First all-grain batch, looking for advice

[MrHadack]

Hey all,
I have been doing extract batches for years now with some grain in a muslin bag thrown into the brew pot to steep before the boil. I am making my first all grain batch this weekend and wanted to make sure I had all my bases covered.

I built the 10 gallon rubbermaid cooler mash tun for the mash stage, which is brand new to me. I have been tinkering with a recipe on Beer Tools Pro, and this is what I have come up with for a very basic Helles:

5 Gallon Batch:

10 lbs German Pilsner Malt, Mash 90 minutes, 3 gallons water at 146F
Batch sparge 170F

1 hour boil with hop additions, irish moss, etc, as normal (.75 Hallertau for 60, .25 Hallertau for 5), cool and pitch WLP830.

No problems with the boil because I have done that any times. But as far as the mash goes, are those the right temps? I did a lot of reading on it to understand the process, but nothing is better than asking people with experience. Any thoughts?

Many thanks!

 

[Bensiff]

3 gallons of 146 degree water? Or 3 gallons water to bring to 146 degrees? You have plenty of capacity I would go for something towards 3.5 gallons at least for the mash.

 

[Hammy71]

I would maybe replace a little of the pilsner with some munich...maybe 1/2-3/4 pound. As far as the mash, you probably want something closer to 150 for your mash temp. Remember also that the temperature of your strike water will need to be higher than 150 because the temperature of the grain will bring down the temperature of the mash. A neat free calculator...

http://www.brewheads.com/batch.php

 

[Frodo]

146F would be your mash temp, not the water temp. So that'll more likely be something along the lines of striking with 3 gallons of 175F water (just guessing at that... software is particularly helpful for strike water temp). I preheat my mash tun for about 10 minutes with the strike water in it, get the temp stable at the strike temp and volume, then dump the grain in and stir well. Then double check temp and adjust as necessary. 146F does sound a bit low to me though... maybe more like 149F would be a better target?

 

[MrHadack]

I realized the water strike temperature would be around 159F to hit the mash temp of 146F. I had a formula I was using to figure it out, but the calculator will save some time... thanks Hammy. Also, I read that you should add the grains after the water, and not have them in the tun when adding the water. As for the other grain types, okay, I'll throw them into the mix. Why not?

Bensiff, I meant 3 gallons of water at a higher temp that would end up at 146F. I guess there is no harm in having more water, right? I'll throw in 3.5 on your suggestion.

So the batch sparge procedure would be to vorlauf, drain the existing water into the brew kettle, add the 170F sparge water, let the grains settle, and then drain that into the kettle as well? I'll be sure, of course, to take into consideration the amount I need to have due to evaporation loss during the boil, etc.

 

[MrHadack]

Forgot to add: I'll bring the mash up to 149F.

 

[Hammy71]

The adding of the grains is a personal preference. I add the water first and slowly mix in the grains. Helps me avoid the dreaded grain balls.

 

[ctoungette]

I realized the water strike temperature would be around 159F to hit the mash temp of 146F. I had a formula I was using to figure it out, but the calculator will save some time... thanks Hammy. Also, I read that you should add the grains after the water, and not have them in the tun when adding the water. As for the other grain types, okay, I'll throw them into the mix. Why not?

Bensiff, I meant 3 gallons of water at a higher temp that would end up at 146F. I guess there is no harm in having more water, right? I'll throw in 3.5 on your suggestion.

So the batch sparge procedure would be to vorlauf, drain the existing water into the brew kettle, add the 170F sparge water, let the grains settle, and then drain that into the kettle as well? I'll be sure, of course, to take into consideration the amount I need to have due to evaporation loss during the boil, etc.

Instead of just thinking about 3 vs 3.5 gallons, just think about quarts per pound. I stick with 1.3 quarts per pound. Most people will use anywhere from 1-2 quarts a pound but standard is 1.25-1.5. Subtract out grain absorption .11-.13% per pound and that will get you your sparge volume.

 

[Frodo]

So the batch sparge procedure would be to vorlauf, drain the existing water into the brew kettle, add the 170F sparge water, let the grains settle, and then drain that into the kettle as well? I'll be sure, of course, to take into consideration the amount I need to have due to evaporation loss during the boil, etc.

Stir like mad after adding your sparge water for a couple minutes. It'll help dissolve the sugars. Also, I add my mash out addition to bring the grain bed to 170F before actually draining any runnings (I fly sparge so my method is a little different after that point... but I'm thinking batch sparging would be the same up to that point).

 

[ctoungette]

I would skip the mashout method. I think it is useless for batch sparging. Fly Sparging is important. Also, you need to heat up your sparge water hotter than 170 more like 185ish.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

a) 146F would result in quite a dry beer. I would shoot more for 148-149F myself.

b)I would also add another malt (munich, crystal, etc) to add color and flavor.

c) No need to "stir the mash like mad". Just make sure that you have a well blended mash, no dough balls, and that things are smooth.

d) Sparge water is 170F.

M_C

 

[Frodo]

c) No need to "stir the mash like mad". Just make sure that you have a well blended mash, no dough balls, and that things are smooth.

Maybe the terminology isn't necessarily appropriate, but a good vigorous stir after adding sparge water (or mashout) will help dissolve sugar. If you're adding sparge water, I would assume you've already passed the point when you should have made sure you don't have dough balls...

 

[rjwhite41]

So you're doing a SMaSH... I wouldn't skip the mashout, some people claim you may get an extra point or two from it and it doesn't do any harm. A thinner mash will result in a more fermentable wort and a thicker mash a less fermentable one but temperature effects it a lot more than mash thickness. As far as stirring, make sure you stir it well but try to avoid getting a lot of splashing and foaming or else the hot side aeration boogeyman might get you (if you believe in him). It would be a good idea to have some DME on hand in case you miss your target gravity, then you can use the DME to fix it. Take a gravity reading after your have all your runnings in the kettle but make sure you stir it to even the sugars out. One last thing. For a Pilsener malt bill like that I would boil the wort for 90 minutes to avoid any DMS which can be a common problem with Pilsener grains.
Good luck and have fun!

 

[MrHadack]

Hey everyone, thanks for the advice. I brewed today and according to the gravity reading I took (1.051) I ended up with 75% efficiency. Pretty happy about that! I'll post again in a few weeks when I take it out of the fermenter and give a final gravity.