Attention new all grain brewers!

[Bmore2Eazy]

Several people use one in lieu of a false bottom. I've seen people claim they use both. It shouldn't hurt anything.

Thanks, coolers just came in today, waiting on bigger brew kettle before I do my first all grain. Was worried about the efficiency, but may take the hit just for easier clean-up, as long as it is not that significant.

 

[20grit]

You might want to pop into the BIAB portion of the forum. If you have plans for recirc or anything of that sort, then people have a few different ways they address that. But, on the most basic level, it should be fine.

 

[LiterallyTheWorst]

Thanks for the advice. As a new All Grain Brewer, I decided to be pretty cautious and do my math the day prior. I used 6.5 gallons for the 5 gallon mash. I sparged with about 2 liters, and boiled it down to 5 gallons, but I was still short on my OG. Can you help me out? I can go into more detail if you like.

 

[20grit]

You'd need to provide more information.
Did you grind yourself? Complete conversion? Did you take a pre-boil reading?
What was your expected efficiency?

 

[LiterallyTheWorst]

Okay, so I bought pre-milled grains from homebrewsupply.com, as part of a Weizenbock recipe, totalling as follows:

8 lb pale malt
2.5 lb pilsner malt
1 lb caramunich type 3
1/2 lb melanoiden
1/2 lb special B
1/2 lb rice hulls
1/8 lb carafa special type 1

That's about 13 lb, to save you the trouble of maths.

I malted at about 156-158 for nearly three hours. the gravity readings went up very slowly. I used a refractometer and cooled the sample before reading, to ensure accuracy. At 60 minutes, I was only at 25 GU, at 2 hours: 50, at 3: 60ish. After the boil and hops additions, we made it to 65.

the goal for OG was 73, so I fell short by a bit. I'm more perplexed as to why it took so long to extract the sugars during the mash. Surely it's not supposed to take 3 hours to reach gravity.

I believe the recipe plans for about 70% efficiency. I'm new so I haven't had the chance to put together an accurate measure of my own setup's efficiency.

Any suggestions and/ or comments would be appreciated!

 

[LiterallyTheWorst]

Sorry about the second message. My setup is a 10 gallon cooler mash tun, with a Bayou burner and kettle for heating the liquor and for the boil.

 

[20grit]

Your mash temperature is on the high end of the range, but is still in somewhat normal ranges.
Could be grain crush contributing to your issues, but may be other things.
Did you sparge at all?
How much water did you start with? If you sparged, how much water for that? Initial boil volume? Final boil volume?

 

[oakbarn]

The crush was likely the issue. A new home brew shop opened about 8 miles from me vs the 35 miles to the other. I have always had my grain crushed at the LHBS. I did not think the "crush" was good at the new store and it was not. The next time I went to the new store, I ask for a finer "crush" as the last one was not good. He asked me what "crush" I wanted. I have been brewing for years but never did the grain mill thing. I had no idea. Tried to see if it "looked" right. It was not. I have gone back to my Homebrew Headquaterers LHBS as they know how to crush. Twice burnt with low OG from the new store. I suspect that the crush was the issue.

 

[LiterallyTheWorst]

So I'm not sure about the grain crush used. It did seem a little on the coarse side, not as fine as I'd seen before. Like I said, the grain bill was milled and sent out as a kit. I've never done kits before this, so I think I'll go back to my old brew supply company, as I had trouble with the OG on my last batch from this place too.

I started with 6.5 gallons, heated to ~170, pouring into the cooler mash tun brought it down to about 156. Retrieved maybe 5.25 gal from the mash, sparged with 2 L. So initial boil volume was almost 6 gallons, final was right at 5 gal.

You mentioned mash temp. I understand the upper limit, but would wheat based beers mash better at lower temps? Not sure if the type of grain has a large effect on temperature sensitivity.

 

[JusticeBrewers]

Hello.
So I'm brewing my second AG beer (maple porter). I remember that with my first batch I ended up getting a lot of sediment when I bottled.
Any advice on how to eliminate/minimize the sediment in this batch?

 

[Denny]

Hello.
So I'm brewing my second AG beer (maple porter). I remember that with my first batch I ended up getting a lot of sediment when I bottled.
Any advice on how to eliminate/minimize the sediment in this batch?

Did the sediment carry over from the fermenter or did it form after bottling?

 

[JusticeBrewers]

Did the sediment carry over from the fermenter or did it form after bottling?

I think it came from the fermenter when I was siphoning. I did my best not to get near the bottom where it was but I didn't want to waste too much beer.

 

[Trippel-A]

I think it came from the fermenter when I was siphoning. I did my best not to get near the bottom where it was but I didn't want to waste too much beer.

Getting rid of sediment is the only reason I rack to a secondary fermentation. Did you use a secondary in this case?

 

[JusticeBrewers]

Getting rid of sediment is the only reason I rack to a secondary fermentation. Did you use a secondary in this case?

No I did not but that sounds like a really good idea. How exactly would that work? any specific time period i should keep it in the first fermenter before i move it?

 

[ncbrewer]

No I did not but that sounds like a really good idea. How exactly would that work? any specific time period i should keep it in the first fermenter before i move it?

Transferring to secondary isn't as common as it was in the past. I see it as an opportunity for contamination or oxidation. These two BYO articles discuss when to transfer if you choose to:
http://byo.com/stories/issue/item/2966-dextrin-malts-mr-wizard
http://byo.com/stories/article/indices/19-brewing-tips/1389-secondary-ferments-a-chilling-mr-wizard

 

[Denny]

No I did not but that sounds like a really good idea. How exactly would that work? any specific time period i should keep it in the first fermenter before i move it?

