All Grain Hefe Help!!!!

[cameronwoolery]

I got an all grain Hefe kit from Midwest Supplies - Homebrewing and Winemaking

Apparently this is way above my current level. I am seeing terms that I have never encountered before and "The Home Brewers Bible" is only a little helpful.

This is the time for all you experts out there to shine and help a rookie!!

The kit contained a HUGE bag of grains that I had crushed prior to shipment,
1oz of bittering hops, and the priming sugar.

Several Questions:

1. How do I prepare strike water? Never heard of it before.
2. Protein rest? (It's in the Bible, havent read it yet)
3. The instructions says to "mix the crushed grain into the mash tun along with the strike water and mix thoroughly as you go (avoid dry pockets)". What are "dry pockets"
4.Starch conversion, is it as simple as tasting if the wort is sweet or not? Is sweet a good or bad thing?
5. Sparge?
6. Quick flow rates?
7. Mash Tun?

There is alot to cover here, and some may not want to take the time to explain it all. LOL. But if anyone could at least point me in the right direction, I would be greatly appreciative.

CHEERS!

 

[Dark_Ale]

How many pounds of grain do you have and what grains do you have

 

[GuldTuborg]

This is a good primer. It's two editions old now, but most of the information is still spot on.

How to Brew - By John Palmer - Brewing Your First All-Grain Beer

 

[starrfish]

Do you have the ability to do a full boil (minimum of 7/8 gallon pot, like a turkey frier)? If so, Brew In A Bag mashing might be your ticket, basically like steeping specialty grains, except all grain used is in a 5gallon paint strainer bag, for 60min at a specific temp... My last hefe was a infusion mash BIAB, and it came out fantastic.

1. How do I prepare strike water? Never heard of it before. - Heating water to desired temp before adding grains (temp drop from water to adding grains ((mash temp)) is usually about 18°
2. Protein rest? (It's in the Bible, havent read it yet) - (infusion mash is easier, 1 temp through whole mash process (about an hour)
3. The instructions says to "mix the crushed grain into the mash tun along with the strike water and mix thoroughly as you go (avoid dry pockets)". What are "dry pockets"-
I stir my mash to evenly soak crushed grains you'll feel the dough balls if you bring one to surface they will not have a wet center... leading to poor efficiency. I continue to stir evry 15min through mash when checking temp.
4.Starch conversion, is it as simple as tasting if the wort is sweet or not? Is sweet a good or bad thing? - Sweet is good, but it will not taste as sweet as you think it will. easiest test is the iodine starch conversion test... very simple and pretty accurate
5. Sparge? - Rinsing of grains.... not needed with BIAB (i do squeeze the bag though, to extract most of trapped liquid)
6. Quick flow rates? - Flow rates for rinsing grains can be pretty important with Fly sparging not so much with batch sparging (I fly sparge and I use about a 45min rinse to run a total volume of 6.5 gal
7. Mash Tun? - vessel used to hold grains while mashing.

 

[wailingguitar]

Have you done All Grain before?

-Strike water is the water that goes into the mash tun with the grain.
-Protein rest may or may not be necessary depending on the particular grains in the kit, does it say?
-Starch conversion is pretty much a given if your mash temperature is correct and you give it sufficient time. If you really want to check it, get some iodine, take a sample of the mash in a spoon, drop a couple drops of iodine in it, if it turns purple conversion isn't complete.
-dry pockets simply refers to grain that didn't get mixed well with the strike water.
-Flow rate, when you run off your wort form the mash tun, you should be shooting for about 45 minutes+ to complete the process. Running off faster runs the risk of leaving some of the sugar behind in the grain. Think of the process as soaking the sugars out of the grain and then rinsing them free. Go to fast and you leave some behind. You will still have beer, it will still be good, but it will have less body, flavor and alcohol
-mash tun, the vessel in which you mix the grain and strike water, and in many cases you also use it to lauter which is the rinsing of the sugars from the mash.
-Sparge, the act of rinsing the sugars from the mash

If you are unfamiliar with the terms sparging and mash tun, I might suggest going back to the books before you tackle the all grain. It is actually easy, it really is, you just have to understand the procedure. Luck to ya!

 

[kh54s10]

Sounds like you needed to order an extract kit but got an all grain kit. You cannot brew the all grain kit without the proper equipment. Call Midwest Supplies and see if you can get it exchanged.

If you want to brew the all grain kit. Put it in the refrigerator and forget about it until you have researched and know about all the terms that you have asked about.

 

[cameronwoolery]

I have 10lbs of grain

 

[cameronwoolery]

Thank you Starfish! Very informative!

Wailingguitar,
This is my first all grain brew. Can you tell? LOL

From what I am reading here, I am in WAAAAAY over my head here. I dont have a Mash Tun, I'll get one eventually. I may have to do what was suggested and just wait until i get all of my research complete. Do I have to refridgerate the grains? Or am i ok at room temp?

 

[cameronwoolery]

I have contacted the company and if they agree to the return, then I will do so. If not, then I will have to save the kit until I can make it, or find someone local who can use it.

I appreciate everyones help!! As I said to a member in a private message, It is great to see more experienced brewers so helpful to us junior most brewers. I look forward to brewing a more compatable batch to my skill level. One day, I will make it to the level of using the more advanced equipment, but for now I have a lot to learn.

Thanks everyone

Cheers

 

[starrfish]

MidWest has a very good return policy... grains should be kept at room temp yeast should be refridgerated, esp. if it's a liquid culture.

Look into Brew In A Bag, as an intro to all grain brewing (lot's of posts on it here). Just about the easiest way to go all grain. If you know any other brewers in the area, they may help out with some "loaner" equipment. I had a buddy who wanted to see how all-grain was done (he's an extract brewer with 3 batches under his belt), He bought the Ingredients, used my 10 gallon pot, and burner (did a BIAB) racked to his fermenter, and away he went! helped him bottle at his place a few weeks later. His comment: "just like steeping specialty grains, just more of them & more temp critical. Pretty easy!"