are calibrated at 60 degrees F.
5. Never ever panic, you can recover from most mistakes/accidents.
After overflowing my wort onto the drive way and before adding my 6th gallon of wort to the boil pot I checked the wort original gravity. It was 1.046 and my target was 1.043. I added the 6th gallon and my OG was then right at my target 1.043. Had I not spilled the wort, I would have used the pre-boil volume calculated by BeerSmith. I planned on a 5.75 gallons going into the fermentor, and only got 5. No sweat - it should be great beer.
1. I'm too lazy for that. I took 2-3 brews to figure out how much hotter to make my strike water so I don't have to preheat. Saves time and energy
2. yeah, that's tough. How about a bigger container?
3. depends on your lauter system. In 497 batches I have never had a stuck runoff.
4. you can use my Cheap'n'Easy hydrometer reading/cooling method...[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujUnEZ6GZEI[/ame]
5. ABSOFREEKINLUTELY!
And I'll add take good notes..if the beer is incredible you want to remember what you did so you can do it again. If the beer sucks, you want to make sure you NEVER do that again!
2. yeah, that's tough. How about a bigger container?
3. depends on your lauter system. In 497 batches I have never had a stuck runoff.
4. you can use my Cheap'n'Easy hydrometer reading/cooling method...[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujUnEZ6GZEI[/ame]
5. ABSOFREEKINLUTELY!
And I'll add take good notes..if the beer is incredible you want to remember what you did so you can do it again. If the beer sucks, you want to make sure you NEVER do that again!
Bmore2Eazy
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Question, new to all grain brewing, wanted to know if using a strainer bag in my mash tun cooler would effect my brew in anyway? Thought it would be easier for clean up.
Several people use one in lieu of a false bottom. I've seen people claim they use both. It shouldn't hurt anything.
Bmore2Eazy
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Thanks, coolers just came in today, waiting on bigger brew kettle before I do my first all grain. Was worried about the efficiency, but may take the hit just for easier clean-up, as long as it is not that significant.
You might want to pop into the BIAB portion of the forum. If you have plans for recirc or anything of that sort, then people have a few different ways they address that. But, on the most basic level, it should be fine.
LiterallyTheWorst
Member
Thanks for the advice. As a new All Grain Brewer, I decided to be pretty cautious and do my math the day prior. I used 6.5 gallons for the 5 gallon mash. I sparged with about 2 liters, and boiled it down to 5 gallons, but I was still short on my OG. Can you help me out? I can go into more detail if you like.
LiterallyTheWorst
Member
Okay, so I bought pre-milled grains from homebrewsupply.com, as part of a Weizenbock recipe, totalling as follows:
8 lb pale malt
2.5 lb pilsner malt
1 lb caramunich type 3
1/2 lb melanoiden
1/2 lb special B
1/2 lb rice hulls
1/8 lb carafa special type 1
That's about 13 lb, to save you the trouble of maths.
I malted at about 156-158 for nearly three hours. the gravity readings went up very slowly. I used a refractometer and cooled the sample before reading, to ensure accuracy. At 60 minutes, I was only at 25 GU, at 2 hours: 50, at 3: 60ish. After the boil and hops additions, we made it to 65.
the goal for OG was 73, so I fell short by a bit. I'm more perplexed as to why it took so long to extract the sugars during the mash. Surely it's not supposed to take 3 hours to reach gravity.
I believe the recipe plans for about 70% efficiency. I'm new so I haven't had the chance to put together an accurate measure of my own setup's efficiency.
Any suggestions and/ or comments would be appreciated!
8 lb pale malt
2.5 lb pilsner malt
1 lb caramunich type 3
1/2 lb melanoiden
1/2 lb special B
1/2 lb rice hulls
1/8 lb carafa special type 1
That's about 13 lb, to save you the trouble of maths.
I malted at about 156-158 for nearly three hours. the gravity readings went up very slowly. I used a refractometer and cooled the sample before reading, to ensure accuracy. At 60 minutes, I was only at 25 GU, at 2 hours: 50, at 3: 60ish. After the boil and hops additions, we made it to 65.
the goal for OG was 73, so I fell short by a bit. I'm more perplexed as to why it took so long to extract the sugars during the mash. Surely it's not supposed to take 3 hours to reach gravity.
