With my Grainfather. I have been putting it off simply because life has gotten in the way. Brew today is going to be a simple Single Hop Pale ale. One I have done many times. I am going to try the app as well and see how this works out. Wish me luck. LOL
About to embark on my first brew
- Thread starter redrocker652002
- Start date
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In the boiling stage. Pre boil Og est 1.048 Actual 1.052. LOL. Guess I am better than I thought. LOL.
So, we are done now and I am running the hot wort thru the CF chiller to sanitize it. I think I read it needs to go thru for 15 mins before I start to cool? any help immediately would be most appreciated.
shoengine
Whale Noun Member
I've seen the rule of thumb anywhere between 10-15 minutes. The important part is to get the entire rig up to temperature.
Some things I took away from this first brew. Damn, it was so nice not to have to worry about my temp. I set it at 152 and minus about a half a degree either way, it stayed there. Using the app and blue tooth was really cool too. Ramped up for a mash out without me even setting it.
Now, the cleanup, while easier, still took a bit of time. But, very little scrubbing and the bottom and top of the mash basket fits in the dishwasher, so in they went along with the lid and the overflow pipe and other things. I still need to clean the basket by hand and the hop spider I bought, but that is easy compared to the mess I had to clean with the propane burner and pot.
My numbers came out interesting too. My preboil was estimated at 1.048 and came out to be 1.052. Not a big deal really. My OG into the fermenter was estimated at 1.055 and hit about 1.058 if I am reading my handwriting correctly. My in the bucket batch size was supposed to be 5.5 gallons and I ended up a bit over 5 so that was pretty close as well.
Now, I have it sitting in the ferm fridge at about 67 degrees using Bry97 as my yeast. I looked and the fermenting temp range is between 59 and 72 so I tried to hit the middle. I might drop it to 65 in the morning. I think I might be a bit too hot, but we will see. The only stupid thing I did was when I was cutting the yeast packet, I dropped the piece I cut off into the fermenter, but I did spray it with Starsan before I cut it, so I hope I am ok. Also, when I was using the pump to transfer the wort from the Grainfather to the bucket, the tubing was in the wort as it was pumping out. I did not sanitize it, but I am hoping that running the hot wort thru it while I was sanitizing the chiller was enough, but who knows. I guess we will see in a few weeks.
All in all, it was a much easier brew day and once I get a few "bugs" worked out, I think this is going to be a great setup for me.
Any comments or input to my stupid stuff is welcomed. LOL.
Now, the cleanup, while easier, still took a bit of time. But, very little scrubbing and the bottom and top of the mash basket fits in the dishwasher, so in they went along with the lid and the overflow pipe and other things. I still need to clean the basket by hand and the hop spider I bought, but that is easy compared to the mess I had to clean with the propane burner and pot.
My numbers came out interesting too. My preboil was estimated at 1.048 and came out to be 1.052. Not a big deal really. My OG into the fermenter was estimated at 1.055 and hit about 1.058 if I am reading my handwriting correctly. My in the bucket batch size was supposed to be 5.5 gallons and I ended up a bit over 5 so that was pretty close as well.
Now, I have it sitting in the ferm fridge at about 67 degrees using Bry97 as my yeast. I looked and the fermenting temp range is between 59 and 72 so I tried to hit the middle. I might drop it to 65 in the morning. I think I might be a bit too hot, but we will see. The only stupid thing I did was when I was cutting the yeast packet, I dropped the piece I cut off into the fermenter, but I did spray it with Starsan before I cut it, so I hope I am ok. Also, when I was using the pump to transfer the wort from the Grainfather to the bucket, the tubing was in the wort as it was pumping out. I did not sanitize it, but I am hoping that running the hot wort thru it while I was sanitizing the chiller was enough, but who knows. I guess we will see in a few weeks.
All in all, it was a much easier brew day and once I get a few "bugs" worked out, I think this is going to be a great setup for me.
Any comments or input to my stupid stuff is welcomed. LOL.
I did some reading, and they say to get the water up to about 132 with the PBW (I use a different cleaner, but the same stuff really) and turn on the pump and pump it thru both the recirc arm and the counter chiller for 15 mins. I did that and then flushed everything out with hot water for another 15 mins.
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Estimates are just that, estimates. If you keep thorough and accurate records of your brew session you can go back into your equipment profile and make some adjustments. In the future your estimates will more closely match real world results. Also don't get hung up too much on the numbers... we make beer, not numbers. Nobody is going to take a sip of a beer and say 'this tastes like the FG was a bit high'. What is important is did you make good beer?
Those two variables - lower post boil volume and OG - yes, you will get a higher OG with a reduced batch size. So .. try and hit your batch size or get closer and the OG should be closer.
Keep brewing and taking notes. In your beer recipe software, you can also tweak your mash efficiency and brew house efficiency to match your equipment and brewing efficiency.
Keep brewing and taking notes. In your beer recipe software, you can also tweak your mash efficiency and brew house efficiency to match your equipment and brewing efficiency.
Thank you and you are right. I have said that to others as well. So far, in my 3 plus years of brewing I have had one go bad so I think that is pretty good. This machine is really easy and gives me a piece of mind in the temp dept that made this a much more enjoyable brew day. Let's see how it comes out, but for now, I am very happy with how things worked out.
Also, the one thing I forgot to mention was the initial mash was very thick. I am not sure why, but my grain bill was about 10.5 pounds and my water input was only about 4.5 gallons. It seemed much thicker than I have had in the past and part of my issue was that I added the grain fast so it took a bit to get the grain and water mixed in. I am thinking next time that the mash water should be a bit more closer to 5 gallons, but we shall see.
