KDBrewer
Well-Known Member
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
Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
^^^ this last part is the most important!!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.
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!
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.
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.
Enter your email address to join: