Finally did my first all-grain tonight, EdWort's Haus Pale Ale.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=31793
Batch sparging, most everything went well. Mashed a little too hot (163), stirred around till it cooled down to 154, closed the lid and came back after an hour. Recirculated a couple of quarts, then collected the first runnings. Got about 2.3 gallons of first wort @ 1.060. Oops, forgot to add water to make up for grain absorption.
To sparge I used 4.5 gallons instead of the 3.5 to try to make up for 5 qts I failed to add to the first runnings. This is about when I realize my thermometer was not working. Don't know if grain bed really was @ 154 the whole first mash. Swapped to my glass therm.
Added the 4.5 gallons @ 165, stirred in, went to 154 (for sure this time) and left it for 10 minutes. Ran off. Didn't measure that volume, I assume it had to be 4.5 gal since grain had already absorbed. Came out to 1.020.
Did the boil and everything normal from there, came out with exactly 5 gallons in the fermenter, but it is at 1.040. Oh well. I don't know if I missed my first grain temp due to the thermometer, or it was my failure to add in the 5 qts at end of 1st mash. I have another batch of ingredients for the same recipe, then 2 batches of Edwort's Bavarian hefe. Hopefully it wont take me 4 batches to figure out this terrible efficiency.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=31793
Batch sparging, most everything went well. Mashed a little too hot (163), stirred around till it cooled down to 154, closed the lid and came back after an hour. Recirculated a couple of quarts, then collected the first runnings. Got about 2.3 gallons of first wort @ 1.060. Oops, forgot to add water to make up for grain absorption.
To sparge I used 4.5 gallons instead of the 3.5 to try to make up for 5 qts I failed to add to the first runnings. This is about when I realize my thermometer was not working. Don't know if grain bed really was @ 154 the whole first mash. Swapped to my glass therm.
Added the 4.5 gallons @ 165, stirred in, went to 154 (for sure this time) and left it for 10 minutes. Ran off. Didn't measure that volume, I assume it had to be 4.5 gal since grain had already absorbed. Came out to 1.020.
Did the boil and everything normal from there, came out with exactly 5 gallons in the fermenter, but it is at 1.040. Oh well. I don't know if I missed my first grain temp due to the thermometer, or it was my failure to add in the 5 qts at end of 1st mash. I have another batch of ingredients for the same recipe, then 2 batches of Edwort's Bavarian hefe. Hopefully it wont take me 4 batches to figure out this terrible efficiency.