Breaking in the new stand...

[Mike_A]

Did my first AG batch today on my spankin' new single tier stand (edit: pics below!), a 10 gallon batch of 2-row & Magnum almost-SMaSH Pale Ale (I added a 1/2 lb. caramel 80L that was laying around to get the color within guidelines, just for kicks). Ended up with a 1.056 OG which came out to 83% efficiency, not too shabby I think.

No major problems came up - no stuck sparges, no boilovers, missed targets, etc. Quick review of the recipe:

20lb 2-row
1/2 lb caramel 80L
1/2 lb rice hulls (for kicks)
2oz Magnum pellets 9.5% @ 60min
1oz " " @ 15 min
1oz " " Dry hop last 7 days of primary (single stage ferm.)
Wyeast 1272 American Ale II

I did a dough-in rest, 104*F for 20min then stepped up to 154*F over 20min to mash for 60min. Fly sparged @ 1.25qt/min and boiled. Cooled through CFC to 70*F and pitched the yeast cake from a 5gal batch of caramel amber ale.

Split it into two 7gal buckets and they are already bubbling away happily after about 4 hours.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Nice batch for your new setup.

 

[CoalCracker]

Pics or it didn't happen! Love seeing new setups at work

 

[Whut]

Pics or it didn't happen! Love seeing new setups at work

This! We like our beer porn ya' know.

 

[Mike_A]

Pics or it didn't happen! Love seeing new setups at work

Ask and ye shall receive. Full album including the build-out can be found here. I'm not sure if I was clear in the original post - this wasn't just the first batch on this stand, it was my first all-grain batch ever as well. I skipped a lot of intermediate steps between 5-gal extract partial-boil batches and this...

Mashing my life away...

Sparge time. I used the bottom of a 5gal water jug (cut off to make my mill hopper) and drilled holes in it to make the sparge disperser or whatever it's called.

And the boil.

 

[Whut]

Now that, my friend, is sheer awesomeness!