Saturday night was my first AG batch . I had a few questions about methods that I'm hoping can get answered. The first problem I encountered was that while trying to raise the mash temperature by direct heating, I would get a large variation in temperature readings depending on where I placed the thermometer. I noticed that in the really thick areas of the mash it was about 20 degrees (F) cooler than places where the mash was thin. I tried to keep the mash thickness as consistant as possible by stirring. I just wasn't really sure how these temperature differences were affecting the enzyme activity. As it was, I was able to hold the mash at about 156 F, when I stopped heating, but I know there were times when parts of the mash reached 170 during the heating process. Any advise? I think next time I will try to raise the temperature by infusion and see how this works.
The next big problem I had was draining my wort into the fermentor after the boil. I had fixed a braided SS hose on the end of my plumbing to the faucet, but it got plugged up so quickly with the hops and hotbreak that the faucet was virtually useless. I had to get out my auto siphon. Any advise on filtering the trub?
Also, as far as sparging. I stopped when the sparge was yielding 1.010, but I did not adjust for temperature. Is that necessary, or should I just go with stopping the sparge at 1.010 unadjusted?
Overall the process took about 9.5 hours. But I learned a lot and know where and how to make the process go much quicker next time. And despite my frustrations with the first batch, it was a lot of fun. Thanks in advance for the help and advise.
The next big problem I had was draining my wort into the fermentor after the boil. I had fixed a braided SS hose on the end of my plumbing to the faucet, but it got plugged up so quickly with the hops and hotbreak that the faucet was virtually useless. I had to get out my auto siphon. Any advise on filtering the trub?
Also, as far as sparging. I stopped when the sparge was yielding 1.010, but I did not adjust for temperature. Is that necessary, or should I just go with stopping the sparge at 1.010 unadjusted?
Overall the process took about 9.5 hours. But I learned a lot and know where and how to make the process go much quicker next time. And despite my frustrations with the first batch, it was a lot of fun. Thanks in advance for the help and advise.