I believe the recipe plans for about 70% efficiency. I'm new so I haven't had the chance to put together an accurate measure of my own setup's efficiency.
Any suggestions and/ or comments would be appreciated!
LiterallyTheWorst
Member
Sorry about the second message. My setup is a 10 gallon cooler mash tun, with a Bayou burner and kettle for heating the liquor and for the boil.
Your mash temperature is on the high end of the range, but is still in somewhat normal ranges.
Could be grain crush contributing to your issues, but may be other things.
Did you sparge at all?
How much water did you start with? If you sparged, how much water for that? Initial boil volume? Final boil volume?
Could be grain crush contributing to your issues, but may be other things.
Did you sparge at all?
How much water did you start with? If you sparged, how much water for that? Initial boil volume? Final boil volume?
The crush was likely the issue. A new home brew shop opened about 8 miles from me vs the 35 miles to the other. I have always had my grain crushed at the LHBS. I did not think the "crush" was good at the new store and it was not. The next time I went to the new store, I ask for a finer "crush" as the last one was not good. He asked me what "crush" I wanted. I have been brewing for years but never did the grain mill thing. I had no idea. Tried to see if it "looked" right. It was not. I have gone back to my Homebrew Headquaterers LHBS as they know how to crush. Twice burnt with low OG from the new store. I suspect that the crush was the issue.
LiterallyTheWorst
Member
So I'm not sure about the grain crush used. It did seem a little on the coarse side, not as fine as I'd seen before. Like I said, the grain bill was milled and sent out as a kit. I've never done kits before this, so I think I'll go back to my old brew supply company, as I had trouble with the OG on my last batch from this place too.
I started with 6.5 gallons, heated to ~170, pouring into the cooler mash tun brought it down to about 156. Retrieved maybe 5.25 gal from the mash, sparged with 2 L. So initial boil volume was almost 6 gallons, final was right at 5 gal.
You mentioned mash temp. I understand the upper limit, but would wheat based beers mash better at lower temps? Not sure if the type of grain has a large effect on temperature sensitivity.
I started with 6.5 gallons, heated to ~170, pouring into the cooler mash tun brought it down to about 156. Retrieved maybe 5.25 gal from the mash, sparged with 2 L. So initial boil volume was almost 6 gallons, final was right at 5 gal.
You mentioned mash temp. I understand the upper limit, but would wheat based beers mash better at lower temps? Not sure if the type of grain has a large effect on temperature sensitivity.
JusticeBrewers
Member
Hello.
So I'm brewing my second AG beer (maple porter). I remember that with my first batch I ended up getting a lot of sediment when I bottled.
Any advice on how to eliminate/minimize the sediment in this batch?
So I'm brewing my second AG beer (maple porter). I remember that with my first batch I ended up getting a lot of sediment when I bottled.
Any advice on how to eliminate/minimize the sediment in this batch?
Did the sediment carry over from the fermenter or did it form after bottling?
JusticeBrewers
Member
I think it came from the fermenter when I was siphoning. I did my best not to get near the bottom where it was but I didn't want to waste too much beer.
Getting rid of sediment is the only reason I rack to a secondary fermentation. Did you use a secondary in this case?
JusticeBrewers
Member
No I did not but that sounds like a really good idea. How exactly would that work? any specific time period i should keep it in the first fermenter before i move it?
ncbrewer
Well-Known Member
Transferring to secondary isn't as common as it was in the past. I see it as an opportunity for contamination or oxidation. These two BYO articles discuss when to transfer if you choose to:
http://byo.com/stories/issue/item/2966-dextrin-malts-mr-wizard
http://byo.com/stories/article/indices/19-brewing-tips/1389-secondary-ferments-a-chilling-mr-wizard
If you leave it in primary long enough, a secondary is unnecessary.