If you leave it in primary long enough, a secondary is unnecessary.

 

[JusticeBrewers]

Transferring to secondary isn't as common as it was in the past. I see it as an opportunity for contamination or oxidation. These two BYO articles discuss when to transfer if you choose to:
http://byo.com/stories/issue/item/2966-dextrin-malts-mr-wizard
http://byo.com/stories/article/indices/19-brewing-tips/1389-secondary-ferments-a-chilling-mr-wizard

thank you for the article. some good info in there. Since one of the big worries is oxidation, what if i were to pitch yeast again in the secondary fermenter since yeast feeds on the oxygen and maybe even add more sugars. would this possibly help? also would that add to the abv? (keep in mind I'm new at this. So i'm just making guesses. so if this sounds like a dumb idea or is not how this works at all... please be gentle)

 

[ncbrewer]

There's already enough yeast to finish fermentation - adding more isn't necessary.

 

[Denny]

If you're interested, here's what Palmer had to say about seciondary...https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=15108.msg191642#msg191642

"Therefore I, and Jamil and White Labs and Wyeast Labs, do not recommend racking to a secondary fermenter for ANY ale, except when conducting an actual second fermentation, such as adding fruit or souring. Racking to prevent autolysis is not necessary, and therefore the risk of oxidation is completely avoidable. Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering. With the right pitching rate, using fresh healthy yeast, and proper aeration of the wort prior to pitching, the fermentation of the beer will be complete within 3-8 days (bigger = longer). This time period includes the secondary or conditioning phase of fermentation when the yeast clean up acetaldehyde and diacetyl."

 

[C-Rider]

No I did not but that sounds like a really good idea. How exactly would that work? any specific time period i should keep it in the first fermenter before i move it?

If you keep it in the primary until the yeast is finished eating the sugar and then cleaning itself up that's how long you should keep it in the primary. You will have clear beer w/o a secondary and w/o cold crashing. Have your pipeline full at all stages and you will not be in a hurry to taste your latest brew. I let all beers go at least 3 weeks and usually 4 weeks and I have crystal clear beer all the time.

As you can see my pipeline is not running all that well but that's because a local store here keeps selling "dated" craft beer at prices less than I can brew. Now they have Sam Adams Oktoberfest on sale for $5.99 a 12 pack.

 

[balrog]

@JusticeBrewers, you will get sediment if you bottle, that's the nature of things. You have plenty of yeast in suspension when you bottle, even crystal clear beer. Bottling typically means adding priming sugar for the yeast still in suspension to eat and create the carbonation in the bottle, and when they are done they will drop out to the bottom of the bottle with some proteins and then you'll have bottle sediment.

 

[RichBrewer]

Call me crazy but hasn't this thread gotten way ???

 

[Denny]

If you keep it in the primary until the yeast is finished eating the sugar and then cleaning itself up that's how long you should keep it in the primary. You will have clear beer w/o a secondary and w/o cold crashing. Have your pipeline full at all stages and you will not be in a hurry to taste your latest brew. I let all beers go at least 3 weeks and usually 4 weeks and I have crystal clear beer all the time.

As you can see my pipeline is not running all that well but that's because a local store here keeps selling "dated" craft beer at prices less than I can brew. Now they have Sam Adams Oktoberfest on sale for $5.99 a 12 pack.

FWIW, the cleanup happens simultaneously with fermentation, not after it's done.

 

[balrog]

Call me crazy but hasn't this thread gotten way ???

True. Sorry.

 

[HFR304]

Great info! Thank you everyone for taking the time to school us newbies. I've never brewed before with the exception of helping a buddy with an AG a while back. I'll be attempting my first brew Thursday. I'm starting out with an AG witbier. Hope it turns out good! 🍻

 

[BremBeer]

This is good stuff. I recently dived into all Grain. Lucky my father in law supervised my first one but my second one, o didn't calculate the sparge correctly and turned a five gallon batch into three. Luckily the beer still turned out decently

 

[HFR304]

I'm a little worried that I will make some kind of mistake so I'm going over everything tonight. Gonna start my first AG in the morning. Hopefully it will go smooth.

 

[Bruinsfan]

I'm making the jump to AG, most, if not all my brews will have a 10-12lb grain bill, is a 5 gal cooler tun large enough, or should i just go with the 10 gal to allow for some head space/flexibility with the amount of strike water? I have done a few searches and didn't really find anything

 

[Denny]

I'm making the jump to AG, most, if not all my brews will have a 10-12lb grain bill, is a 5 gal cooler tun large enough, or should i just go with the 10 gal to allow for some head space/flexibility with the amount of strike water? I have done a few searches and didn't really find anything

First, it you're thinking of getting a round cooler, let me encourage you to rethink that. A rectangular cooler will get you more for your money, and you can batch sparge and save yourself time and hassle. Second, if you're really set on a round cooler, get the 10 gal.

 

[burninator]

First, it you're thinking of getting a round cooler, let me encourage you to rethink that. A rectangular cooler will get you more for your money, and you can batch sparge and save yourself time and hassle. Second, if you're really set on a round cooler, get the 10 gal.

Denny, I'm curious about this. I batch sparge in a round 10 gallon cooler. Is there something about this that's inherently less effective?