12:40 am just finished my first all grain. Not the best day, but not the worst.

[Nerdie]

So I just did my first all grain ever... took me months to get the parts to make all SS single tier.... I think the brew day will be better next time....

So I brought 50 lbs of pale malt.... and as I was crushing them I saw bugs... a lot of bugs in this damn pale malt! But I kept using it anyways.... I'm not sure if I should have...

I did an infusion mash with batch sparge.... I thought the temp was too low so I heated the mash tun... but I think i went too high... hopefully it was okay and enzymes didn't deactivate.... I will need to test pH and SG next time when I sparge... for educational reasons/experiments... and to know when to stop sparging... Are I supposed to sparge until the mash is like water? Cause I stop so I didn't over sparge but the mash was still sweet... not as sweet as the beginning but still sweet...

after I mashed for 60 mins I think I had a stuck sparge! Nothing would come out of first runnings... I thought maybe it was too dry cause it looked like oatmeal.... So I put 2 gallons of water... I should have put the water through the valve to relieve the stuck sparge... but I didn't know better... anyway... I put my lips on the valve... and sucked hard... and had a mouth full of sweet wort and grains.... but it helped the stuck sparge! So I think I had a stuck sparge but the mash was so thick I am not sure if any liquid would have come out anyways...

I only did 5 gallons, since it was my first time... I think it would have been better and easier to do 10 gallons because the liquids didn't even reach the thermometer on my keggles.... You get more beer.... Chiller would gets completely submersed and so would whirl pooling... about the same time I think and about the same fuel....

Took me many hours... cause I had to put the finishing touches on my system be I really started and I wanted to just boil water in each keg to make sure everything was clean in all kegs before I put the ingredients...

I think I almost used a whole tank of propane... does this sound right???

My zip tie broke from my chiller and fell in the last 3 minutes of boil I hope this doesn't add off flavors....

Damn I am beat! I made a pale ale... are pale ales supposed to be pale? Mine looks a bit dark...

 

[Nerdie]

Did I mention I got bit up by mosquitos?

 

[JimBell]

But,

Did you have a good time doing it?

It isn't the length of the day, but the fun you had doing it thats important!

 

[Nerdie]

well it was good I think it would have been better if I had decent lighting! I couldn't see that well, I had one flood light on. Mosquitos were annoying... these were all external factors... at 10pm I started getting really tired... and at midnight I was done.. but had to clean.. and didn't want to... I was beat...

 

[devilishprune]

Relax, I'm sure you're. Beers look a lot darker in the fermenter than they do in the glass. Somewhere between what you see in your lines when racking and what you see in the fermenter is what I usually experience.

Don't worry about bugs, they won't hurt anything.

With batch sparging, you don't go until the mash is like water, this is more like fly sparging (but even there you go until the runnings are like 1.013 or something). You sparge until you get your preboil volume.

Don't worry, it happens to a lot of guys their first time! Good luck in the future, it's going to get easier/faster/more efficient.

 

[IrregularPulse]

1.010 is the magic number for sparging. Even if doing batch sparging you don't want to sparge below 1.010. This is where you can get into tannin extraction. Congrats on the Maiden Voyage. I'm sure it'll get easier as you figure out your system. Next time brew in day light to avoid the spot light for mosquitos. Or set out a much brighter light about 50 feet away from you to attract the bugs.