JusticeBrewers
Member
thank you for the article. some good info in there. Since one of the big worries is oxidation, what if i were to pitch yeast again in the secondary fermenter since yeast feeds on the oxygen and maybe even add more sugars. would this possibly help? also would that add to the abv? (keep in mind I'm new at this. So i'm just making guesses. so if this sounds like a dumb idea or is not how this works at all... please be gentle)
If you're interested, here's what Palmer had to say about seciondary...https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=15108.msg191642#msg191642
"Therefore I, and Jamil and White Labs and Wyeast Labs, do not recommend racking to a secondary fermenter for ANY ale, except when conducting an actual second fermentation, such as adding fruit or souring. Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary, and therefore the risk of oxidation is completely avoidable. Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering. With the right pitching rate, using fresh healthy yeast, and proper aeration of the wort prior to pitching, the fermentation of the beer will be complete within 3-8 days (bigger = longer). This time period includes the secondary or conditioning phase of fermentation when the yeast clean up acetaldehyde and diacetyl."
"Therefore I, and Jamil and White Labs and Wyeast Labs, do not recommend racking to a secondary fermenter for ANY ale, except when conducting an actual second fermentation, such as adding fruit or souring. Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary, and therefore the risk of oxidation is completely avoidable. Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering. With the right pitching rate, using fresh healthy yeast, and proper aeration of the wort prior to pitching, the fermentation of the beer will be complete within 3-8 days (bigger = longer). This time period includes the secondary or conditioning phase of fermentation when the yeast clean up acetaldehyde and diacetyl."
If you keep it in the primary until the yeast is finished eating the sugar and then cleaning itself up that's how long you should keep it in the primary. You will have clear beer w/o a secondary and w/o cold crashing. Have your pipeline full at all stages and you will not be in a hurry to taste your latest brew. I let all beers go at least 3 weeks and usually 4 weeks and I have crystal clear beer all the time.
As you can see my pipeline is not running all that well but that's because a local store here keeps selling "dated" craft beer at prices less than I can brew. Now they have Sam Adams Oktoberfest on sale for $5.99 a 12 pack.
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@JusticeBrewers, you will get sediment if you bottle, that's the nature of things. You have plenty of yeast in suspension when you bottle, even crystal clear beer. Bottling typically means adding priming sugar for the yeast still in suspension to eat and create the carbonation in the bottle, and when they are done they will drop out to the bottom of the bottle with some proteins and then you'll have bottle sediment.
OP
OP
Call me crazy but hasn't this thread gotten way 
???
???
If you keep it in the primary until the yeast is finished eating the sugar and then cleaning itself up that's how long you should keep it in the primary. You will have clear beer w/o a secondary and w/o cold crashing. Have your pipeline full at all stages and you will not be in a hurry to taste your latest brew. I let all beers go at least 3 weeks and usually 4 weeks and I have crystal clear beer all the time.
As you can see my pipeline is not running all that well but that's because a local store here keeps selling "dated" craft beer at prices less than I can brew. Now they have Sam Adams Oktoberfest on sale for $5.99 a 12 pack.
FWIW, the cleanup happens simultaneously with fermentation, not after it's done.
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Call me crazy but hasn't this thread gotten way
True. Sorry.
Great info! Thank you everyone for taking the time to school us newbies. I've never brewed before with the exception of helping a buddy with an AG a while back. I'll be attempting my first brew Thursday. I'm starting out with an AG witbier. Hope it turns out good! 🍻
BremBeer
Member
This is good stuff. I recently dived into all Grain. Lucky my father in law supervised my first one but my second one, o didn't calculate the sparge correctly and turned a five gallon batch into three. Luckily the beer still turned out decently
Bruinsfan
New Member
I'm making the jump to AG, most, if not all my brews will have a 10-12lb grain bill, is a 5 gal cooler tun large enough, or should i just go with the 10 gal to allow for some head space/flexibility with the amount of strike water? I have done a few searches and didn't really find anything
First, it you're thinking of getting a round cooler, let me encourage you to rethink that. A rectangular cooler will get you more for your money, and you can batch sparge and save yourself time and hassle. Second, if you're really set on a round cooler, get the 10 gal.
burninator
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Denny, I'm curious about this. I batch sparge in a round 10 gallon cooler. Is there something about this that's inherently less effective?
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