Attention new all grain brewers!

[user 51917]

so with Beersmith
mash in with 20 Quarts
absorbtion of almost 2 gallons
2 sparges with 2 gallons a piece
assuming a loss of 1/4 Q in tun
pre boil volume of almost 7 gallons
assuming a boil off rate of 15% and cooling loss of 4%
post boil volume of 5 1/2 gallons
loss to trub in fermentor of a couple quarts
gets you near 5 finished product

 

[Denny]

Rich,
I am new to AG and i have a quesion about a recipe that i want to try. It is a Bourbon Vanilla Porter and it has 16 lbs of grain is how much water would you use to sparge for a 5 gal batch

Does that happen to be my recipe? I mash about 1.6-1.75 qt./lb. Then sparge with enough water to get your boil volume. Are you fly or batch sparging?

 

[Mysticmead]

Rich,
I am new to AG and i have a quesion about a recipe that i want to try. It is a Bourbon Vanilla Porter and it has 16 lbs of grain is how much water would you use to sparge for a 5 gal batch

simple answer.... drain your mash tun and measure the amount collected from first running in kettle. add the remaining water needed to reach pre-boil volume as sparge water. vorlauf and drain to kettle.

more complicated answers.. read the posts above.

 

[Denny]

simple answer.... drain your mash tun and measure the amount collected from first running in kettle. add the remaining water needed to reach pre-boil volume as sparge water. vorlauf and drain to kettle.

Absolutely. That's why I asked if he was batch sparging.

 

[brewkinger]

That's a mighty good tip. Also, it's not a bad idea to keep a few pounds of light DME handy, so you really don't have to worry about efficiency.


TL

So, I am planning on moving to AG in the next year or so and I thought (quite correctly I might add!) that this thread would be a great place to start.

If I am truly understanding this AG thing, does this quote essentially mean that after I am all done with an AG attempt, if my gravity is low (which means that my efficiency was low?) that I merely add light DME until my gravity is up where I want it??

 

[OlieNH]

So, I am planning on moving to AG in the next year or so and I thought (quite correctly I might add!) that this thread would be a great place to start.

If I am truly understanding this AG thing, does this quote essentially mean that after I am all done with an AG attempt, if my gravity is low (which means that my efficiency was low?) that I merely add light DME until my gravity is up where I want it??

I use a refractometer and BeerSmith when All-grain brewing. When you have all of your wort in the kettle ready to boil, take a refractometer reading and determine your pre-boil gravity. Beersmith will automatically tell you what this should be. For example, if I am doing a 60-minute boil on my Breakfast Stout with a target OG of 1.087, my pre-boil gravity will likely be 1.077. BeerSmith accounts for the boil off and is usually spot on.

If my pre-boil gravity is way off, I will add some DME or Corn Sugar to bring it up. If I am within a few points, I will start the boil and take another measurement about 15 minutes from the end of the boil. If I am off at that point, I will add whatever DME I need to hit my target OG.

The nice thing about most refractometers is that they can measure hot wort. You only use 1 drop of liquid, so it cools on the instrument immediately.

 

[kodyind]

Does that happen to be my recipe? I mash about 1.6-1.75 qt./lb. Then sparge with enough water to get your boil volume. Are you fly or batch sparging?

Denny
Yes it is yours, and tell me how either way, i have not decided to fly or batch. Thanks for your help and this recipe sounds great

Jim

 

[Denny]

Denny
Yes it is yours, and tell me how either way, i have not decided to fly or batch. Thanks for your help and this recipe sounds great

Jim

Well, if you batch sparge it's easy. Decide on your mash ratio and mash with that amount of water. After you run it off, measure how much you got from the mash. Subtract that from the ampunt you want to boil. The answer you get is how much to sparge with.

 

[Brew-Dawg]

I batch spared for the first time and my efficiency improved from 75% to 81% - yeah! - but even after using Irsh moss at the usual rate, my beer remained cloudy.
It tastes phenomenal though! My next brew I fly-sparged (same as the past 15 years) and hit 75% as expected, then got a little distracted by a new 'assistant/home-brew drinker' and forgot Irish moss and the damn beer is cloudy again! understand that it still tastes phenomenal!

 

[Mysticmead]

I batch spared for the first time and my efficiency improved from 75% to 81% - yeah! - but even after using Irsh moss at the usual rate, my beer remained cloudy.
It tastes phenomenal though! My next brew I fly-sparged (same as the past 15 years) and hit 75% as expected, then got a little distracted by a new 'assistant/home-brew drinker' and forgot Irish moss and the damn beer is cloudy again! understand that it still tastes phenomenal!

what style of beer? are you dry hopping? are you doing anything post fermentation to clear the beer like cold crashing? gelatin? bio-fine clear?

