Attention new all grain brewers!

[jds]

I am confused now. Is it gallons or quarts. THe sticky reads 1-1.25 QUARTS for mash and .5 GALLONS for sparge. Is this correct? Colorado seems to think it is not...

For peak sparging efficiency, yes. Lately, I've been mashing thinner (like 2 qt/lb mash thickness) and sparging less. I'm only losing around 3% in brewhouse efficiency this way, but the thinner mash is easier to work with.

You have to remember, these numbers aren't carved in stone anywhere. You can adjust up or down as you wish, and you'll still be in the right neighborhood. I personally don't like to mash with less than 1 qt/lb, because it makes the mash hard to stir and slow to drain -- but again, it's a question of preferences. A big part of the art of brewing is figuring out how the process works FOR YOU, and then tweaking it as you need to. Frankly, I'd rather have a consistent 75% brewhouse efficiency with less hassle.

 

[brewagentjay]

Thanks for the shout-out. I actually moved the directions/calculator to here and corrected some errors. I had a problem printing from the geocities site, because of their advertisement scheme.

Mike

This makes me think I can do this sooner that I thought. Amazing Site. Thanks.:rockin:

 

[fbi365]

For peak sparging efficiency, yes. Lately, I've been mashing thinner (like 2 qt/lb mash thickness) and sparging less. I'm only losing around 3% in brewhouse efficiency this way, but the thinner mash is easier to work with.

You have to remember, these numbers aren't carved in stone anywhere. You can adjust up or down as you wish, and you'll still be in the right neighborhood. I personally don't like to mash with less than 1 qt/lb, because it makes the mash hard to stir and slow to drain -- but again, it's a question of preferences. A big part of the art of brewing is figuring out how the process works FOR YOU, and then tweaking it as you need to. Frankly, I'd rather have a consistent 75% brewhouse efficiency with less hassle.

Thanks JDS for articulating this. I feel like using more water in the mash has given me the results I prefer. Though, this is just a gut feeling, nothing I have observed empirically.

 

[jds]

Thanks JDS for articulating this. I feel like using more water in the mash has given me the results I prefer. Though, this is just a gut feeling, nothing I have observed empirically.

That is exactly what it's all about -- getting the results YOU want, not the results a book or a podcast host or another HBT poster says you should be getting. Brew what you like, how you like, and you'll always have good beer to drink.

 

[mattpicard]

I am new to all grain. It seems like topping off if you come up short is not an option in all grain like it is in extract. Is this right? What is the difference?

Also, if I run the amount of sparge water through my mash tun as recommended, the runnings become much more grassy and bitter after a while. Do I want to leave these out or just forget about that and add the correct amount pre-boil?

THanks.

 

[Denny]

I am new to all grain. It seems like topping off if you come up short is not an option in all grain like it is in extract. Is this right? What is the difference?

You can certainly top of if you want or need to.

 

[DeathBrewer]

If I hit my efficiency at 5.5 gallons while I'm running off, I'll stop the sparge, let the rest of the mash drain and top off as needed. I've done it before the boil (with boiling water, to help it going) and I've done it after the boil with bottled water (to help with cooling.)

It could effect hop utilization with a more concentrated boil, but for most beers I think it has little to no effect.

 

[BigTexun]

I was reading this thread and noticed that the question about why a 10 gallon tun will drop more in temperature when grain is added than a 10 gallon tun.

I have to ask, is anyone considering the starting temperature of the grain?

Here is an even wilder idea... if you wanted your post-drop Tun temperature to remain the same, would it make sense to pre-heat your grain to say, 150 degrees in your oven?

 

[Synovia]

For peak sparging efficiency, yes. Lately, I've been mashing thinner (like 2 qt/lb mash thickness) and sparging less. I'm only losing around 3% in brewhouse efficiency this way, but the thinner mash is easier to work with.

You have to remember, these numbers aren't carved in stone anywhere. You can adjust up or down as you wish, and you'll still be in the right neighborhood. I personally don't like to mash with less than 1 qt/lb, because it makes the mash hard to stir and slow to drain -- but again, it's a question of preferences. A big part of the art of brewing is figuring out how the process works FOR YOU, and then tweaking it as you need to. Frankly, I'd rather have a consistent 75% brewhouse efficiency with less hassle.

