ericw
Well-Known Member
This past weekend was my first time to brew with an AG setup. First mistake was not taking the temps of my grain and mash tun. I left both in the sun for an hour or so why I got everything ready and I guessed at those temps. The result was a slightly higher mash temp (164 vs 155). My mash tun did a great job, only losing 3deg over an hour with stirring 3 times during that.
I didn't use enough sparge water the first time and had to heat up more to get my target of 6 gallons. Next time I'll heat up more than I need and only drain off what I need for the boil, is this correct? After I had my 6 gallons boiling, everything went great, except for a boil over when we weren't watching closely. Brewing and bottling is not the best combo.
After the boil, I was left with a little over 5 gallons of wort.
We chilled it and let it sit covered, so all the hops and other stuff would settle. This recipe called for 4 oz of hops, so there was a bunch there. I use a siphon to move the beer to my fermenter and it was having a hard time toward the end. It kept getting stuck on pieces of orange peel. In the end, I had a little over 4 gallons in my bucket. I had an extra gallon of spring water, so I used that to bring the level up to 5. I got my hydrometer out and proceeded to drop it on the floor before taking a reading, so I have no idea what the OG was.
Good news was the yeast got a quick start and were going at it by the next morning. I didn't read the instructions fully, and only did a starter with 1 packet instead of 2, so I added the 2nd packet dry.
Was I wrong to add the extra gallon of water to bring the level up to 5 gallons?
I didn't use enough sparge water the first time and had to heat up more to get my target of 6 gallons. Next time I'll heat up more than I need and only drain off what I need for the boil, is this correct? After I had my 6 gallons boiling, everything went great, except for a boil over when we weren't watching closely. Brewing and bottling is not the best combo.
We chilled it and let it sit covered, so all the hops and other stuff would settle. This recipe called for 4 oz of hops, so there was a bunch there. I use a siphon to move the beer to my fermenter and it was having a hard time toward the end. It kept getting stuck on pieces of orange peel. In the end, I had a little over 4 gallons in my bucket. I had an extra gallon of spring water, so I used that to bring the level up to 5. I got my hydrometer out and proceeded to drop it on the floor before taking a reading, so I have no idea what the OG was.
Was I wrong to add the extra gallon of water to bring the level up to 5 gallons?