First AG Brew...Anything else?

[adaml23]

Well guys, i've been creeping around here for a lil while and learning and reading, and learniing and reading some more and we're (a few buddies and i) doing our first AG brew session tomorrow around noon. We've done plenty of extract beers and decided to take our brewing to the next level. We've got what i think are all the pieces of equipment and ingredients needed but i figured id post on here and make sure im not missing anything or see if theres anything you guys think would be helpful for a successful 1st AG brew day.

We're making a Big River Brown Ale AG kit beer from Midwest w/white labs yeast fyi. we heard browns are fairly forgiving to noobs...

Equipment-wise, we have a keggle, sq14 burner, 36qt xtreme mash tun with brass ball valve and a copper manifold built up for it (gonna hybrid fly sparge), fermenter bucket, siphon, stirring spoon, etc. one of the guys is an EET and built up a stir plate for a yeast starter that he's gonna get going tonite ~6-7pm-ish. grains are gonna get crushed tmrw with a mill were borrowing from another brewer friend. We've got the trial version of Beersmith that will be used tmrw and critiqued some more to determine if we want to buy it.

im sure this is gonna be a learning experience, but was just wanting some thoughts or input on if there's anything we're missing or that you make think would have been helpful to know for your first attempt at AG.

Wow, that was longer than i expected, but i want to give you guys some background (probably still not enough for ya though).

Thanks in advance!

 

[JonM]

Propane tank is full, right?

 

[adaml23]

Yep...well mostly full. used a full tank last nite to dial in the burner (added a windscreen), burn off the new paint, and get the evaporation amount lost from the keggle when boiling for 1 hour.

 

[kh54s10]

Double check your equipment profile in BS2. Everything is based on the equipment so if something is wrong there it will show up with your OG being off.

I have been using BS2 for 6 or 7 batches now and my OG has varied a little. I'm still trying to dial it in.

All the beers have been very good though.

 

[ArcLight]

Yep...well mostly full. used a full tank last nite to dial in the burner (added a windscreen), burn off the new paint, and get the evaporation amount lost from the keggle when boiling for 1 hour.

How did you add the windscreen?
(Pictures please if you have any)

 

[FirstStateBrewer]

Have a checklist for brew day and check off each step as you go. Also, don't drink until flame out. You'd be surprised how much that helped my brewing once I adhered to that.

 

[texasbrewer73]

Also, don't drink until flame out. You'd be surprised how much that helped my brewing once I adhered to that.

+1 on that!!!

The checklist is VERY handy. Once you get the wort into your brew kettle, everything is pretty much the same at that point. So prior to that, make sure that your mash tun and HLT are clean, you've done a dry run of everything, and have everything you will need for tomorrow. Leave plenty of room for notes on the page with your checklist. Write down how everything went, what you weren't prepared for, etc. If something doesn't go as expected, don't panic - just find a way to solve the problem and move on to the next step. Watch your temps, set a timer and don't rush things too much and you'll be good.

One thing I found super helpful my first time was making sure I didn't have too much lean time. Always trying to prepare for the next step(s) - a practice I'm used to now. If something goes awry, at least you're already one or two steps ahead.

 

[JonM]

If you're using an immersion chiller, make sure the garden hose reaches to where you'll be brewing. Also make sure you know where the chiller discharge water is going (not in the grass - hot water will kill it).

 

[opiate82]

Biggest mistake I made on my first AG brew was not pre-heating my mash tun. So don't forget to account for the heat-loss there.

 

[adaml23]

haha, we learned our lesson on drinking too early on some of our extract kits so we (sort of) got that under control now!

Any good checklists you guys have as downloads? ive been searching on here and found one or two, but they seemed kinda lacking (maybe its just me though).

the hoses wont be a problem fyi.

you just throw a gallon of hot water and swish it around in the MLT correct? how how of water? how long do you usually leave it in there? you still need to have you strike water ~10-15 degrees F above the 152 range to compensae for the grain temp if you pre-heat the mash tun correct?

