My first AG brew day is today!

[spam_and_eggs]

Sorry to make an entire thread about this but so far it's going great! 20 mins into the mash and the weather is absolutely perfect (60 and sunny) and I'm enjoying my previous batch of extract IPA. I was 1 degree short of my mash temp of 152 but I'm not worrying. RDWHAHB

 

[IvanTheTerribrew]

Love the name of the batch lol, congrats on your first AG!

 

[mrphillips]

Congrats! I haven't made the jump from Partial to AG yet, but it's a yearning that haunts my dreams. Haha! Please let me know if there is any difference in taste. I posted a thread a while back about extract vs. partial vs. AG, so I'd be interested to see a comparison in flavor profiles. Do you still have one of your extract IPA's to compare it side by side with once your AG is finished?

Happy Brewing!

 

[spam_and_eggs]

Thanks! I still have a couple bottles left of my extract IPA (I started off doing 2 gal batches so they're going quick!). But they're not the same recipes so they'll be inherently different in flavor but I'll definitely see if there's a difference in character and quality and let you know!

 

[Transamguy77]

Congrats man! When your done you'll step back and say "humph, that was easier that I thought"

And as far as comparing, I made a porter with the same extract recipe converted to AG and the AG version had more complexity and mouthfeel compared to the one note extract kit.

 

[spam_and_eggs]

This is a lot easier than I thought (at least so far)! Collected 7 gallons in the boil. Pre-boil gravity is 1.052 (Est. @ 1.054, Est. OG is 1.061)

Weighed out the hops, now just cleaning/sanitizing the fermenter and getting the chiller hooked up.


And my latest issue of BYO magazine just came in the mail! Today is GOLDEN!

 

[madmanmau]

Hey! Seems you are really having a great day! I'm getting all my stuff ready for my batch tomorrow....lets see whats happens, I've got a little bit colded weather down here, a little bit rainy...lets hope that does not affect me big time.
Post a pic of of the batch when you are done!

 

[spam_and_eggs]

Brew day done! Well, sort of. I couldn't chill down enough so I transferred to the fermenter and put it in my homemade insulated wooden box with frozen water bottles. Hopefully it'll get down to a nice low pitching temp, I want this to be nice and clean. Other than that, the only other noticeable hiccup was that I didn't get as much into the fermenter as I was hoping and I even put in everything from the kettle. I'm assuming I underestimated my boil off rate (I have a wide pot). I guess I'll just have to adjust for the future.

OG ended up being 1.066, 5 points over the BeerSmith estimate. Hoping to get down to 1.012. The measured mash efficiency was 76.6% with a brewhouse efficiency of 72.9% (recipe made with anticipated 70% efficiency)

One thing that definitely surprised me was how clear the wort was in the hydrometer tube when measuring OG. Looks great!

I'd have to call my first all grain brew day a success!

 

[mrphillips]

Very cool. I've NEVER had wort that clear! Excellent.

 

[spam_and_eggs]

Me neither! I guess that means I had good hot/cold breaks? It settles rather fast too

 

[mrphillips]

Did you add Irish Moss or Gypsum to it? That's the only way I know to get wort that looks like that. If you didn't, then you're a God D@mn magician! Again...very cool.

 

[spam_and_eggs]

I added whirlfloc but I've done that for all my batches so far (4) and none of them have looked like that. I've never added gypsum but I didn't know that it can also clarify

 

[fmr_army]

Congrats on your first all grain!

Missing you temp by 1º? Great job, especially for not having your system dialed in. Better than I've done...

I almost always over boil (because I do a second sparge and wind up with too much wort, and boil like crazy, get distracted and over boil) and wind up with a sadly low fermenter. To solve this, I keep some pre-boiled and cooled water in the basement to top things up.

Again - congratulations. Keep it up!

 

[spam_and_eggs]

Here's the recipe since I never posted it:

Beginner's Luck IPA (5.5 Gallons)
Estimated Efficiency: 70%
SRM: 6.9
IBU: 81.5
Est OG: 1.061
Est FG: 1.012

12# 2 Row
0.5# Carapils
0.5# Carastan (30L)

60': 1oz Columbus (16.3%)
15': 0.5oz Columbus (16.3%)
15': 0.5oz Citra (12.5%)
15': 1 whirlfloc
10': 0.5oz Citra (12.5%)
10': 0.5tsp yeast nutrient
0': 0.5oz Citra (12.5%)

WLP001
1.5L starter pitched after 24hrs
Fermented at 70

Dry hop for 7 days 1oz Citra, 0.5oz Cascade (7.3%). Remove hops
Dry hop for 5 more days 0.5oz each Columbus, Citra, and Cascade


Update: primary took about 5 days. Went from 1.066 to 1.011 so I had a little bit more efficiency (75%) than I can planned (70%). Added first dry hop on day 6. Picture is after 4 days of 1st dry hop. Looks, smells, and tastes like an IPA so I'm pretty excited! Can definitely smell the tropical fruits (peach, mango, etc.). Firm, slightly spicy bitterness but not overpowering. Didn't notice too much Cascade. A little hazy but seems to be clearing up nicely

 

[smccarter]

Sorry if I'm repeating... in a hurry, but wanted to respond to your post...

I brewed my first AG batch early this year.. Feb I think. I've been brewing for over 10 years and finally took the plunge. I was surprised at how natural it felt. I just couldn't believe I waited so long to try it. It was like I'd been brewing that way from the beginning.

I breezed through the posts here, but it looks like you had the same experience I had... congrats, and happy brewing.

I can't say that every beer tastes better... there are some partial mash kits that I really enjoy... but, the freshness is noticeable.

 

[spam_and_eggs]

Thanks! I've only brewed 5 batches including this but I definitely notice something different about this one. Definitely seems fresher but then again that could be due to being more experienced.

I can't imagine waiting for 10 years to do AG brewing. I was waaaay to antsy and impatient to wait even 3 months. I'm glad you enjoyed your first AG experience. Here's to you enjoying another 10+ years of brewing!