First all grain brew

[KDBrewer]

I'm doing my first all grain brew in a couple of days. Just wondering if anyone could give a beginner any good advice.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[kh54s10]

Make a plan. Maybe write out all the steps.
Calibrate your thermometer, make sure it is accurate at freezing and at boiling.
Make sure you have a good crush on your grains. This is the cause of most efficiency problems.
If you are unsure of your water quality, use spring water or reverse osmosis water from the store.

Take your time and don't panic and have fun! It is really no harder than extract, just more things to do and watch, and it takes longer.

 

[jmh286]

Make sure your mash tun valve is closed before you put your strike water in :cross:

Other than that, add grain slowly when you are mashing in to help prevent dough balls. Drain your runnings slowly after your mash to make sure you don't get a stuck sparge.

I agree on the water, if you aren't sure of your water profile, buy spring water from the grocery store. I personally use my tap water, but I did my research and know from experience that I can make great beer with it.

Don't worry too much if you make a mistake (except sanitization, DON'T forget sanitization) and just enjoy yourself.

 

[kh54s10]

While I agree with this, there is the what works factor.

Make sure your mash tun valve is closed before you put your strike water in :cross:

Other than that, add grain slowly when you are mashing in to help prevent dough balls. Drain your runnings slowly after your mash to make sure you don't get a stuck sparge.

I put the water in my preheated mash tun and dump in all the grain. I then stir like a madman making sure to break up all the dough balls. I then start the drain by doing a vorlauf to get clear runnings and set the grainbed. (batch sparging) Then I open the valve all the way. I've never had a stuck sparge even with wheat and rye brews. It may take a few brews to find what methods work best for you.

I agree on the water, if you aren't sure of your water profile, buy spring water from the grocery store. I personally use my tap water, but I did my research and know from experience that I can make great beer with it.

Don't worry too much if you make a mistake (except sanitization, DON'T forget sanitization) and just enjoy yourself.

^^^ this last part is the most important!!

 

[KDBrewer]

Thank for the replies. I plan on using my tap water. I have made some good extract brews with it so I'm assuming it will work fine for all grain.

 

[JonLaw]

Its vary easy! ! Dont over analyze the process. Its just beer!! But dont forget to have a homebrew!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[slippery]

Ok....so am also preparing to undertake my first AG batch tomorrow. I feel well prepared , thanks much to all of you on these forums, but I have been freaking out the last couple of days over these water profiles. I have used RO water for all my extract/pM batches to date but I've read that straight RO water is not a good choice for AG. Also, the water one uses for extract might not be suitable for AG. So, I've ordered a ph meter and a water test from wards labs but I still would like to brew tomorrow since I don't get the opportunity often enough. Plus , all this water chemistry stuff is over whelming . My plan is to go 50/50 with RO and my well water which is not all that bad.....any thoughts on this . I know it a risk not know my water profile of the well water but am thinking about rolling the dice. any advise would be much appreciated.
Thanks


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[finsfan]

I use a cooler mash tun and dont see much temperature drop after pre-heating it. I normally dump 190 degree water in, close it up, and let it sit 10-20 minutes. Then dump in the grain slowly, stirring between dumps and stir like crazy. My last piece of advice is to stick a piece of foil over the grain bed to help keep the heat it during the mash. The main thing is dont get worked up about it, stay calm and have fun. Let us know how you did!

 

[KDBrewer]

I use a cooler mash tun and dont see much temperature drop after pre-heating it. I normally dump 190 degree water in, close it up, and let it sit 10-20 minutes. Then dump in the grain slowly, stirring between dumps and stir like crazy. My last piece of advice is to stick a piece of foil over the grain bed to help keep the heat it during the mash. The main thing is dont get worked up about it, stay calm and have fun. Let us know how you did!

Thats a great idea. Thanks. Ill post back after brew day and let y'all know how it went.

 

[KDBrewer]

First all grain brew went great! Beersmiths estimated pre boil gravity was 1.047 I hit 1.046 and the estimated OG was 1.06 and I hit 1.059. It went a lot smoother than I had planned. Thanks for the advice everyone.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[NinjaSparky87]

I brewed my first all grain last month. I called it Panic! Pale Ale because I was freaking out so much. I overshot my mash temps by a lot.... I am drinking it now and it is great! Don't worry have a homebrew and have fun! It will turn out great in the end!

 

[Clonefan94]

Make a plan. Maybe write out all the steps.
Calibrate your thermometer, make sure it is accurate at freezing and at boiling.
Make sure you have a good crush on your grains. This is the cause of most efficiency problems.
If you are unsure of your water quality, use spring water or reverse osmosis water from the store.

Take your time and don't panic and have fun! It is really no harder than extract, just more things to do and watch, and it takes longer.

This, only I will add, for me, it's more relaxing. If you have a good plan set, you'll be able to have plenty of time in between steps to just kind of take it all in. The one thing I don't like when i do extracts, is it seems once the boil is on, it's all hands on deck and you better have everything ready to go. All-grain, for me, definitely takes longer over all, but is far less rushed as long as you have the process down.

Don't get me wrong, the first one is always a bit of work because you've never done it before, but I have been known to mow the lawn in between mashing in and first runnings. Certain steps have to be followed, but it seems that each step kind of has it's own place and time compared to extract. Extract is definitely less time consuming, but I always felt I was doing as much work as more steps seemed to happen during that hour of boiling.


Ahhh, just realized the timing of my post. Congrats on getting the first AG brew in.

 

[KDBrewer]

No worries. The only mistake I made was not tightening down the bag on my hop spider. I lifted it up and the hops decided they liked the pot better than the bag. Overall I think all grain is more rewarding than doing extract brews.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[FatDragon]

I use a cooler mash tun and dont see much temperature drop after pre-heating it. I normally dump 190 degree water in, close it up, and let it sit 10-20 minutes. Then dump in the grain slowly, stirring between dumps and stir like crazy. My last piece of advice is to stick a piece of foil over the grain bed to help keep the heat it during the mash. The main thing is dont get worked up about it, stay calm and have fun. Let us know how you did!

I asked about dough-in time a few days ago in the BIAB sub-forum, where the consensus seemed to be that it's best to get your grains in quickly so your strike water drops to mash temperatures before you start denaturing enzymes. Doughballs can be broken up by stirring after the grain dump.

Is a slow dough-in standard in traditional AG (i.e. using a mash-tun)? If so, wouldn't that indicate that the speed of the dough-in doesn't really impact fermentability? I'm curious because I have yet to get a beer to ferment past 1.013, and my typical FG is usually a couple points higher, so I'm planning on a fast dough-in for my next few brews to see if it makes a difference. If it helps, I'm mostly using feed-grade barley malted by a relatively no-name Chinese maltster, so the modification level of my grain might be different from the pro-grade grain most of you first-worlders are using.

 

[finsfan]

I asked about dough-in time a few days ago in the BIAB sub-forum, where the consensus seemed to be that it's best to get your grains in quickly so your strike water drops to mash temperatures before you start denaturing enzymes. Doughballs can be broken up by stirring after the grain dump.

Is a slow dough-in standard in traditional AG (i.e. using a mash-tun)? If so, wouldn't that indicate that the speed of the dough-in doesn't really impact fermentability? I'm curious because I have yet to get a beer to ferment past 1.013, and my typical FG is usually a couple points higher, so I'm planning on a fast dough-in for my next few brews to see if it makes a difference. If it helps, I'm mostly using feed-grade barley malted by a relatively no-name Chinese maltster, so the modification level of my grain might be different from the pro-grade grain most of you first-worlders are using.

Its not like I take 20 minutes to dump the grain in, just make sure to not dump it in at once. It may take me 5 minutes to get the grain in and dough balls removed. I would assume its the maltster, but 1.013 is close to normal. Do you mash at 153 or higher?

 

[KDBrewer]

What is your mash temp? Mashing lower will make more fermentables and decrease you final gravity.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[FatDragon]

I'm shooting for 150 or so on most of my mashes, but moving the wired probe on my thermometer around the mash can often vary by 2-4 degrees Celsius, so I'm never all that certain where my temps really stand. Then again, I recently realized my thermometer reads 101.6 at boiling temps (roughly sea level), so I'm more likely to be mashing at 146-148 than 153+

Also, my dough-in times probably have been too long in some cases. Never 20 minutes, but 5 is about the fastest I've done so far...