First all grain brew day

Just mashed in for my first all grain brew...I am psyched! Added my strike water at 164F, stirred in the grain good to break up clumps, an few minutes of stirring and it stabilized at 152F. Sealed it up, and now to wait an hour. Hope it hold temp good.

Now it's time for coffee!

 

Congrats. Going to be brewing later today.

 

What did you use as a mash tun?

 

Congratulations on your first AG brew. Is it now in primary? Let us know how the rest of your brew day went.

 

Yay! for you.


I'm not brewing today.

 

It is a 10 gal round Igloo cooler with a false bottom.

That wasn't so bad after all. After mashing for 60 min, the temp of the mash was 151F. Cracked open the valve, and nothing came out. Blew in the hose a couple of times, and got the flow started, recirculated to get as clear as possible, drained, added sparge water and repeated with no stuck sparge. I collected 7 gal wort with a pre-boil gravity of 1.043 (Beer Smith said 7 gal at 1.041), so I got 75.8% mash efficiency instead of the 72% BeerSmith estimated. I think I done good for my first time there. I got it chilled as much as I could with my chiller, and it is in the chest freezer now cooling down to pitching temp.

I don't know why I was so freaked out about doing this. It wasn't that difficult, and it was an enjoyable morning outside with my dog before it got too hot. I can't wait to do it again. Now for another cup of coffee before I make some lunch and have a well earned beer or two.

 

Pitched my starter about 20 min ago. OG before pitching was 1.053 (1.052 was what BeerSmith Estimated). All in all, I think I did pretty good for a first time. 75.8% mash efficiency and 74.8% overall Brewhouse efficiency according to BS. I designed the recipe using the default 72% in BS. Got to thank everyone that answered all my questions and helped my with the recipe. You guys, and Gals, made this a pretty painless adventure.

 

I had everything ready to go last night for the most part. I got up early this morning and had some coffee while I reviewed everything again, started heating water and it all just flowed from there. For the last couple of weeks, I have been doing lots of reading, and asking lots of questions. In the last 2 moths, I have read "How To Brew" about 3 times, and "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" and "Homebrewers Companion" twice. I wanted to be prepared LOL.

I also learned not to fill the airlock until it is on the bucket next time. I pushed in in the stopper, and as soon as the lid sprang back into position, all the Starsan got sucked up. I used glass carboys before, and didn't have that problem. I know for the next time.

 

Great job. I also did lots of reading beforehand on my first ag day and it went like clockwork. As you say its not that hard if you understand the process.

I brew with a friend usually. we make a fresh loaf of ciabatta bread while mashing in, maybe some hummus too and he brings the homemade salami. Plus coffee. Makes it a real treat. Next time Im going to make bread from the spent grains since grainy bread is yum. Some people drink while brewing which is cool but I like to give the boiling wort the respect it deserves.

 

No beer for me today until after the burner was put away.

 

Good call. I don't have any until flame out. Otherwise I start thinking about consumption instead of production.

Great job on your first batch! Homework ahead of time is key. Over time, you won't panic when things come up - it happens. As late night as your starch fully concerts and you ph levels are too high or low, you'll still be good.

 

Great idea! I'm using that one.

 

I'll be bottling this probably on Saturday. I plan to cold crash it starting Wednesday before I go to work. It is clearing some now, but lots of yeast still in suspension (used WY1450). Just took a sample and it was 1.011, same as it was after 5 days so it's done. I tasted the sample as well. It looks, smells, and tastes like beer, but that's about it. It will be drinkable, but it's not anything outstanding. There is very little aroma and flavor from the hops or the sweet orange peel. I will have to do it again, and up the late addition and dry hops, as well as add more orange peel to it along with the dry hops. 4oz total of hops, and the peel only in the last 10 min of the boil just didn't do it for this beer. The color looks just like what i was going for though. It may taste better after sitting a bit longer until I get it bottled, and then a couple of weeks in the bottle. I don't see it as a total failure. I made drinkable beer on my first all grain attempt. Not exactly the beer I was hoping for, but beer none the less.

 

Mate, I had the same exact thoughts on my first AG batch. The gravity sample at bottling time tasted ok but nothing special, all the hop flavour/aroma had all but gone, I was a bit down about the whole thing but considered it a good learning experience even though the beer was going to be just drinkable.

Fast forward 2 weeks with a bit of carbonation and chilled to drinking temps - hey this beer is pretty good. Fully carbonated a week later, the hops are back, yay! Add another 4 weeks and the beer is almost gone. My friends are saying "hey, you should keep brewing just that beer, it's awesome". If you drank that beer alongside flash commercial APAs I don't think it would be out of place.

My point being that you should reserve all judgement until it's ready and in your glass. You may find it comes out pretty great even if the signals suggest otherwise. I'm not finding that gravity samples are any indication of quality, although it's fun to speculate.

 

The results are in. Overall, a very good beer. Well rounded with moderate bitterness and good mouth feel. A little lower in citrus aroma and flavor than I had hoped, but not really lacking either. It is a very easy drinker. Pretty clear with only a cold crash, but I will use gelatin as well going forward. I am very pleased with how this came out.

 

Congratulations on the brew! Now you gotta brew again!

 

Pipeline, baby! Pipeline!

 

I already have. Bottling an IPA on Sunday during the mash for a Czech Pale Lager. On Saturday, I am picking up 5 gal of free wort from the LHBS and pitching a pack of T-58 and letting it go at room temp to see what it does.