Thinner mash/less sparge will also lead to less PH issues for those of you with hard water.

If you've got hard water, theres a good chance that by the first sparge you've exhausted the buffering capacity of the grain, so minimizing the amount of sparge water can be a good thing.

 

[Denny]

I have to ask, is anyone considering the starting temperature of the grain?

Always. I use Promash to calc my temps, and there is a field for grain temp in the mash screen.

 

[Lefe21]

Wondering if someone can answer a question for me....

Before adding my base malt to a partial mash the other day I got the temp to about 168 F so account for the temp drop when adding the grains. Somehow, someway, the temperature remained close to 170 F for approximately 5 minutes until I added cool water to balance it out and then was constant at 152 for 45 minutes.

I'm fairly new to mashing, and I'm wondering if being at 170 F for a short period of time would result in a lot of unfermentables? Or if this is not enough time to denature any vital enzymes.

Thanks

 

[Denny]

It takes around 20 min. at 170 to denature enzymes.

 

[DeathBrewer]

162°F will begin to denature the enzymes. At 170°F, you're risking extraction of tannins.

However, 5 minutes is probably not a big deal...although your beer might be a bit maltier than expected, because SOME activity took place. If your water was truly 168°F, then I would wager that you were not sitting at 170°F, but that you were reading a hot spot on your thermometer.

 

[Lefe21]

162°F will begin to denature the enzymes. At 170°F, you're risking extraction of tannins.

However, 5 minutes is probably not a big deal...although your beer might be a bit maltier than expected, because SOME activity took place. If your water was truly 168°F, then I would wager that you were not sitting at 170°F, but that you were reading a hot spot on your thermometer.

Thanks for the info. I'm sure it'll turn out fine.

 

[xjncoguyx]

Is 70% efficiency good for my second ever brew?

 

[masonsjax]

I'd say that's quite good. Congrats.

 

[xjncoguyx]

I'd say that's quite good. Congrats.

Fantastic, i kept seeing 75% as default in beersmith and figured i suck, lol. Im sure with some minor adjustments i can get my efficiency up a little higher also. Im still getting familiarized with my sparging and lautering techniques so im sure i'll get even better. Just glad to know im doing alright. This guy took off like a champ too, now i understand why proper yeast pitching amounts help. This is 12 hours in

 

[Keepthedrive]

Hi there,
I am hoping to do my first AG within the next 3 weeks...but im scared. I really want to make sure I get a good efficiency, but not overdo my wort boil bc my pot is only 7.5 gallons, maybe 8. but thats all the way to the brim of the pot im pretty sure.

So Ive been thinking of ways to mash but also maintain an exact temp using my 10gallon gatorade cooler and/or my brew pot...and I thought the other day, why not throw all your water and grains into your brew pot and get them up to your desired mash temp...say 148, then stick it into your oven with the temp set to as low as it will go. for my oven, this is 170 degrees, but with the lid off the pot to allow the water temp to dissipate off the top slowly, and with the fact that it would be such a large amount of water, the oven would not really be able to raise all of the water and grains past 154 within an hour, so I figure it would stay within the 145-155 range.

Then after an hour mash, dump everything into your cooler with the false bottom and drain and sparge back into the brew pot?

If that did not work, is it possible to do the same thing with the water and grains directly into your brew pot, get everything up to mashing temp, and then put the flame on your stove to low and put the cover on the brew pot to maintain the mash temp for an hour??? then pour into your mashing tun to sparge....
Has anyone tried either of these methods??? Would this not maintain an exact temp of 148 or whatever you desire?

thanks for all your time and help to a fellow newbie AG-ist.

 

[Denny]

Sure, you can do that, but what a hassle! Why not try it the "normal" way first and se what happens. If it was as big a problem as you fear, none of us would be doing it any other way! And I doubt it would maintain the temp any more accurately than just mashing in the cooler.

 

[Keepthedrive]

But this wouldnt be any harder than mashing in the cooler...Plus, I have done a couple partial mashes, and it seems that my cooler does drop from my desired mash temp quite a bit, once it dropped down to 135 degrees after an hour had passed, and it started at 152...

 

[DanPoch]

Be careful of mashing in the oven especially with the top of the mash OFF. Your water will evaporate rapidly, you will have to keep opening it and adding water. I think you'd be better off to wrap your cooler in a couple of blankets or towels to minimize heat loss.

