1st All Grain Observations

[EuBrew]

The first batch ever is in the carboy, man I hope it turns into beer!!

Several obversations and thoughts for improvement.

1. POS timer on the turkey fryer needs to be bypassed, hitting up the gas supply house tomorrow to fix that. Stupid thing shut off randomly at least 6 times during the brew.

2. OG WAY WAY OFF!!! I was shooting for 1.056 and ended up at 1.035. Way to bang out that 40% eff, faneffentastic Several things that are probably to blame (not me or my methods of course:cross The grind I got from my LHBS was suspect at best. There were a ton of grains in the 10 lbs of 2 row that didn't look like they'd even been touched, by a ton I mean 50% or more.

First mash, probably didn't stir enough.

Mash temp seemed to be right on, but still not happy with any of my thermometers for accuracy, hope to have keggle MLT ready for next brew in a couple weeks.

3. Lost close to 2 qts of wort from boil kettle because I didn't have a dip tube installed. I figure I'll reboil it at some point and do some testing, maybe a starter for next yeast. Plan to go all electric at some point but I could direct fire my keggle BK when it's done, but I can probably figure out a way to install dip tube until the homebrew fairy leaves some money for me.

4. CFC seemed to function properly though I think I need to slow the flow a little. Tap water was registering around 75 which I thought seemed high but all of my crappy thermometers were close here and it was damn near 100 here today. Didn't read from the carboy for fear of contamination but the strip meter didn't register so it was over 80 so I had to run it in a ice bath for a while to get to 70-75 to pitch yeast.

Lots of lessons learned, wish there were a way to increase the OG but it's already in the carboy so I'll just have some weak beer. Thanks to everyone on here for the support and tips!! Hopefully when I wake up in the morining I'll have signs of active fermentation!!!

I may be naive but I make up for that with inexperience!! :rockin:

 

[david_42]

Next time run the grain through the mill twice or even three times, if they don't want to adjust the gap.

 

[SamuraiSquirrel]

I had the same thing happen with my first batch. Efficiency was only 55-60%. I boiled it down from 5 to 3.5 gallons so I'd get a little closer to my target O.G. Crush from LHBS was suspect. Bought a mill for second batch and efficiency was spot on.

If you have to use mill at LHBS +1 on double milling.

 

[SamuraiSquirrel]

If you want to narrow down the problem and determine if it was LHBS without buying grain mill then order grain for next batch from Brewmaster's Warehouse already crushed.

Everyone rants & raves about the crush from them.

 

[Zen_Brew]

On the efficiency it can be tricky and several variables come into play. I find my efficiency is still more variable than I would like and generally falls low. To combat this I have a refractometer that allows me to check my gravity during the boil. If I find it is falling short I keep some appropriately styled DME on hand to bump it up towards my taget OG in the last 15-20 minutes of the boil.

 

[DeathBrewer]

The first batch ever is in the carboy, man I hope it turns into beer!!

Several obversations and thoughts for improvement.

1. POS timer on the turkey fryer needs to be bypassed, hitting up the gas supply house tomorrow to fix that. Stupid thing shut off randomly at least 6 times during the brew.

That's kinda weak but probably not a big deal. Times don't have to be perfect...it'll still make great beer!

2. OG WAY WAY OFF!!! I was shooting for 1.056 and ended up at 1.035. Way to bang out that 40% eff, faneffentastic Several things that are probably to blame (not me or my methods of course:cross The grind I got from my LHBS was suspect at best. There were a ton of grains in the 10 lbs of 2 row that didn't look like they'd even been touched, by a ton I mean 50% or more.

If this is true than that is definitely your problem. I tried to handcrush 3 lbs of grain last week and it was not working. I spent 20 minutes at it and then said "**** it" and ended up getting 20% efficiency...I now have a barley crusher on the way for my stored grain batches. Luckily, my LHBS has a great crush when I buy direct.

First mash, probably didn't stir enough.

Probably not your problem. Sometimes I don't stir at all...I get fine efficiency. Stirring helps, but is not necessary, especially with a longer mash time.

Mash temp seemed to be right on, but still not happy with any of my thermometers for accuracy, hope to have keggle MLT ready for next brew in a couple weeks.

I find glass thermometers work best. Mash in, stir well, throw the thermometer in, close it up and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then check after the temp equalizes within the mash.

3. Lost close to 2 qts of wort from boil kettle because I didn't have a dip tube installed. I figure I'll reboil it at some point and do some testing, maybe a starter for next yeast. Plan to go all electric at some point but I could direct fire my keggle BK when it's done, but I can probably figure out a way to install dip tube until the homebrew fairy leaves some money for me.

Easy fix...you can intall a dip tube with false bottom, a side dip-tube and use whirlpool, siphon, etc. There are tons of options.

4. CFC seemed to function properly though I think I need to slow the flow a little. Tap water was registering around 75 which I thought seemed high but all of my crappy thermometers were close here and it was damn near 100 here today. Didn't read from the carboy for fear of contamination but the strip meter didn't register so it was over 80 so I had to run it in a ice bath for a while to get to 70-75 to pitch yeast.

Good call, you definitely don't want to be fermenting in the 70s, either. Keep it on ice if necessary.

Lots of lessons learned, wish there were a way to increase the OG but it's already in the carboy so I'll just have some weak beer. Thanks to everyone on here for the support and tips!! Hopefully when I wake up in the morining I'll have signs of active fermentation!!!

You can still throw some extract in if you want. Just boil it in a small amount of water for 10 minutes, cool it down and throw it in. I do this on purpose sometimes when I'm stepping up belgians or other strong beers.

 

[Mongo64]

Are you using any software such as Beersmith, Promash, etc. I think either one will give you your preboil gravity target. Then after your sparge, you can then check your gravity in your boilpot and adjust with DME as necessary.

Also measuring your volumes accurately and getting your brewing software adjusted to your equipment and brewing process will help lots. I would reccomend you focus on consistency and let the total brewhouse efficency fall where it may. That way on brewday you'll end up with the wort you set out to make.

When I first started with all-grain brewing I thought I had an efficiency problem too. In my case i wasn't measuring volumes correctly, nor was i accounting for boil-off and trub losses correctly. Once I got the real numbers plugged into the software I got much better results.

 

[EuBrew]

I've got Beersmith and I used it to the t on this recipe. Got a bucket from HD with the volumes on it to measure accurately and used my digital kitchen scale for the grain bill and hops. I will have to pick up some DME for the next attempt. I didn't expect to hit 75% first shot, but 40% kills me. Live and learn. I just hope my fermentation starts soon!

 

[DeathBrewer]

With the low gravity, it doesn't need much yeast. It might have finished while you were sleeping.