First AG Brew Day

[grassfeeder]

So, like many I've decided to make the switch from extract to all-grain. I think it went OK, but I need to refine some other things. Here's kinda how it went w/ recipe at the end.

- pre-heated mash tun (igloo cooler) w/ 2 gallons of water.

- ran water through charcoal filter and heated 5.4 gallons of mash water to 168 degrees (I got my mash water volumes from brewersfriend during the recipe build). Added 1/2 campden tablet as well.

- added grain bill to the mash tun. Temp only dropped to 158-159 degrees so I added a few ice cubes and got it to 155 which was my target. Not sure if this is the recommended method or not?

- vorlaufen till clear.

- batch sparged with 4.4 gallons of sparge water heated to 185 degrees and again vorlaufed.

- I cut the batch sparge as I was getting more liquid than I anticipated. I stopped at 7.25 gallons. Recipe was built for 7 gallon boil volume.

- boil went as planned.

- I used a Blichmann Hop Blocker for the first time in addition to a hop spider per usual. Not sure how I feel about the hop blocker. I find getting a good whirlpool with it installed proved miserable.

- I was too impatient and started the drain before giving it enough time for the hop particles to settle therefore I had way more true than normal.

- I also used the Blichmann Hop Rocket for the first time as well with 3oz of whole leaf Citra in it. Not sure how much it helped filter and also unsure of the outcome till I can drink this beer. The gravity feed worked fine however and it then ran through my plate chiller.

- In there fermenter at 68 degrees which is when I pitched my yeast starter.

- I only ended up with 5 gallons of wort from a projected 6. I lost more wort than anticipated through the system.

I added 2 tsp of gypsm to the mash as well as 1/2 tsp of Calcium Chloride and hit a mash PH of 5.35 at room temp.

Here is the recipe:

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 6 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.053
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.061
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV (standard): 6.21%
IBU (tinseth): 64.42
SRM (morey): 8.5

FERMENTABLES:
11.75 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (81.7%)
1.13 lb - American - Munich - Light 10L (7.9%)
0.5 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (3.5%)
0.5 lb - German - CaraFoam (3.5%)
0.5 lb - German - Melanoidin (3.5%)

HOPS:
0.75 oz - Mosaic, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: First Wort, IBU: 17.57
1.25 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 21.11
1.25 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 15.43
1.25 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 8.48
1.25 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 1 min, IBU: 1.83
3 oz - Citra, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 11, Use: Hopback for 0 min at 180 °F
3 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days
0.25 oz - Mosaic, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 155 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 5.4 gal
2) Sparge, Temp: 185 F, Amount: 4.4 gal, batch
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb

YEAST:
The Yeast Bay - Vermont Ale
Starter: Yes
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 78.5%
Flocculation: Med/Low
Optimum Temp: 64 - 72 F
Fermentation Temp: 68 F

Any tips or tricks I should employ?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Nice. Looks like you're all over it.

I think (guessing) that the strike water temp might be allowing for the heating of the mash tun - no pre-heating required. That might be why you overshot your mash temp. Still, it's much easier to bring the temp down a few degrees with ice (or leaving the lid off) than to bring it up if you're low. When I used to mash in a cooler, I'd initially leave out a couple of quarts of strike water. If the temp was low, add boiling water. If it was high, add cold water. The sparge volumes might take a bit of trial and error. If you cut the sparge short, you've left out some sugars (lower efficiency).

You are using a hop spider, hop blocker, AND a whirlpool? That's a bit of overkill. I use a hop spider only (with a plate chiller). If I want to settle out trub, I do it in a fermenter AFTER chilling (then transfer to a second fermenter). I've never had a blocked chiller, even with leaf hops. Anyway, it doesn't matter if you got hop particles in your fermenter - it shouldn't affect the final beer.

 

[grassfeeder]

Nice. Looks like you're all over it.

I think (guessing) that the strike water temp might be allowing for the heating of the mash tun - no pre-heating required. That might be why you overshot your mash temp. Still, it's much easier to bring the temp down a few degrees with ice (or leaving the lid off) than to bring it up if you're low. When I used to mash in a cooler, I'd initially leave out a couple of quarts of strike water. If the temp was low, add boiling water. If it was high, add cold water. The sparge volumes might take a bit of trial and error. If you cut the sparge short, you've left out some sugars (lower efficiency).

Yeah, I cut it short due to the volume of liquids I was pulling out. It kind of freaked me out, should have just it roll I guess. I hit the O.G. dead on though.

You are using a hop spider, hop blocker, AND a whirlpool? That's a bit of overkill. I use a hop spider only (with a plate chiller). If I want to settle out trub, I do it in a fermenter AFTER chilling (then transfer to a second fermenter). I've never had a blocked chiller, even with leaf hops. Anyway, it doesn't matter if you got hop particles in your fermenter - it shouldn't affect the final beer.

I figure it was overkill but wanted to find a process that worked. I figured if I can pull that much hop particle out of the spider it was less work for the blocker to do really. I think the only thing that happened was the hop blocker hurt the whirlpool action. I'll be more diligent about this process next go-round to see if I can get a different result. No stuck plate chiller however.