Thank you. I’ve made some great beers with extract using full boils, so it’s tough to make the switch to all grain with these inconsistent results.
I’m not sure how much or what info you need, so I’ll summarize the whole process. I’m sure I’m leaving out some details.
My MLT is a 10-gallon Rubbermaid cooler that I use a copper manifold with. I heated the water in my MLT with a heat stick to 133, per the
Promash report that I got with the kit. After doughing in, I hit 123, put the lid on, and let it sit for 20 minutes for the protein rest. Added 210 F water, mixed it again, covered, and let it rest for 30 for the saccharification rest. Then I vorlaufed through my pump to the top of the tun until I got clear runnings, and pumped the runnings to my keggle. I turned the flame on that immediately and measured the amount of wort I still needed for my pre-boil volume. I pumped that amount of 210 F water in through my valve on the bottom of the tun, stirred it up again, let it sit for 5 minutes, and pumped the runnings into my keggle.
After that I did my boil. I waited until I saw the hot break and started my hop additions. I used a 5-gallon paint strainer bag for all the additions (hops, coriander, etc). During the last 15 minutes of the boil I re-circulated through my CFC to sterilize it. I also whirlpooled while doing this, and I had put a copper scrubby on the end of my copper pickup tube in my keg. This was a 5-gallon batch, and I cooled it down very quickly to pitching temp (75). I had rehydrated the dry yeast that I used in a flask with a little water and I pitched it in my carboy after the wort.
It bubbled away great through a blow-off tube and after a week or so I sterilized an airlock and put that on. I didn't leave it for too long, only a couple weeks. But as soon as I took off the stopper to rack to my keg, I smelled a strong sulfur smell. The only thing I could think of was an infection, but I cleaned everything and used Starsan on everything.