 

[tre9er]

1. Weigh grains
2. Crush grains
3. Weigh any adjuncts, mash hops, FWH
4. Clean and assemble:
Mash tun
EZ Masher
Sparge kettle
Boil kettle
4 gal. kettle
2.5 gal. kettle
Spigot hose
Sparge diffuser
Measuring cup
Hydrometer
Thermometer (2)
Mash paddle
Stir paddle
---
5. Cover stove with foil
6. Preheat oven
7. Organize all ingredients
8. ---
9. ---
10. ---
11. ---
12. ---
13. ---


14. Assemble EZ Masher in mash tun
15. Add 13.00 qts. strike water to tun
16. Add water treatments
17. Heat mash strike water to 166°F
18. Stir in 10.00 lbs. main mash grist
19. Confirm dwell at 153°F
20. Confirm mash pH is at 5.2 - 5.5
21. Rest tun in stove for 60 mins.
22. Heat 22.78 qts. sparge water to 175°F
23. Iodine test for conversion
24. ---
25. ---
26. ---
27. ---
28. ---
29. ---
30. ---
31. ---
32. ---
33. ---
34. ---
35. ---
36. ---
37. ---
38. ---
39. ---
40. Leave tun on stovetop after final rest

41. Place sparge diffuser onto grain bed
42. Draw 1 cup with valve fully open
43. Trickle and recirculate until clear
44. Attach spigot hose
45. Cover floor and insulate chair
46. Place kettle on chair
47. Start run-off
48. ---
49. Fill mash tun with sparge water
50. ---
51. ---
52. Maintain tun volume during run-off
53. ---
54. ---
55. Collect 6.66 gals. in kettle
56. Move kettle to stovetop


1. Actual SG ______ vs. 1.045 planned
2. Put kettle on high heat
3. Calculate any boiling adjustments
4. Assure yeast is ready to use
5. Bag and label each hops addition
6. Prepare any other kettle additions
7. Clean and assemble:
Thermometer
Hydrometer
Stir paddle
Measuring cup
Chiller
Hops bag
8. Clean and sanitize:
Primary carboy
Siphontap
Aerator
Drilled stopper
Airlock
Yeast funnel
Siphon hose
---
---
9. At start of boil set timer for 70 min.
10. Add bittering hops when scheduled
11. Add flavoring hops if scheduled
12. Adjust heat to hit post-boil volume of 5.63 gals.

13. Add Irish Moss
14. Add some chilled wort to yeast
15. Immerse chiller and thermometer last 10 min.
16. Add finishing hops if scheduled
17. ---
18. Connect chiller and start cold water flow
19. Assemble sanitized items during chilling
20. Chill wort to <= 70°F (stir to speed chilling)
21. Remove and rinse chiller
22. If using dry yeast, rehydrate per instructions
23. Place carboy on towel below brew kettle
24. Pitch yeast to carboy with funnel
25. Assemble Siphontap, siphon hose and aerator
26. Start siphon to transfer wort to carboy
27. Actual OG ______ vs. 1.053 planned

 

[RainyDay]

I've got a cooler set-up for my mash tun, and what I normally do is take the temperature of the grains, go to rackers.org (to their strike water calculator), find out what temp my water needs to be, dump it (carefully) into the cooler, let it sit for a couple minutes, then put my grain in and stir. I always come within a couple degrees of my target, typically over, so I stir until I get the right temp. The cooler holds temp really well; typically only lose a degree or two.

 

[adaml23]

well our 1st AG brew day was a success, i think. we'll have to wait until the beer is done but it was bubbling pretty good yesterday morning already w/ krausen in blowoff tube so thats a good sign
for the most part, it went well. from beginning to end, it took us ~6.75 hrs but there was definately some areas that will be able to speed up our brewday now that we've got one under our belt. the only real hiccups we had were that we had some trouble trying to stay at our desired sparge temp.

the other hiccup, which wasnt too big of a deal (but helped reinforce our decision on a brewing company name) was when one of my brothers roosters got out and we had 4 guys chasing it for a while... not a big deal since it was during boil.

