ddicks
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My buddy and I did our first all grain batch on Saturday. I wrote out all the gory details the next day. Would love some comments. Cheers!
Started Saturday, October 19 at about 2:30pm and ended at 9:30pm (7hrs).
Followed a 5 gal recipe roughly as I couldn't find a smash recipe with the ingredients that I have. 12 lbs of Canadian 2-row, 2 oz cascade hops, 1 vial of California ale yeast.
OG (measured after 12 hrs of ferm but no action) = 1.059
FG (just before bottling, after ferm is done) = TBD
Heated strike water in 4 gal pot + 3 gal pot with 3 gal and 1 gal in each respectively to 165 degrees as per the mash and sparge calculator on http://www.brew365.com/mash_sparge_water_calculator.php
Also used the same site to determine how much water to use for the strike water and the sparge water.
While heating we used PBW for cleaning. Followed directions on the container and lightly washed the tubes and wort cooler, 6 gal carboy and thermometer and whatever else we were using.
After washing, sprayed everything with a spray bottle of star San and let them dry.
Once the temp of both pots reached about 165 F, dumped both into the mash tun. About 2 min later added the grains. Next time heat the cooler up in advance.
Mash temp (after the grain was added) was supposed to be 152 but seemed to be a lot lower, about 145 but the thermometer we used was hard to read, suggest getting digital read thermometer.
We let the grain mash for about 60 min stirring every 15-20 min.
While the mash was happening we boiled 5 gal of water in the same pots with 3 in one and 2 in the other. This was a mistake since we were using these also as our boil kettle. Luckily I had 2 other smaller pots to use. Poured the sparge water out of the main kettle (4 gal pot) and into these other two. Then when the hr was up was able to filter the wort from the mash tun into the main boil kettle. This gave about 2 gal. Before draining we did 4 separate quarts to check for clarity and poured those gently back into the mash tun each time. By the third one it looked pretty clear but we checked one extra just to be sure.
Added all the sparge water at the 165 temp. Stirred up the grains and let it set for another hr but did check a sample every 20 min or so to see if we were getting the same colour.
Never did get exactly the same colour out of the 4 samples and at the end of the hr we checked it a few times again and seemed to get more fine grains coming through the filter than we had in the first runnings. So we drained it anyway. Since we used an extra gallon of water for the sparge (as per brew365) it drained into 3 pots (the 4 gal with the first runnings plus 3 others).
Then started the boil. It took about 40 min for all three pots to get rolling. Then started the timer for 60 min and added 1 oz of cascade hops. After 45 min was able to combine two of the pots which got us down to two. Also added another 0.5 oz of cascade hops. Then after the hr turned off the heat and added the last 0.5 oz of cascade.
Next hooked up the wort chiller and put it in the larger pot and also used a ice water bath for smaller pot. With the wort chiller got it to about 75F in 25 min (rough guess because I didn't actually time this) and with the ice bath and smaller pot it took about 10 min longer.
Used gravity then to get the wort into the fermenter. Had to suck on the hose to get it going. Seems like all the careful sanitation is pretty pointless when you have to do this to me but anyway, we continued on.
Ended up with about 4 gal of wort which was what we wanted since we are leaving it in the primary fermenter the whole time (ie. Not transferring to a secondary). I was surprised though that we didn't end up with an extra gal since that's what all the numbers said we should end up with. I'm guessing that wants we weren't as efficient as we could have been coming from the mash tun.
Aerated the wort in the carboy by placing the bung ontop and shaking the crap out of it for about 3 min.
Setup a container of water off to the side of where the carboy will sit for the next little while (in a closet on the main floor). And used a 1/2" tube from the bung to the water container for CO2 blow off.
Shook the yeast as per instructions (California Ale yeast). But missed the part about opening carefully because when I opened it the yeast foamed up and out of the lid and all over my hands. Managed to get most of it into the fermenter. My hands we pretty clean I think but still, again made a lot of the earlier cleanliness a little pointless. I put a blanket around it and that was where we left it til the next morning. Wasn't much action, if any. So I took the opportunity to take my OG reading then since I forgot the night before. That's when I got the 1.059. I took the blanket off and tossed in the dryer for 10 min then put it back on and also turned up the heat in the house to 23C (73F). After about 2 hrs things were starting to form and the bubbling in the water started. 5 hrs from increasing the temp we got full blown action and all seems good now. I also bought a digital thermometer from CanTire for $10 that can sit on the carboy. Pretty steadily at 20C (68F) now.
