1st AG batch a total nightmare!

[JesseRC]

WOOHOOO! Well I have good news too. Today my all grain brewday was about 5.5 hours. with cleanup, and that was with 90 minute mash and 90 boil. I thank the new Bayou Classic KAB6. Sure it burns fuel, but it rocks at getting it to a boil quickly. I had no issues with it, even left it unattended while I picked up the little one at school. Just a quarter of a turn goes from gentle boil to roaring boil. I'm happy. So now to fine tune some other areas. As to the OP, keep at it, it will get better, and after all this is a hobby right, it should be relaxing.

 

[Beavdowg]

UPDATE!

So I kegged my 1st AG last night, the one that I started this post with. I force carbed it with 25 psi, shaken about 4 times since last night. I couldn't wait to taste so I hooked up the cobra-kon (couldn't resist) tap and poured myself a small taster tonight. BIG ORCHESTRAL FINISHING CHORD Tuduh!! It tastes like really nice summer beer. Probably the thing I'm most happy about is that I don't have any of that Iodophore aroma or off flavor that I had with my last batch (my first batch back in about 12 years). I was sooo worried about getting this Iodine off flavor/aroma. I'm just tickled pink!
Again, the brew was Ed's Hause Pale Ale. It's much lighter in color than I expected, way lighter than his picture. Mine has the same color as Budweiser, basically. It's not near as dark as I'd expected. The head is a nice clean white color with beautiful tiny fine bubbles that feel very smooth on the palate. It's moderately malty in mouthfeel and well balanced with a sweet finish.

Since I'm always looking to improve here's what I'd do differently next time for this beer. First, since I'm a seasonal beer guy, I'd probably only brew this beer for the summer. And, I think I'd like to fiddle around with some lemon zest in the secondary or somehow to give it a little of a citrusy characteristic. I think I'd also dry-hop it to give it a bit more of a hop aroma. Now, I'll probably brew this again for the fall or winter but I'd darken the crystal malt with something darker than 10L to give it a more copper/amber color. I'd also dry-hop it again.

Overall, I'm very pleased and I'd like to thank Ed Wort for his simple, inexpensive first AG recipe that turned out as a success.

In finishing, all my worries were for not! Yeah the 8 hour brew day sucked but it produced a great finished product that I'm proud to serve to my friends/family. I love this hobby!

Now for my 2nd AG batch...

Thanks for all the kind support and suggestions!

 

[Rick500]

Congrats! Now go brew something else.

 

[Tmeister]

If this is not too late for a reply, here is my suggestions. All grain does take a while and you'll cut time only with experience. I only have one burner from bayou and my A. G. batches take about 5 1/2 hours. I like to time myself but, I think you shouldn't use whole hops, pellets are easyer and more likely to be fresher, If you do, of course you need a nylon hop bag. Next, calibrate your converted keg so you know exactly where 6.5 gallons comes to. Maybe put a small dent or scratch on the inside so you can see your marker, this is assuming that a 1 hour boil will leave you with 5.5 gallons. (and make sure your wort chiller will be submerged in the wort when cooling. Third, I personally dont start heating the kettle untill all the runnings are collected, it will start to boil before all is collected, because you should aim for a slow running taking about one hour to collect 6.5 gal. I use the hour of collecting into the boil kettle to get things sanitized, cleaned, put away, all while monitoring the sparge/ lauter tun ratio (to make sure im not sparging or draining too fast) periodically. The sparge and mash tun I use are the orange beverage coolers you get from home depot. I use a S. S. false bottom and ball valves I made (you can get all the parts for the ball valve at Lowes, and this way two ball valves will only cost you about 15 bucks, instead of the overpriced ones they sell at home brewing stores.) send me a message if you want the parts list to making those ball valves. I have found this brewing system to be easyest and economical, not to mention they maintain temp very well. Buy a 5 gal for the mash, and a 10 gall for sparge water.