Done my first brewing yesterday, few questions...

[MPBeer]

So, I prepared a ton but screwed up hard. Never thought brewing by myself would be this difficult! Few questions came along while brewing...

1. Do I have to mill my acidulated malts?
2. Do you put water chemicals with main mash? Or do you split it and add another half at the sparging water?
3. If you prepare , for example, 5 gallon of sparge water, do you pour them to your mash / sparge tun after collecting first running? Or do you split it and collect till third~fourth running?
4. How do you get your mashing temperature stable? I know I should get used to my burner... but it was impossible to get it stable.
5. How do you chill your wort after whirlpooling? I started whirlpool at 180F(83C), for 30 minutes, and it was still 140F(60C). I had to take the chiller out since it was impossible for me to make whirlpool manually with my chiller in the wort, but had to put it back in. Wouldn't it make my beer infected?

Thanks and cheers.

 

[doug293cz]

So, I prepared a ton but screwed up hard. Never thought brewing by myself would be this difficult! Few questions came along while brewing...

1. Do I have to mill my acidulated malts? Yes
2. Do you put water chemicals with main mash? Or do you split it and add another half at the sparging water? Put most of your chemicals in the mash strike water. The only thing you need in the sparge water as a little acid to bring the pH below about 5.8, and a pinch of potassium or sodium metabisulfite (Campden, 1/2 tablet or about 300 mg is enough for 5 gal) if you have any chlorine or chloramine in your water.
3. If you prepare , for example, 5 gallon of sparge water, do you pour them to your mash / sparge tun after collecting first running? Or do you split it and collect till third~fourth running? To batch sparge, stir the mash maniacally and then drain completely as possible. Then add your sparge water, stir and drain again. You can split the sparge water into 2 - 3 equal volumes if you want and run each sparge with the same process as the first. One sparge gives you about 8 percentage points higher lauter efficiency than a no sparge (full volume mash) process. Two sparges gives you about 3 - 3.5 points more than a single sparge. Three sparges only nets about an additional 1.5 points.
4. How do you get your mashing temperature stable? I know I should get used to my burner... but it was impossible to get it stable. Work on getting the initial mash temp correct, and then insulate the MLT well. Sleeping bags, blankets, winter coats, beach towels, Reflectix, etc. have all been used effectively. No need to heat during the mash. Losing 2 - 4°F during the mash is no big deal. Once you know how your system behaves with your choice of insulation, you can compensate by starting off 1/3 of the temp delta higher than your original mash temp target.
5. How do you chill your wort after whirlpooling? I started whirlpool at 180F(83C), for 30 minutes, and it was still 140F(60C). I had to take the chiller out since it was impossible for me to make whirlpool manually with my chiller in the wort, but had to put it back in. Wouldn't it make my beer infected? If you have to remove your immersion chiller for any reason, and you will add it back at a wort temp below about 170°F, you should resanitize the chiller to avoid the potential for infection. Most of the organisms that can affect beer will be killed above about 140°f, but since adding the chiller back will drop the temp somewhat (even if the water flow is off) it's best to allow a safety margin on the lower temp limit.

Thanks and cheers.

Brew on

 

[Jtk78]

First, congrats on getting the first batch into the fermenter. It will get easier as you do more. You can read, note take, prepare and visualize all you can, but actually doing is the best way to improve at anything.

I use to split my sparge water to do 2 separate even volumes, but now I usually do one sparge with the entire sparge volume, unless I'm doing a 10 gallon mash. If I'm losing any efficiency, it's minute. 2% of mash efficiency comes out to .001 gravity for most beers on my system. I'll take the time savings over .001.

I would strongly recommend against removing the chiller and then reintroducing it. Find a way to work around it. Smaller spoon, gently lift and lower the chiiler, gently move the chiller in a circular motion, or something else.

 

[RM-MN]

So, I prepared a ton but screwed up hard. Never thought brewing by myself would be this difficult! Few questions came along while brewing...

1. Do I have to mill my acidulated malts?
2. Do you put water chemicals with main mash? Or do you split it and add another half at the sparging water?
3. If you prepare , for example, 5 gallon of sparge water, do you pour them to your mash / sparge tun after collecting first running? Or do you split it and collect till third~fourth running?
4. How do you get your mashing temperature stable? I know I should get used to my burner... but it was impossible to get it stable.
5. How do you chill your wort after whirlpooling? I started whirlpool at 180F(83C), for 30 minutes, and it was still 140F(60C). I had to take the chiller out since it was impossible for me to make whirlpool manually with my chiller in the wort, but had to put it back in. Wouldn't it make my beer infected?

Thanks and cheers.

1. All malts should be milled. If you don't mill them, you don't get much from them.
2. Mashing requires water with some minerals. Sparging is simply rinsing sugars already converted in the mash.
3. First drain the mash tun to get the most concentrated wort. From there on you will be getting less concentrated wort as you rinse the sugars. For the highest efficiency you do multiple sparges but each sparge gets less concentrated. By the time your second sparge is done there is little sugar left to rinse out so most people have figured out that the extra time and effort isn't worth the little sugar collected.
4. The mash should be kept at temperature until conversion is complete but adding heat is tricky as the mash doesn't let the heat get dispersed evenly. If you add heat, you need to stir constantly and vigorously, which then lets your mash cool too. Best is to insulate the mash tun and accept that there will be some heat lost. Keep in mind that while the mash period may be 60 minutes, conversion may be done well before that in which case a bit of cooling makes no difference. I know that with very fine milling the conversion is done in less than 10 minutes so I don't worry if the temperature drops after that. Your grain milling determines how long it takes to complete conversion so with the typical LHBS milling it might take 30, 60, 90, or even 120 minutes to get complete conversion or you may never get complete conversion.
5. What is your intended outcome with whirlpooling? I never bother and just get the wort cool and dump everythig into the fermenter. All that trub you see in the whirlpool is mostly wort that could make beer so why leave it. You will lose less beer (or potential beer) by putting it all into the fermenter and letting it settle out there.

