First All Grain Brew

[mccumath]

Hey guys, pretty new to the forum, and want to ask a few questions about the rundown of my first AG brew day.

Old Smoky

O.G = 1.065
F.G. = 1.015
IBU = 45
SRM = 58
ABV= 6.5%

Ingredients:
8.25 # German 2 row Pale Malt
3.0 # Munich
1.0 # Smoked Malt
12 oz. Crystal (45 L)
11 oz. Chocolate
7 oz. Black patent
10.75 AAU Columbus Hops (0.090 oz. 12 % AAU) 60 minutes (Bittering)
3.75 AAU Willamette Hops (0.075 oz. 5% AAU) 15 minutes (Flavoring)
Wyeast # 1272 American Ale
Irish Moss

Single step infusion
Put milled malted grains into 3 gallons of 165 degree water,
Steep the grains at 154 degrees for 45 minutes.

Sparge with 3 gals, of 170 degree water.
(Begin the sparge process by re-circulating the wort back through the grain bed until clear )

Transfer to boiling kettle with a minimum of 6 gals of wort.
Bring to boil and add bittering hops. This is a 90 min. boil

At 15 minutes before end of boil, add flavoring hops and the wort chiller into boiling pot.

Add ½ tsp. of Irish moss at this time as well

After end of boil, shut off heat, add ½ oz. Willamette Hops for addition flavoring, reduce temperature to 70 degrees as rapidly as possible. Transfer to primary fermenter. Pitch yeast. Aerate to introduce oxygen, ferment at 67/70 degrees for min. of 7 days. Transfer to secondary fermenter and ferment for 10-14 days to age. Use ¾ cup corn sugar for priming and bottle or keg. Bottle condition a minimum of 2 weeks.


Equipment:
10 gallon Rubbermaid orange cooler with copper manifold and 1/2 inch ball valve
9 gallon brew pot
5 gallon brew pot

Pre-heated my mash/lauter tun with 1 gallon boiling water, let sit while heating up water for mashing. was attempting to hit a 154 degree mark, came short at 146-148. Added some boiling water, got it to 155, and let mash for 1 hour. Recirculated/sparged appropriately with 3+ gallons of water over 45 minutes, collecting 6 gallons of wort in my brew pot.

Now here is where I have my questions. I took a gravity reading from the brew pot prior to boiling, and it was way low (temp was approx 150 degrees). I kinda freaked out, then remembered about the temperature conversion chart in my How to Brew "Bible" (i had to let the sample cool quite a bit before I could convert). My gravity at approx 70 degrees was approx 1.055 with adjustment for temp. Now, i boiled my wort for 90 minutes, and lost 1.5 gallons, which again kinda had me worried. I cooled it down in approx 11 minutes with my wort chiller, and transferred in to my sanitized bucket. I took another gravity reading at it was way high, approx 1.078. I know that in extract brewing you can top off to just above 5 gallons, and did so with my all grain batch. Topped off with water that I had boiled and cooled. Took another reading, and was able to get a gravity of 1.065, which is what my recipe states as the original gravity.

1) So, by adding water, I don't believe I watered down my beer, as I hit my O.G. gravity perfectly. Does this sound correct?
2) How would I estimate efficiency if I added water to the wort after boiling? I am not exactly sure about when/how to calculate efficiency, but I guess that I did relatively well, considering the ease at which I was able to get to my O.G. With my initial calculations, i think I hit right around 68% efficiency, but I am not sure. Can anyone help me out with this?

All in all, I believe it was a very productive day, and hope that all turns out well!

I appreciate any feedback you can give me!

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[Grizzlybrew]

1)That sounds correct and perfectly normal. If you know how much water you lost during your boil, you can factor this in the next time you brew. Also, as I understand it, you "blindly" added water until you reached the 5 gal mark. It worked this time perfectly. But, get familiar with gravity units (GU's) and you can hit the mark exactly every time. For example, here's what I gather from your data:

You had 4.17 gal of 1.078 wort at the end of your boil and cooling. This gave you 325 total GU's (78*4.17). The gravity units can be thought of as the fermentables in the wort. These won't change when you add water, only their concentration (or wort gravity) will. So, when you take these 325 units, top off with water to 5 gallons, you get a concentration of 65 or 1.065 OG (325 / 5 ). Using simple math, re-arrange the equation and instead of diving by the gallons, divide by your wanted OG. 325 / 65 = 5 gal.

PM if that doesn't make sense or if you have other questions.

2) There are two efficiencies in a brewhouse. Your mash efficiency, which measures your ability to extract sugars from the grain and should be calculated from your runoff with no other additions. And, your brewhouse efficiency, which factors in things like boil-off, amounts left in equipment, top-off water, etc. This is calculated with your finished wort.

Sounds like you had a good first experience. Congrats!

 

[mccumath]

Just got lucky I guess! Bubbling away this am at 68 degrees. Can't wait until its time to give it a drink! Next up, Pumpkin Ale!

Thanks guys!
Ryan