Brew Day-1st All Grain

[Creston24]

Well I guess my draft post didn't take on Thursday, which was my actual brew day, so Ill post again.

I took Thurs off from work to do my first all grain brew, using a Rogue Oatmeal Stout recipe, that my Local Brew Shop helped me pull from BeerSmith. We altered the grain bit just a tad, and I altered the hop time, and I plan to make some variances in a secondary, to make this my beer my own.

9.625 lbs Pale Malt (Row2) US (2.0 SRM)
1.625 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 120L (120.0 SRM)
1.625 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
1.438 lbs Oats, flaked (1.0SRM)
2.3 Oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
3.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) 60 min boil
1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) 20 min boil

Mash Profile
Strike Water:5.5 gal
Strike Temp: 170.0 F
Mash Temp: 152.0
Steep Time: 62 Minutes

Sparge: Fly Sparge <*Edit...not a FLY sparge, just a regular sparge I guess>with 2.5 gal at 170F
Measured Orig Gravity: 1.070SG

I plan to rack into secondary and may add a few coffee beans into secondary. When I tasted while measuring OG, I could definitely taste the chocolate, and a very light coffee hint.

So for process I used a BIAB process, on the maiden voyage of the new propane turkey fryer I just purchased. The only real issue I encountered was removing the grain bag from steeping in kettle, was a bit messy as I tried to move it into another vessel before letting it drain completely. I will adjust my process to account for this next time. I found that hitting a perfect setting on the propane gauge to maintain a boil, without boil over was tricky, but got it eventually.

The next 'issue' i ran into was cooling. Not that it was an issue as much as I used an ice bath and constant circulating water, so it cooled fairly quickly. My problem, was that my thermometer dropped to about 85 then stayed there. It took me a while to realize that the thermometer just really didn't drop any further than that, even though it marks down to 50. So I took a bit of a gamble on pitching temp, but fairly certain it was around 70F. Not to self, but a new thermometer, and wort chiller.

Next was siphoning into the 6 gal primary. I ended up with about 5.25 gal of wort, which was right on schedule for what I was planning for. I pitched my WLP002 English Ale Yeast and put the fermenter in a plastic tote with cool water/towel wrapped and box fan blowing on it. Again, need a thermometer that will get a lower temp reading. Also dropped 12oz bottle of frozen water into the 'swamp cooler'. I also need a thermometer I can use for measuring the interior wort temp. That research is ongoing, and i see several options.

It took right at 24 hrs to see bubbling in the valve, but when it started, it started pretty impressively. In fact, I had looked at it 20 minutes earlier and didn't see any activity and was starting to worry. Fast forward 20 minutes and I happened to be doing something else in the room and my son walked in and said "wow!", pointing to the bubbling. SCORE! It has been going pretty steady for about 15 hours now, and seems like everything is on track. I replace the ice bottle about every 12 hours. Ambient temp in the room is about 70-77f. The cool water seem about low 60F. Ill pick up a better thermometer today so I can measure the water temp in the swamp cooler.

I know my process is a little 'less-scientific' than some brewers like, but I am doing this on a budget. I will get additional equipment as I go along, but for now everything seems to be going well. I'll update this as I go.

 

[doug293cz]

Sounds like you're off to a good start.

Brew on

 

[specharka]

Well I guess my draft post didn't take on Thursday, which was my actual brew day, so Ill post again.



I took Thurs off from work to do my first all grain brew, using a Rogue Oatmeal Stout recipe, that my Local Brew Shop helped me pull from BeerSmith. We altered the grain bit just a tad, and I altered the hop time, and I plan to make some variances in a secondary, to make this my beer my own.



9.625 lbs Pale Malt (Row2) US (2.0 SRM)

1.625 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 120L (120.0 SRM)

1.625 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)

1.438 lbs Oats, flaked (1.0SRM)

2.3 Oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)

3.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) 60 min boil

1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) 20 min boil



Mash Profile

Strike Water:5.5 gal

Strike Temp: 170.0 F

Mash Temp: 152.0

Steep Time: 62 Minutes



Sparge: Fly Sparge with 2.5 gal at 170F

Measured Orig Gravity: 1.070SG



I plan to rack into secondary and may add a few coffee beans into secondary. When I tasted while measuring OG, I could definitely taste the chocolate, and a very light coffee hint.



