After spending the last few years brewing only extract beers (some pre-hopped, some from base LME or DME) I decided it was about time I tried all grain. A few things helped sway me. Recently I went to an expo where there was a grainfather stand, which got me thinking maybe that's something I ought to think about. But I decided I'd try the concept first, to see if the results were better than extract by enough orders of magnitude to justify the expense.
Then a few weeks back I was watching a Youtube video, and someone mentioned the 'extract twang'. That was it for me. No more convincing needed. I'd had that issue with a lot of my extract beers - perhaps due to the age of the LME, but the cause didn't matter. I was ready to try an AG brew.
I made a 2.5 gal batch (I'm a stovetop brewer), which was a SMaSH pale ale with NZ Cascade hops, NZ Pale Ale malt, and Safale US-05. Having watched so many youtube vids on all grain brewing it made it so much easier. The total time was about 4 hours from start to finish.
What worked well
The overall adoption of the new process
The fact I managed to get 2.5 gal to a boil on my stovetop (I wasn't sure)
The lack of overall 'ordeal' in comparison to an extract brew with a boil
What could have been improved
What went into the fermenter was too strong, and too little. I added water, but because my brother had just arrived I was in a rush to get it finished, and didn't compute the fact that I was only working with 2.5 gal, so added more water than I should have. The OG ended up at 1.041, which is lower than I'd hoped.
The calculation I used for my strikewater temp was a little higher than it actually needed to be, and my mash ended up at about 70 degrees (celsius), not the 68 I was aiming for. I'm not really sure how to avoid this in future. I hoped that by using a calculator I would take the variable out of the mix.
I added the grain too fast into the boil kettle, and it took a long time to stir and break up the dough balls. On reflection, however, this was rather fortunate as the stirring time would have helped it lose more heat.
All things considered, I found the experience really enjoyable and will most definitely be doing it again. It's also been great experiencing what is, in my opinion, one of the most rewarding parts of brewing - seeing the fermentation develop - on a brew that came into my house as nothing more than crushed grain.
Then a few weeks back I was watching a Youtube video, and someone mentioned the 'extract twang'. That was it for me. No more convincing needed. I'd had that issue with a lot of my extract beers - perhaps due to the age of the LME, but the cause didn't matter. I was ready to try an AG brew.
I made a 2.5 gal batch (I'm a stovetop brewer), which was a SMaSH pale ale with NZ Cascade hops, NZ Pale Ale malt, and Safale US-05. Having watched so many youtube vids on all grain brewing it made it so much easier. The total time was about 4 hours from start to finish.
What worked well
The overall adoption of the new process
The fact I managed to get 2.5 gal to a boil on my stovetop (I wasn't sure)
The lack of overall 'ordeal' in comparison to an extract brew with a boil
What could have been improved
What went into the fermenter was too strong, and too little. I added water, but because my brother had just arrived I was in a rush to get it finished, and didn't compute the fact that I was only working with 2.5 gal, so added more water than I should have. The OG ended up at 1.041, which is lower than I'd hoped.
The calculation I used for my strikewater temp was a little higher than it actually needed to be, and my mash ended up at about 70 degrees (celsius), not the 68 I was aiming for. I'm not really sure how to avoid this in future. I hoped that by using a calculator I would take the variable out of the mix.
I added the grain too fast into the boil kettle, and it took a long time to stir and break up the dough balls. On reflection, however, this was rather fortunate as the stirring time would have helped it lose more heat.
All things considered, I found the experience really enjoyable and will most definitely be doing it again. It's also been great experiencing what is, in my opinion, one of the most rewarding parts of brewing - seeing the fermentation develop - on a brew that came into my house as nothing more than crushed grain.