which leads me into the brewing name: "Gaggle of Cocks Brewing Company" (get it - a group of guys) - thank you, mister rooster.


i do have a few questions (and a response) for you guys tho to help make next time smoother.

first the response:

How did you add the windscreen?
(Pictures please if you have any)

i just use a galvanized 8" collar from menards linked below. attached it with some old window curtain brackets and bolts my brother had lying around (we brewed at his place fyi) and cut a groove for the burner to fit around. the brackets were nice because they have slotted holes to adjust/center it easier. just make sure its not too tall to fit in between the top metal and the bar that the burner is attached to (~4" fyi). dont know how much it improved anything since we hadnt used it before then but its a nice added feature that cant hurt... i also wonder if it wasnt just a bit small (would have prolly bought a 10" if i could but i didnt see them in the bins).
heres the connecter:

http://menards.com/main/heating-cooling/ductwork/round/flex-connectors/8-flex-connector/p-116825.htm


now some questions:

when we were sparging off sweet wort, we collected more wort than what we needed for preboil volume before getting down to ~3 brix. so we kept going until we got down to ~3-4 brix. and actually had to dump some after boiling that wouldnt fit into the fermenting bucket. we hated just stopping (and then dumping some at the end) but we still ended up with more volume in the fermenter than expected, ~6.5 gal (hence the krausen in the blowoff tube) so were not too sad So, is it ok to stop once we get to the needed preboil volume even if we dont get to ~3 brix or should we do something else?

also, beersmith (cross checked with beercalculus) told us that our post boil SG was going to be much higher than the SG on the kit box (~1.063 compared to 1.048). but our actual SG was in between the two (1.051). are the Midwest estimates usually off or is there something i need to calibrate on the software?

also, we didnt take a SG reading of the total preboil. should we have done that to get our efficiency? how is efficiency calculated?

 

[tre9er]

well our 1st AG brew day was a success, i think. we'll have to wait until the beer is done but it was bubbling pretty good yesterday morning already w/ krausen in blowoff tube so thats a good sign

when we were sparging off sweet wort, we collected more wort than what we needed for preboil volume before getting down to ~3 brix. so we kept going until we got down to ~3-4 brix. and actually had to dump some after boiling that wouldnt fit into the fermenting bucket. we hated just stopping (and then dumping some at the end) but we still ended up with more volume in the fermenter than expected, ~6.5 gal (hence the krausen in the blowoff tube) so were not too sad So, is it ok to stop once we get to the needed preboil volume even if we dont get to ~3 brix or should we do something else?

also, beersmith (cross checked with beercalculus) told us that our post boil SG was going to be much higher than the SG on the kit box (~1.063 compared to 1.048). but our actual SG was in between the two (1.051). are the Midwest estimates usually off or is there something i need to calibrate on the software?

also, we didnt take a SG reading of the total preboil. should we have done that to get our efficiency? how is efficiency calculated?

I sparge until I hit preboil volume, then quit. Unless it's a really big OG beer, that last bit of wort is very low in gravity so you're not "wasting" much anyway. If it was a huge beer and the final runnings were like 1.030 or so, I might run it off into a smaller pot and boil it for yeast starters, wanting to get down to 1.040 post-boil.

Efficiency is your sugar extraction divided by the total potential extraction of the grain bill. This is likely why the numbers from Midwest are different than Beersmith, too. They are using different efficiencies.

If you're putting recipes into Beersmith, I'd start with 68% or so unless you're confident in what you're getting efficiency-wise, then put in that.

I'm still playing with this myself. I *think* I'm in the mid 70's right now but I always put it lower so that I can just dilute if needed (to thin wort) rather than have to adjust a boil, hop schedule, etc to get it higher.

 

[jkendal]

If you're using an immersion chiller, make sure the garden hose reaches to where you'll be brewing. Also make sure you know where the chiller discharge water is going (not in the grass - hot water will kill it).

And make sure the connections on your chiller are good. Mine came loose over time and disconnected during a brew day last spring. Luckily none of the water got in my brew but it very well could have. Now I check them every time I brew.