So for process I used a BIAB process, on the maiden voyage of the new propane turkey fryer I just purchased. The only real issue I encountered was removing the grain bag from steeping in kettle, was a bit messy as I tried to move it into another vessel before letting it drain completely. I will adjust my process to account for this next time. I found that hitting a perfect setting on the propane gauge to maintain a boil, without boil over was tricky, but got it eventually.



The next 'issue' i ran into was cooling. Not that it was an issue as much as I used an ice bath and constant circulating water, so it cooled fairly quickly. My problem, was that my thermometer dropped to about 85 then stayed there. It took me a while to realize that the thermometer just really didn't drop any further than that, even though it marks down to 50. So I took a bit of a gamble on pitching temp, but fairly certain it was around 70F. Not to self, but a new thermometer, and wort chiller.



Next was siphoning into the 6 gal primary. I ended up with about 5.25 gal of wort, which was right on schedule for what I was planning for. I pitched my WLP002 English Ale Yeast and put the fermenter in a plastic tote with cool water/towel wrapped and box fan blowing on it. Again, need a thermometer that will get a lower temp reading. Also dropped 12oz bottle of frozen water into the 'swamp cooler'. I also need a thermometer I can use for measuring the interior wort temp. That research is ongoing, and i see several options.



It took right at 24 hrs to see bubbling in the valve, but when it started, it started pretty impressively. In fact, I had looked at it 20 minutes earlier and didn't see any activity and was starting to worry. Fast forward 20 minutes and I happened to be doing something else in the room and my son walked in and said "wow!", pointing to the bubbling. SCORE! It has been going pretty steady for about 15 hours now, and seems like everything is on track. I replace the ice bottle about every 12 hours. Ambient temp in the room is about 70-77f. The cool water seem about low 60F. Ill pick up a better thermometer today so I can measure the water temp in the swamp cooler.



I know my process is a little 'less-scientific' than some brewers like, but I am doing this on a budget. I will get additional equipment as I go along, but for now everything seems to be going well. I'll update this as I go.

Looking good so far!

Typically fly sparging isn't associated with BIAB. Although rinsing the grains is considered sparging, fly sparging refers to a very specific technique of rinsing the grain bed continuously to impart a gradient in the mash density and improve extraction efficiency.

I will say your thermometer is probably correct -- once wort gets below 85F it becomes quite the challenge to cool it without some forced convection (immersion or plate chiller). This becomes somewhat of an issue as you really don't want to pitch yeast to wort above 70F.

Another thing to consider is that fermenting beer can be a few degrees higher than the surrounding water. While that may not make an appreciable difference to your beer, it becomes extremely important when brewing lagers and big beers, which are susceptible to temperature deviation. Proper fermentation temperature control is one of the most important elements to brewing good beer.

 

[Creston24]

Agreed about temp.....but seems like everything is going well and i am keeping my swamp cooler water pretty cool and ambiet temp is 73 so, i am getting pretty confident about things so far. Gona pick up an appropriate themometer so i can check the current wort temp.

 

[Firewalker11]

Sounds yummy! Looks good to me.

 

[Creston24]

Thanks for the encouragement. Three days in and fermentation seems to be constant. Hope it turns out well.

 

[berheidebrau]

Sounds like you're doing great! You'll be amazed how next batch things will seem easier yet you'll run into new "snags"...

 

[Creston24]

So i am using the 'homemade swamp cooler' with ice bottles to keep my fermenter at 64-68F. My ambient room tem has been 67 at night to 75 during the day. I had to get a new thermometer because the one i cooked with wasn't working for the lower temps. I checked the water temp in the swamp cooler and it was about 55-58F. The ice bottles were dropping the temp to low. I may put once in there in the morning before I go to work in the morning, to keep it cool during the day. But i am finding it a bit difficult to syay in the 64-68 range that WLP002 yeast calls for.

 

[Firewalker11]

Thanks for the encouragement. Three days in and fermentation seems to be constant. Hope it turns out well.

Just remember this saying: The worse case scenario, you will make beer. Good luck, good job and may you have good beer!