 

[MPBeer]

Thanks a lot guys! Mashing / Sparging is the hardest part for me right now, and I learned a lot from your replies. Should try to get the first temp right, and then turn of the burner and should focus on insulating them well. I was trying to do whirlpool hopping, but seems like it didn't go really well. Next time I might just skip the whirlpool and instead do a hop stand with my chiller in. Is there any difference from hop stand and whirlpool hopping? Should look it up...

 

[mongoose33]

When I did mash/sparge, I always set up my strike (mash) water correctly with additions so as to get the mash to the right pH. I never adjusted the sparge water at all. As @RM-MN notes above, sparging is just rinsing residual sugars from the grain. At that point, conversion should be complete and whatever you put into the sparge water isn't going to affect that.

 

[estricklin]

Congrats on the first batch, you didn't screw up that bad, trust me. Looks like some others have already given you some advice.

It's gonna be beer, and the more you brew the more you'll get a system/process down. Remember this is FUN!

 

[seatazzz]

For the whirlpool...are you adding your hops loose, or are they in a bag? Either way, use your chiller to do the whirlpool for you. It takes time, and it's tedious, but worth it in my book (done it three times now and the hoppiness of my beers is a testament to it). All it takes is standing over your kettle for about 10 minutes gently swirling the IC around and around and around...and changing direction, and swirling around, and around, and around....If you use a bag for your hops, simply clamp the bag to the inside of the chiller and swirl away.

And +1 to the above, DON'T remove the chiller and put it back in. Placing the chiller in the wort at least 15 minutes before end of boil (I do it at 30 minutes, same time I add whirlfloc) sanitizes it, it can then stay there until your wort is chilled to pitching temperature.

It all gets easier, trust me. Someday soon you'll look back on your notes for this batch and think "why the hell did I stress so much over (step in process that is now second nature)?"

 

[Chris Walker]

My hat is off to you! - First brew and you have gone in with acidulated malts and changing water chemistry.

I'm also new to AG and just completed my second brew doing a 3 and then 4 gallon batch in a 5.5Gallon brew kettle. There is really not much room for the chiller - especially with the kettle having a trub dam fitted.
I ran some tests with just water before starting to brew so I could gauge boil off rate and chill times etc... and when doing that I found it took a long time to cool if I left the chiller in the same place, I could tell there was not much efficiency going on as the water coming out the chiller was still cool after a very short time, but the kettle was still very hot.
However, I found that just moving the chiller a very small amount taking care not to splash or overly disturb the surface I could get the temp down to about 80 in a matter of minutes. Again, there is not much room in there so it really can't move more than about a couple of inches but I found that is perfectly sufficient.

 

[MPBeer]

Just dryhopped today. Is it possible for a krausen to dissapear in 2 days?? It smelled mind blowing so I just wish it doesnt go wrong...

 

[seatazzz]

I've had krausen drop in ONE day with a vigorous fermentation, so yes it IS possible. Dry hopping while the yeast are still doing their work is a good way to go, as the yeast moving around in there will distribute the hops quite well. Keep in mind however that a dropped krausen isn't a sign that fermentation is finished, those yeast still have plenty of work to do. Only a hydrometer test can tell you that fermentation is complete, taken twice over a couple of days. Sounds like you're on a good track to have a great beer in a week or two!

 

[MPBeer]

So, it's my final step! Cold crashing and bottling! I'm cold crashing my primary fermenter with spigot, and wondering if I should move the beer to bottling bucket after cold crashing, or can I just start bottling from cold crashed fermenter? I'm concerned since the floaties that I want to get removed might get into my bottles. Thanks!!

 

[MPBeer]

Done my bottling today! They smells pretty nice, and looks very good. Taste is a bit mediocre, but I can do better next time Can't wait to try my first beer!!

 

[seatazzz]

Those bottles look like they have a LOT of suspended yeast in them. What did it taste like? I would strongly recommend placing those bottles in a sturdy rubbermaid tub for conditioning, in case you get some bombs.

I notice no one answered your question regarding cold crashing/bottling from the primary fermenter. Your bottles above have the answer...cold crashing allows all of the yeast to drop to the bottom of the fermenter. Transferring your beer off that yeast into a bottling bucket will give you clearer beer in the bottle. Good luck.

 

[MPBeer]

So, this is the result. Looks pretty decent, but taste terrible XD

The hop flavor is subtle, and I guess it's because I used old hops. The hops I get in this country isn't the freshest one in the market, so I'm thinking of getting hops from Yakima Valley website.

The most underwhelming part of this brew is that it's too bitter. I might overdid on my Gypsum, or the bittering addition and whirlpool hopping were too much. I'm thinking of taking hot side hopping out, and focus on whirlpool and dryhopping.

Well I'm still glad that it's not infected. It has lots of flaws, but I'm sure I can do better next time. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[doug293cz]

Old hops could be a big part of you taste issue. If you are going for juicy hop flavors and aromas, you really want fresh, or at least cold stored in O2 free packaging, hops. If the hops don't look good and smell good going in, the results will be less than good.

Brew on