 

[DanPoch]

And, yes I've done the 'mash on the stove-top' method before also, and it too is a real pain. I was doing these for partial mashes that I was doing and ended up buying a 3-gallon cooler for the partials. When I went AG I went with a cooler and a couple of old army blankets. I lost a little heat in my first AG batch (which was done earlier this year), but the resulting beer is A-M-A-Zing.

I offer this IMO for what it's worth. Hope it helps you. Good luck with your first AG batch

 

[Denny]

Boy, it sure sounds a hell of a lot harder to me! Again, why assume you'll have a problem without trying it? Doing an AG batch means you'll have more thermal mass and less likelihood of a temp drop. I mean, it's your brew, do what you want...I'm just trying to help.

 

[fink100]

I would like to try to jump from partial to all grain, but I am worried about my temp control. Thanks for the tips, I think I need to try it soon.

 

[Keepthedrive]

so i did it on the spur last night, following the mashing technique from the killer bee belgian wit recipe...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/killer-bee-belgian-wit-73278/

I used the stovetop/oven technique, was not a problem at all and I was able to maintain temperature dead on...but when I put it in my carboy to ferment, it looked like someone had taken a huge #2...the liquid kind, in my carboy and all this protein haze globules were at the bottom of the carboy...though they took up about 75% of the volume of the carboy, and the rest of the 25% was a murky liquid...enuf said, it didnt look like beer at all.

so that was at 1am this morning when I finished, at 1130am this morning, my brother wakes me up and says I better come take a look...the krausen had filled the airlock and it was bubbling out the wazoo...around 72 F. So I took it into my basement where it is a good amount cooler, and sterilized the top and put in a blow off tube into a mug of water.

I used the wb06 yeast...is this stuff suppose to happen with this yeast, does it act that fast.

But my main question is, does this mean that I did a good job of converting the starches to sugar?

I my grain bill was 3 lbs torrified wheat, 2.5 lbs belgian wheat malt, 5 lbs belgian pils, and 5 oz belg. aromatic.

 

[Powers]

i just finished a mash on a small batch of a pretty big beer. its my first all grain brew. i had about 8 lbs of grains in a 5 gallon pot. i let it sit at 131 for 30 minutes, then brought it up to 149 for 50 minutes. before boiling and adding hops, i checked the SG and it was only 1.020. i was shooting for 1.080, so something has gone incredibly wrong.

the only thing i can surmise is that the grains were not properly milled/crushed. i just poured them from the bags and some were kind of cracked, but not pulverized or anything. any recommendations??

i am actually putting them back into the mash for another hour to see how it goes. could use any advise ASAP!!

 

[Powers]

i remashed for awhile and ended up with a 1.050 result. i had another thread on here with quite a few posts helping point me in the right direction, so no need to continue this discussion here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/very-low-original-gravity-after-mash-need-quick-advice-178238/index2.html#post2064530

 

[erkwist]

Doing my first AG in a couple of days, and as always I start off the "hard way". 15 lb grain bill and me with a 7.5 gal kettle. Going to go for the boil off. This thread has boosted my confidence way up for this and I feel ready. Thanks to everyone's good advice and question asking. Wish me luck.

 

[crummycook]

3# German Wheat
3# German Pilsner
1oz German Spalt Hops
Weihenstephan Yeast Wyeast 3068
2 gallons mash Started at 155 down to 150 in the hour
2 gallons sparge at 174 for 10inutes
1.044 OG for 79% efficiency according to Pro Mash
Used a 24qt coleman for my mash and sparge and worked quite nicely. Pouring su7cks, I have to work on a faucet. I like 3 gallon because I can brew a bigger variety, and, right now I have the equipment, altho humble. Thanks for the great tips from everyone! Small house so fermenter is in the kitchen using the wet t-shirt and fan method - 64 degrees.

 

[Starderup]

One more thing: If you grind your own grain, make sure your cordless drill batteries are charged.
I am positive I charged them both last week, but I guess when they get two or three years old, they lose the charge even if you don't use them. The one in the drill wouldn't even turn. The backup went about half a turn.
Thankfully, I got the Barley Crusher, which comes with a hand crank. It took ten minutes instead of 90 seconds, but I got my batch done.