1st all grain brew tomorrow!

[jcs401]

Tomorrow I will be brewing my first all grain batch. It will be a Scottish ale, 7 1/2lb pale ale malt, 3/4lb crystal 60L malt, 2oz Peated malt, 1oz chocolate malt, 2oz victory malt.. Starting gravity should be around 1.044. I only have a 5g mash tun, will this be ok and also how much water should I use to mash as I can only about 3 gallons of wort to boil so I will have to do a partial rather than a total 5 gallon boil. I'm not positive how much water to mash with and then how much to sparge with. Will this work?

 

[hercher]

You should use about 1.25 qts of water per pound of grain.

 

[Pappers_]

What he said ^^^^^

Then sparge until you get to your pre-boil volume. That's the less complicated way of doing it (I like simple!)

For what it's worth, I use a 5 gallon cooler mash tun and for bigger grain bills add extract. Two of our club members brew extract and win awards. Nothing wrong with extract!

Good luck on your brew!

 

[dmashl]

Use 7 qts of water@165-168 degrees. dump that in you mash tun, wait a few minutes for tun to heat up, then stir in your grains. there will be approx 3/4 gallon absorption of water in the grain, so you have to figure how much sparge water you need heated up to 170 to get your boil volume.
I do partial boils all the time due to having only a 5 gallon pot. I just top off with cold bottled water to achieve my recipe size of 5.25 gallon batches.
if you are really into this hobby check out beersmith software, helps alot with recipe configuration.

 

[jcs401]

I have that software but is slightly confusing to use. Hopefully it will go well

 

[jcs401]

I'm trying to enter my reciepe that came with the all grain Scottish all kit. In beer smith when I enter the grains such as chocolate malt, it comes up with a few different ones and some for the pale malt come up asking (us) (uk) etc. how do I know where the grains came from and there exact type I should select?

 

[RM-MN]

I'm trying to enter my reciepe that came with the all grain Scottish all kit. In beer smith when I enter the grains such as chocolate malt, it comes up with a few different ones and some for the pale malt come up asking (us) (uk) etc. how do I know where the grains came from and there exact type I should select?

Unless you are in the UK or specifically asked for UK malt, it probably is a US malt. The various chocolate malts should be differentiated by the Lovibond number or where they are from.

 

[flars]

Tomorrow I will be brewing my first all grain batch. It will be a Scottish ale, 7 1/2lb pale ale malt, 3/4lb crystal 60L malt, 2oz Peated malt, 1oz chocolate malt, 2oz victory malt.. Starting gravity should be around 1.044. I only have a 5g mash tun, will this be ok and also how much water should I use to mash as I can only about 3 gallons of wort to boil so I will have to do a partial rather than a total 5 gallon boil. I'm not positive how much water to mash with and then how much to sparge with. Will this work?

Will these two sites be of any help?
http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD-3.html
http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

 

[BansheeRider]

So it's common to do partial boils all grain? I was under the impression that a larger pot would be needed if you don't want to add extract to reach your OG.

 

[HalsAle]

Welcome to all grain brewing!! Just my 2 cents, nothing wrong with adding a little DME at the beginning of your boil. Eventually it would help if you invest in a large boil pot and a bigger cooler, so you can do full mashes and boils. Also 2 propane burners and a seperate HLT. I know, it breaks the bank, but pays for itself after a while... Hope you beer turns out well!!!

 

[jcs401]

I have a 6g kettle but I only use it on an electric stove and it's tough to get all 5g to a rolling boil. I usually cover to help get it to a boil and then uncover for the 60minute boil. Is that ok?

 

[RM-MN]

So it's common to do partial boils all grain? I was under the impression that a larger pot would be needed if you don't want to add extract to reach your OG.

I wouldn't say it is common but people do what they have to to make beer. Pot's too small for full boil and budget is too small for a bigger pot, make a concentrated wort and top up like you would for a partial boil extract. The brewhouse efficiency will likely suffer though.