Started Saturday, October 19 at about 2:30pm and ended at 9:30pm (7hrs).
Followed a 5 gal recipe roughly as I couldn't find a smash recipe with the ingredients that I have. 12 lbs of Canadian 2-row, 2 oz cascade hops, 1 vial of California ale yeast.
OG (measured after 12 hrs of ferm but no action) = 1.059
FG (just before bottling, after ferm is done) = TBD
Heated strike water in 4 gal pot + 3 gal pot with 3 gal and 1 gal in each respectively to 165 degrees as per the mash and sparge calculator on http://www.brew365.com/mash_sparge_water_calculator.php
Also used the same site to determine how much water to use for the strike water and the sparge water.
While heating we used PBW for cleaning. Followed directions on the container and lightly washed the tubes and wort cooler, 6 gal carboy and thermometer and whatever else we were using.
After washing, sprayed everything with a spray bottle of star San and let them dry.
Once the temp of both pots reached about 165 F, dumped both into the mash tun. About 2 min later added the grains. Next time heat the cooler up in advance.
Mash temp (after the grain was added) was supposed to be 152 but seemed to be a lot lower, about 145 but the thermometer we used was hard to read, suggest getting digital read thermometer.
We let the grain mash for about 60 min stirring every 15-20 min.
While the mash was happening we boiled 5 gal of water in the same pots with 3 in one and 2 in the other. This was a mistake since we were using these also as our boil kettle. Luckily I had 2 other smaller pots to use. Poured the sparge water out of the main kettle (4 gal pot) and into these other two. Then when the hr was up was able to filter the wort from the mash tun into the main boil kettle. This gave about 2 gal. Before draining we did 4 separate quarts to check for clarity and poured those gently back into the mash tun each time. By the third one it looked pretty clear but we checked one extra just to be sure.
Added all the sparge water at the 165 temp. Stirred up the grains and let it set for another hr but did check a sample every 20 min or so to see if we were getting the same colour.
Never did get exactly the same colour out of the 4 samples and at the end of the hr we checked it a few times again and seemed to get more fine grains coming through the filter than we had in the first runnings. So we drained it anyway. Since we used an extra gallon of water for the sparge (as per brew365) it drained into 3 pots (the 4 gal with the first runnings plus 3 others).
Then started the boil. It took about 40 min for all three pots to get rolling. Then started the timer for 60 min and added 1 oz of cascade hops. After 45 min was able to combine two of the pots which got us down to two. Also added another 0.5 oz of cascade hops. Then after the hr turned off the heat and added the last 0.5 oz of cascade.
Next hooked up the wort chiller and put it in the larger pot and also used a ice water bath for smaller pot. With the wort chiller got it to about 75F in 25 min (rough guess because I didn't actually time this) and with the ice bath and smaller pot it took about 10 min longer.
Used gravity then to get the wort into the fermenter. Had to suck on the hose to get it going. Seems like all the careful sanitation is pretty pointless when you have to do this to me but anyway, we continued on.
Ended up with about 4 gal of wort which was what we wanted since we are leaving it in the primary fermenter the whole time (ie. Not transferring to a secondary). I was surprised though that we didn't end up with an extra gal since that's what all the numbers said we should end up with. I'm guessing that wants we weren't as efficient as we could have been coming from the mash tun.
Aerated the wort in the carboy by placing the bung ontop and shaking the crap out of it for about 3 min.
Setup a container of water off to the side of where the carboy will sit for the next little while (in a closet on the main floor). And used a 1/2" tube from the bung to the water container for CO2 blow off.
Shook the yeast as per instructions (California Ale yeast). But missed the part about opening carefully because when I opened it the yeast foamed up and out of the lid and all over my hands. Managed to get most of it into the fermenter. My hands we pretty clean I think but still, again made a lot of the earlier cleanliness a little pointless. I put a blanket around it and that was where we left it til the next morning. Wasn't much action, if any. So I took the opportunity to take my OG reading then since I forgot the night before. That's when I got the 1.059. I took the blanket off and tossed in the dryer for 10 min then put it back on and also turned up the heat in the house to 23C (73F). After about 2 hrs things were starting to form and the bubbling in the water started. 5 hrs from increasing the temp we got full blown action and all seems good now. I also bought a digital thermometer from CanTire for $10 that can sit on the carboy. Pretty steadily at 20C (68F) now.
