milholen
Well-Known Member
So I brewed my second all-grain batch last night. The good news is that every time I brew I get better and learn from my mistakes. Over and over I've learned that it's best to do what others have done before and not try to assume I know a better way. As I progress in my brewing, it's amazing to me how little I really knew when I first started as an extract brewer.
Some things I learned last night:
1. You need to use either a braid or a manifold in a cooler mash tun -- a grain bag tied around the inside of the bulkhead doesn't work. Needless to say I had a stuck sparge that was impossible to clear.
2. A real brewpot with a ball valve and a thermometer is a must. Since I use the brewpot as an HLT, it's much easier with a built-in thermometer to monitor sparge water temp. Also, transferring wort to the fermenter would be a lot easier with a ball valve on the brewpot.
3. A thermometer on the cooler mash tun would be very helpful. This would make monitoring the mash temp so much easier.
Since the wort was so cloudy, I used about 2 teaspoons of Irish moss in the last 15 minutes of the boil. I did a 70 minute boil and chilled with an immersion chiller in 5 minutes. I took a preboil gravity reading and it was at 1.035. After the boil I forgot to take a gravity reading but I anticipate it would be around 1.050 given the boil off rate of my cheap aluminum brew pot.
So here's what I did with my stuck sparge: Since I could not clear the ball valve to drain the wort, I sanitized a bowl and scooped out the grains and wort and dumped into a grain bag and drained the wort into my brew pot. I ended up with a very cloudy wort but without any any grain husks in it. How bad is this? I guess I could expect some oxidation from hot side aeration?? I'm wondering how much of a fubar this really is.
Thanks for any feedback and suggestions!
Some things I learned last night:
1. You need to use either a braid or a manifold in a cooler mash tun -- a grain bag tied around the inside of the bulkhead doesn't work. Needless to say I had a stuck sparge that was impossible to clear.
2. A real brewpot with a ball valve and a thermometer is a must. Since I use the brewpot as an HLT, it's much easier with a built-in thermometer to monitor sparge water temp. Also, transferring wort to the fermenter would be a lot easier with a ball valve on the brewpot.
3. A thermometer on the cooler mash tun would be very helpful. This would make monitoring the mash temp so much easier.
Since the wort was so cloudy, I used about 2 teaspoons of Irish moss in the last 15 minutes of the boil. I did a 70 minute boil and chilled with an immersion chiller in 5 minutes. I took a preboil gravity reading and it was at 1.035. After the boil I forgot to take a gravity reading but I anticipate it would be around 1.050 given the boil off rate of my cheap aluminum brew pot.
So here's what I did with my stuck sparge: Since I could not clear the ball valve to drain the wort, I sanitized a bowl and scooped out the grains and wort and dumped into a grain bag and drained the wort into my brew pot. I ended up with a very cloudy wort but without any any grain husks in it. How bad is this? I guess I could expect some oxidation from hot side aeration?? I'm wondering how much of a fubar this really is.
Thanks for any feedback and suggestions!