1st Time All Grain: Looking for Critiques and Suggestions

[Bartlebrewer]

So, this is only my third batch and yesterday I brewed my first 5 gallon and first All-Grain ever. Thought I'd give you guys the run down of what I did and I appreciate any suggestions thoughts you have...

Didn't have a mash/tun and didn't have a large enough pot so I used a turkey fryer and used the BIAB sticky from this site to help. (Thanks Death Brewer)

1. Filled the fryer up with 5 gallons. Seemed like it would overflow so I removed a gallon and went with four

2. Got three gallons of sparge water going on the stovetop in the meantime.

3. I wrapped a giant nylon grain bag around the metal steamer insert that comes with turkey fryers. I attached the bag before the water was hot and the grain was in because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to later. (It took FOREVER to get to 168)

4. After the boil...because my pots are small I removed the grain bag from the fryer and put it in my 7 gallon fermentation bucket. Then I dumped the sparge water in there and let it sit for ten minutes. Then I added what was in the ferment bucket back to the turkey pot which seemed to take only two minutes to get to a crazy boil.

5. It took me 17 minutes to cool the worst down to 85 degrees using an ice bath in the sink.

6. I definately wound up with way less than 5 gallons of wort. I added water but I was afraid of watering it down too much.

7. I wanted to create a dark mild English Ale like a darker Newcastle. This was my recipe...

5lbs 2 row, 2 lbs Maris, 1lb chocolate, 1 lb 120 Crystal w/Safale-04

I did 1oz fuggle at 60 min , and 1oz EKG at 5 min

OG was 1.038, wort tasted sweet but also had a distinct bitter aftertaste


So, if you read this far, I thank you, please let me know where my mistakes were and how I might improve.

Cheers

 

[forstmeister]

I have not done BIAB, but I recall people saying they somehow suspend the grain bag over the kettle and rinse with the sparge water to improve efficiency. Also I hear a lot of people say they squeeze the bag too to get all the sugars out.

Do you know what your intended OG was? The recipe seems a bit low on grain for 5 gallons so I don't know how much higher you could've gotten the OG. Other than that the recipe looks pretty good.

 

[Bartlebrewer]

Yeah, I figured it was a little low on grain. I just mashed the recipe together myself. Searching this site it seemed there were English milds with OGS ranging from 1.035 up to 1.050. Hopefully it'll be good....also, I think the crystal 120 is probably a weird choice but it's what was available close at hand...I'm hope it's not too crazy dark...

 

[DocScott]

4. After the boil...because my pots are small I removed the grain bag from the fryer and put it in my 7 gallon fermentation bucket. Then I dumped the sparge water in there and let it sit for ten minutes. Then I added what was in the ferment bucket back to the turkey pot which seemed to take only two minutes to get to a crazy boil.

Did you boil your grains? If so, you likely extracted some tanins which will lend a bitter/astringent taste to the brew. In the future, try to get your water up to temp first, add your grains so the mash is at your target temp (146-156) and hold it there for an hour or so. Remove your grains and rinse/sparge them. THEN boil the wort. Then add hops etc...

Sure, there are other areas to improve upon, but with the equipment you have and what you posted, this is the biggest thing I see to improve your process.

 

[DocScott]

also, 1 lb of C-120 is going to make this pretty dark and I think pretty cloyingly sweet.

 

[Stirs]

My first BIAB came out at 1.035 instead of 1.046. I use two brew bags now. It's much easier to handle, gets better circulation and drains much quicker when sparging.

 

[Bartlebrewer]

Wow..I didn't realize the crystal 120 would make it sweet...for some reason my brain equates dark with bitter....thanks for the heads up....

as for the boiling, I didn't boil the grains, I just explained it wrong in the post...I think the boil was correct...

as for the low OG...what does that really mean?...will my the resulting beer be low on alcohol? thanks again....

 

[forstmeister]

Wow..I didn't realize the crystal 120 would make it sweet...for some reason my brain equates dark with bitter....thanks for the heads up....

as for the boiling, I didn't boil the grains, I just explained it wrong in the post...I think the boil was correct...

as for the low OG...what does that really mean?...will my the resulting beer be low on alcohol? thanks again....

Yes, low OG means less fermentable sugars. The 120 will make it dark and sweet since it will have lots of unfermentable sugars in it.

Bitterness comes from the hops. You can get roasty and/or biscuity flavors from grains as well as sweetness.