 

[RM-MN]

I have a 6g kettle but I only use it on an electric stove and it's tough to get all 5g to a rolling boil. I usually cover to help get it to a boil and then uncover for the 60minute boil. Is that ok?

Sure it is. if necessary you could even leave it partly covered if that is what it takes to keep it boiling.

 

[Brindles]

In my opinion this thread is a classic example of the true wonderful evolution of home brewing. Every all grain brewer I know starts with a small budget and big dreams. Borrowed or homemade equipment part of the process of becoming an all grain brewer

The best and most significant investment I ever made was over 20 years ago when I bought a 40 litre Polarwear pot with lid. That became my boiling pot as well as my open ferment for 10 or more years. Perfect until I wanted more space for larger batches. The next step was to upsize to a free SS keg that I converted with the help of a coworker who happened to be welder. As time went on, I started to resent the heavy work of lifting such a heavy kettle. So as a special treat on a milestone birthday, I sold my converted keg to an excited young new home brewer and up graded to a Blichmann 20 gallon. Plus a burner, plus a couple of cheaper style conical fermenters on EBay. Etc etc. now my dream is to invest in pumps! The wish list never stops.

So for all those home brewers starting out on the road to all grain. Part of the fun is making it work with the equipment and funds at that stage of your life

Later GB.

 

[jcs401]

How much water is needed for a 9lbs of grain to achieve 1.044 gravity??

 

[Yooper]

How much water is needed for a 9lbs of grain to achieve 1.044 gravity??

Achieving a certain gravity has to do with your efficiency- not the amount of water. The grain is where you get the gravity points- not the water!

When you brew, use 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain, then sparge up to your boil volume.

In my system, to get an OG of 1.044, I"d need 8 pounds of grain in a 5 gallon batch. Your system will be different, especially if you're topping up with plain water (no sugars in that).

 

[jcs401]

So how many gallons is 1.25x9lbs??

 

[Yooper]

So how many gallons is 1.25x9lbs??

1.25 x 9 = 11.25


11.25 quarts is 2.8 gallons (you can call it three gallons to make it easier!)

 

[dmashl]

11.25 qts. use a calculator to figure out your strike water volume. I can boil 4 gallons on wort in my 5 gallon SS pot on a gas stove top without any boil overs. All you need is about 1.5 inches of head room in the pot to prevent the boil over. I do watch it carefully though.

 

[jcs401]

I finished and everything seemed to go well! Starting gravity was 1.046 which recipe called for 1.044 so not to far off. Trying to figure out how to still use beer smith to figure out mash infusion percent, when I entered everything it said 74%. But not positive I entered what I should where I should. I steeped the grains steady at 156 degrees, little higher than I wanted but hopefully on. Then fly sparged for about an hour keeping temp at 156 still. Boiled 4 gallons, covered partial for about ten minutes on my electric stove to get rolling, then added my buttering hops for a 60min. Boil adding aroma hops the last 15min. Put in my 6.5 gallon glass fermenter and rocked back and forth on my knees to airate it a bit. It will be fermenting for 3 days this evening time. Fermentation seemed to be steady the first two days with decent airlock activity. Slowing down to a bubble between every 2-4 seconds (hopefully normal?) does the process/steps I took sound ok?? See pic(after about 60hrs into fermentation)

 

[Culbetron]

Woohoo, congrats!

You may want to sparge a little bit warmer, but who cares?

 

[jcs401]

Sorry, I sparged at 175 degrees! Lol my mistake, I meant the mash tun held at 156

 

[Brindles]

Personally I've never got to worried about conversion percentage. My general rule of thumb is follow a suggested recipe and add 10 percent 1 lb of base malt is cheap in the big scheme of things.

 

[Brindles]

Plus JCS401 from the pic it looks like you could add a spot more water if you wanted to hit the exact recipe SG. But like me I'm sure you will enjoy the extra taste of the slightly higher SG?