 

[Brew-Dawg]

what style of beer? are you dry hopping? are you doing anything post fermentation to clear the beer like cold crashing? gelatin? bio-fine clear?

It's 10 gals of Pale Ale so it is very evident - looks like a Wheat (but none used). I added 4 oz of Hops at knockout, so maybe that's it. I have never used a fining agent (never had to) and cold crashing was not possible. I kegged it all and it is very good. My wife says to serve it in a ceramic stein!

 

[Mysticmead]

honestly, its just a visual thing. you can add bio-fine clear in the keg and give it 24-48 hours to drop clear or use gelatin in the keg. I use bio-fine if I want a crystal clear beer. If I don't really care of it is a bit cloudy, then I skip the finings (other than whirlfloc during the boil). serve it in ceramics if you think that people will judge the beer based on sight otherwise, serve and enjoy

 

[heybonehead44]

thanks everyone for the posts, i'll be sure to follow these guidelines when brewing my first all grain brew in a few weeks!

 

[Puddlethumper]

All you need to do is figure 1 to 1 1/4 quarts of water per pound of grain for the mash and about 1/2 gallon of water per pound of grain for sparging.
:

Thanks for the post on this topic. I've done a half dozen batches of AG and keep coming up short on my OG numbers and am looking for some answers.

You suggest 1.25 qts/lb grain which is what I have been trying to do. I was reading Palmer's "How to Brew" tonight and he suggests 1.5 - 2.0 qts./lb. grain and was thinking maybe this was an area where I was off the beam a tad. This point seems critical to me. Could you please explain why the different opinion on this?

Thanks.

 

[eyedoctodd]

You need to look at your recent numbers and determine if you are CONSISTENTLY low on your OG numbers. If so, then just adjust your efficiency in your calculations. I brew a variety of beers from pale ales to maibocks with target OG varying from 1.045 to 1.070 and they all have a hard limit of 10 gallons available space in my mash tun. Accordingly, my mash thickness (water to grain ratio) varies more than other things in my process, yet I still hit 78% efficiency. Here is also a place where the efficiency number doesn't matter (to a large extent) but consistency does. If you are hell bent on raising efficiency (I say place your efforts elsewhere for now) then look at your lauter tun deadspace and your lautering technique first.

 

[Puddlethumper]

If you are hell bent on raising efficiency (I say place your efforts elsewhere for now) then look at your lauter tun deadspace and your lautering technique first.

Your points were well taken. I've learned quite a lot through discussions on this site. That has helped me better understand what I'm reading so I revisited chapters on this subject in How to Brew. I felt I had a lot better handle on what I was doing and why as I made a batch of amber ale yesterday. And I hit the projected low side OG. And the wort tastes great.

I love it when a plan comes together!

Thanks!

 

[jdauria]

If I am truly understanding this AG thing, does this quote essentially mean that after I am all done with an AG attempt, if my gravity is low (which means that my efficiency was low?) that I merely add light DME until my gravity is up where I want it??

Yes. And here's how to do it...take your recipe's Target Starting Gravity (post boil) x target batch size to get targeted gravity units. Then take your actual gravity x your actual volume to get actual gravity points. Take the difference and divide by 45 (gravity units of DME) to get the amount in lbs of DME to add.

For example if Target Gravity was 1.061 and 5.5 gallons is batch size, then 61 x 5.5 = 335.5 gravity units. Then say your gravity was only 1.052 and you only had 5.25 gallons, (52 x 5.25 = 286 GU's). 335.5-286 = 49.5/45 = 1.1 lbs of DME to add.

Another option is to just keep boiling, you will have less beer, but will hit your target. In this case, you take your actual gravity units and divide by targeted gravity. So with the example of above 286 GU divided by 61 = 4.69 gallons. This is the amount you would boil down to in order to hit your gravity, so in this case, you would have .81 gallons less of beer.

 

[TheFermentedCook]

Thank you for the info, did my first recipe yesterday and had an issue with how much liquid to sparge and mash with, I simply followed the recipe instructions and scaled it down. Fell a little short, but will use this ratio from now on!

 

[gommy]

Quarts are they American or euro size

 

[NickTheGreat]

I am about to do my first AG brew sometime soon. I have all the parts to make my mash tun, and will do that sometime this weekend.

