Jumping in to AG

Saturday is the day of the plunge. Either an AHS Northern Brown or an AHS Pilsner. Got all my supplies, did test runs with water, and feel I have a system down. My thanks to all of you posters who gave me tons of stuff to read without my even needing to ask!

Now to choose which to do!

 

Go with the Brown. If you make any mistakes (doubtful), the will be more easily covered up in the brown.

Good Luck!

 

LOL! I decided to go Brown and just read this.

 

Leap successful. Why did I wait so long? Felt like I was starting over again I was so excited.

Proof will be in the drinking later but I did notice a significant difference between doing the Northern Brown extract and AG. Much sweeter wort for one.

Did it out on the patio while I had practiced in the garage. Might do the garage next time just for the stuff blowing around, but that was relatively minor.

Burner got hot wort up to boil in about 10 minutes, so that was worth it! Found that my tun holds about a half gallon in lag space and grain, and that sparge temp at 175 allowing it to warm up my tun gave me 150 after I added in and stirred all the grain. May decide to go a bit higher on temp next time.

Single sparge calculating what I needed and I hit the mark volume wise with a touch left over. Temps were all good, OG was on the mark, so what more can I say!!

having done extracts first, I have to say each are good and has a place. Without enough space, extract is great and I made some good beers. But with space, doing this outside put a whole new perspective on brewing. More aggressive boil, boiling down to a volume as opposed to adding up, easier to transfer wort to fermenting bucket - not that those cannot be done extract, just easier.

 

I'm doing my first all grain in a few weeks and I sure hope mine is as successful as yours was. I did a partial mash last weekend with 6 lbs of grain in my new 10g cooler MLT and my efficiency was pretty poor (around 53%). If I can just get 70% I'll be thrilled. I also forgot to stir when I added the sparge, so that was hopefully my issue. Definitely excited, but also nervous.

 

After all this reading of people jumping to AG, I'm thinking of giving it a shot this week.

 

I did my first AG BIAB today, and judging from the thick, deep, complex wort I am very pleased. I won't know until I try the final product, but if it turns out as good as my preliminary taste test, I have a really great brew on my hands! Don't be nervous, it was surprisingly simple.

 

I picked up a cooler to make a mash tun and getting a bigger kettle tomorrow. I should be good to go.