 

[Creston24]

Thanks for the comments. 5 days in and airlock has slowed considerably, but things still at work. Thurs will be one week and i will start pulling readings to see if gavity has settled out. Still debating on racking into a secondary and adding a few coffee beens. That is going to be taste dependant. If i like the taste...may just rack to secondary and let it set up for another week before bottling.

 

[grassfeeder]

I know there are no issues with racking to a secondary and I used to almost religiously but maybe just try keeping it in the primary? I just did for the first time and I think I got every bit I would have w/o the risk of transfer.

 

[Creston24]

So....my initial gravity reading was 1.070. After 7 days in fermentation i am at 1.020 to 1.022. When i took my sample i also checked the temp and it was a bit lower than i thought it would be. 58F. 6 degrees below where i should be. I hope i didnt kill my yeast/beer. Its so hard to minor adjust temp using the DIY swamp cooler treatment. I am going to try ajust my fan distance to fermenter and fan speed. I hope this may help kick start a bit more fermentation. I was really hoping to get down to about 1.015 or .010.

 

[doug293cz]

So....my initial gravity reading was 1.070. After 7 days in fermentation i am at 1.020 to 1.022. When i took my sample i also checked the temp and it was a bit lower than i thought it would be. 58F. 6 degrees below where i should be. I hope i didnt kill my yeast/beer. Its so hard to minor adjust temp using the DIY swamp cooler treatment. I am going to try ajust my fan distance to fermenter and fan speed. I hope this may help kick start a bit more fermentation. I was really hoping to get down to about 1.015 or .010.

At this point in the fermentation, you can stop worrying about temperature control, and let the beer warm to room temp. You normally can safely stop active temp control when you have reached 50% of your expected attenuation, and not have to worry about off flavors.

Brew on

 

[Creston24]

At this point in the fermentation, you can stop worrying about temperature control, and let the beer warm to room temp. You normally can safely stop active temp control when you have reached 50% of your expected attenuation, and not have to worry about off flavors.

Brew on

Really? I never ready that anywhere. Please bont think thats sarcasm or anything. Ive just never heard that. It just seems counterintuitive. As long as yeast is working I would think temp would affect it.

I will say that since i 'shook the fermentor up a bit yesterday, that has been activity in the airlock. I figured at first it was just the airation escaping, but now like 12 hours later and still geting some gurgling make me thing there is still some fermentation going on.

Second check on gravity later this afternoon.

 

[Creston24]

So...at day 8 gravity was actually .025. Didnt get to check at day 9 but day ten gravity check, down to .022. So obviously still some activity going on. I think next pay day i am going to get a refractometer. I feel like hydrometer is just not as precise. Anyways, going to give it another day or so to see if my readings settle out, then rack a seconday with some coffee, to try and balance out some of the chocolate taste i have right now.

 

[doug293cz]

So...at day 8 gravity was actually .025. Didnt get to check at day 9 but day ten gravity check, down to .022. So obviously still some activity going on. I think next pay day i am going to get a refractometer. I feel like hydrometer is just not as precise. Anyways, going to give it another day or so to see if my readings settle out, then rack a seconday with some coffee, to try and balance out some of the chocolate taste i have right now.

Be aware (if you aren't already) that refractometer readings need to be corrected for the presence of alcohol once fermentation has begun. I recommend using the spreadsheet found here: http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refractometer-calculator/. Also, after fermentation the consensus around here seems to be that refractometers are less accurate than hydrometer. However, I use a refract for all my measurements (except calibrations.)

Brew on

 

[Creston24]

Be aware (if you aren't already) that refractometer readings need to be corrected for the presence of alcohol once fermentation has begun. I recommend using the spreadsheet found here: http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refractometer-calculator/. Also, after fermentation the consensus around here seems to be that refractometers are less accurate than hydrometer. However, I use a refract for all my measurements (except calibrations.)

Brew on

Thanks for the heads up

 

[Creston24]

Well, on day 11 there was no significant change in gravity, holding at 1.022, so I racked into secondary, and going to add some coffee notes for a bit of complexity to the significant chocolate flavor I have right now. Planning to do that and let set in secondary for a week. Hopefully that will get the taste I want. Then I plan to bottle/carb using sugar method, as I don't have a keg system. I am going to spend the next couple of days of the secondary researching how to carb with this method. I have read up on it, but I want to make sure I understand the complexities involved.