I've done two extracts, and a partial mash (all from kits). A Red Ale, Wheat, and a tribute to the New Glarus Spotted Cow.

What would be a good suggestion for a good starting AG recipe? I am scared to start this, and if I had a good recipe to follow I'd feel a bit better

 

[Denny]

Don't be scared....once you do it, you'll say "is that all there is to it?" As for a recipe, I recommend a simple pale ale so you don't have to worry about water too much and you can concentrate on procedures.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Don't be scared....once you do it, you'll say "is that all there is to it?" As for a recipe, I recommend a simple pale ale so you don't have to worry about water too much and you can concentrate on procedures.

That's what I keep telling myself. I wanted to ease into brewing, so I started with extracts. But I'm ready to do it for real. I just need to find a recipe and go with it. I'll explore around here a bit more.

Thanks for the advice :rockin:

 

[masonsjax]

AG is nothing to be nervous about. Learning the process is half the fun. As far as recipes go, style doesn't matter so much, just keep it simple. You don't want to worry about decoction, sour mash, or pushing the limits of how much grain/water will fit in your mash tun until you're more familiar with your new equipment. A simple pale ale is a good suggestion. Have fun!

 

[Cider123]

I would start with a known recipe that have fewer steps. If I were to start at your place again, I'd go to northernbrewer.com. Go to Learn, then Documentation, then All-grain kits.
Take some time to cruise the different styles. Find something that has less steps. Like just one mash temp and then a mash out only. I believe they even have some kits for beginners. Easier to follow, but still really good beer.
I don't even order from northernbrewer( I don't have a good reason why) but I do go to that site to cruise all the different recipes. When I find one, I usually order the ingredients separately on my own, but I like the options.

Good luck, take your time, and have fun. In the end, you make beer.:rockin:

 

[NickTheGreat]

Thanks again, fellas. I think I'm ready to graduate from the kits, so I just need to find an interesting recipe and go with it. I'm lucky that my LHBS is excellent, so if I go in with a recipe list, they'll be able to guide me a bit.

 

[MaxStout]

Don't even buy an AG kit. Determine what you want to brew, and buy the ingredients fresh. Part of the freedom of going AG is not being tied to kits with ingredients that have been sitting who knows how long on a shelf at the LHBS.

A SMaSH brew might be a good way to get started.

 

[Denny]

That's what I keep telling myself. I wanted to ease into brewing, so I started with extracts. But I'm ready to do it for real. I just need to find a recipe and go with it. I'll explore around here a bit more.

Thanks for the advice :rockin:

10 lb. pale malt, 1 lb. C60. Hop to about 40ish IBU with your favorite American hop, dry hop with your favorite dry hop, pitch your favorite American yeast (like WY1056, 1272, 1450, or US05), ferment in the mid 60s.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Thanks again, fellas. I think I'm ready to graduate from the kits, so I just need to find an interesting recipe and go with it. I'm lucky that my LHBS is excellent, so if I go in with a recipe list, they'll be able to guide me a bit.

Pick a beer style that you like to drink. I think that most amber ales and American Pale Ales are pretty simple to do. Like another contributor suggested, pick something simple.

There's really nothing that hard about simple AG brewing. Keep in mind that the only difference between all grain and extract is that you are making the wort yourself instead of buying it in a can or jar.

Simple steps:

1. Heat about 6-7 gallons of water to about 165F, add half the water to your mash tun, stir in the malt, stir in enough more water to get 20-24 qts. and let it set for an hour.
2. Stir and check the temperature every 20 minutes or so. Don't sweat a small temperature drop but do add more hot water if it drops below 145F.
3. Drain it off and add enough 180F water to the grain so you'll end up with about 6 3/4 gallons for your boil.
4. Let that sit for 15 minutes, drain it off and you will be exactly where you would have been if you'd bought the extract and added hot water to it.

+1 to the advice to get some education from some of the available on-line sources, but if you pick a simple beer to make and follow these 4 steps you'll end up with a pretty good batch of beer.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Thanks again, guys. I've been perusing through the recipe section and found a few that look interesting. I started on my mash tun last night, hit a snag, but think I'm okay now.

 

[nianticcardplayer]

My first all grain brew was the blue moon clone posted here and my second was the SNPA from the December/January BYO magazine both very simple to do. I like many people went from Mr. Beer to 5 Gallon Extract with steeping, to mini/partial mashing to all grain......I can see myself in the winter going to partial mashing if it gets to cold outside to sit and watch the boil......but I do love the act of having moved to all grain..