Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
Ok, so I made my first partial mash brew today... I have a few questions about things...
At what point is it considered more all grain or partial mash? Is any use of DME/LME considered a partial mash?
At what point is boil times too much? I know there are some that have 120 minute boil times, is longer a bad idea or is it ok as long as you don't go too high in temperature?
I was keeping my temperatures just above boil for the boil astage, but went a little longer than I think many do (although I could be wrong)... I was looking to make sure that I got as close to 5 gallons as possible (without going over). Turns out, I ended up with about 4 gallons in the fermentor. Even adding water back to get to 5 gallons I was above my goal starting gravity number (target was 1.082, hit 1.084)... I was watching the pots for pretty much the entire cooking time, to make sure nothing ran away from me.
I will be looking to get a larger pot to sparge with before I brew again (looking at 32qt and 40qt pots)... I also plan on either marking the pot, or my stirrer so that I know when I'm at the target level (probably going to mark it at 3, 4, 5, and 6 gallons). I'm going to plan to mash in the 5 gallon pot (unless I can get a large cooler to mash in).
I'm hoping that I didn't screw things up with the longer boil time with this brewing. Since I had to use the bucket for this one, I can't tell if it's post the lag phase yet or not. That's one of the things I really don't like about using the bucket. Due to how the last batch took off like a rocket, I've set up a blow-off tube for this batch.
I used the threads by DeathBrewer as guidelines for this batch. I also used information from a few other threads hoping to get better efficiency for this brewing. Looks like I hit about 73%... Hopefully I'll do as well, or better, with the next batch.
I'll probably be brewing on the [gas] stove for at least the next few brewings, if not longer. For 10-15 pounds of grain, should I be safe with a 32 quart pot for sparging, or would I be better off with a 40 quart? The 40 quart is about 20-25% more than the 32 quart... I'll be getting the pot from a restaurant supply superstore, so it's not like I'm paying retail...
At what point is it considered more all grain or partial mash? Is any use of DME/LME considered a partial mash?
At what point is boil times too much? I know there are some that have 120 minute boil times, is longer a bad idea or is it ok as long as you don't go too high in temperature?
I was keeping my temperatures just above boil for the boil astage, but went a little longer than I think many do (although I could be wrong)... I was looking to make sure that I got as close to 5 gallons as possible (without going over). Turns out, I ended up with about 4 gallons in the fermentor. Even adding water back to get to 5 gallons I was above my goal starting gravity number (target was 1.082, hit 1.084)... I was watching the pots for pretty much the entire cooking time, to make sure nothing ran away from me.
I will be looking to get a larger pot to sparge with before I brew again (looking at 32qt and 40qt pots)... I also plan on either marking the pot, or my stirrer so that I know when I'm at the target level (probably going to mark it at 3, 4, 5, and 6 gallons). I'm going to plan to mash in the 5 gallon pot (unless I can get a large cooler to mash in).
I'm hoping that I didn't screw things up with the longer boil time with this brewing. Since I had to use the bucket for this one, I can't tell if it's post the lag phase yet or not. That's one of the things I really don't like about using the bucket. Due to how the last batch took off like a rocket, I've set up a blow-off tube for this batch.
I used the threads by DeathBrewer as guidelines for this batch. I also used information from a few other threads hoping to get better efficiency for this brewing. Looks like I hit about 73%... Hopefully I'll do as well, or better, with the next batch.
I'll probably be brewing on the [gas] stove for at least the next few brewings, if not longer. For 10-15 pounds of grain, should I be safe with a 32 quart pot for sparging, or would I be better off with a 40 quart? The 40 quart is about 20-25% more than the 32 quart... I'll be getting the pot from a restaurant supply superstore, so it's not like I'm paying retail...