First AG Brew Day

[MSUCatBrewer]

Hello crew,

I just finished my first AG brew day; a New Belgium Sunshine Wheat clone. I wanted to post some notes in the hopes that I can get some feedback from you experts who have already helped me so much.

1. My Barley Crusher mill worked great with a cheap Black & Decker plug in drill...that thing ripped through my 10lb grain bill. Supposedly it comes from factory at .039, but I measured it at .038...I just left it there.

2. I was TERRIFIED to mash, but it was honestly a lot of fun and went smooth. Per HBT poster suggestions, I pre-heated my HLT and tun, and went from there. My equipment performed BEAUTIFULLY! Target mash temp was 150, I mashed in at 168, dropped like a rock to 152 and at that point I left good enough alone, put the lid on and let it go; it didn't lose so much as 1/2 a degree. Awesome!

3. I fly sparged using a sparge arm and it went pretty smooth...I spent 12 minutes recirculating the drippings, and then moved on to the sparge itself. I had a little bit of trouble matching the flow speed, although I think I came pretty close; anybody have a suggestion on the best way to measure matching speeds?

4. My brewhouse efficiency was crap (according to Beer Smith)...62.5. However, AFTER my boil I was way high on gravity (and low on volume) so I topped off with 1/2 gallon...I was still 3 points high on gravity, but I figured that was close enough not to tinker any more. Thoughts on why this could be?

5. The kit was from Austin Homebrew. Their numbers and Beer Smith's were entirely different (temps, volumes, predicted gravity at each step, et al...it was a bit frustrating because I didn't know which to trust, so I ended up splitting the difference for the most part. Has anybody had this problem?

6. In all, this was a blast and I honestly found it to be a bit less stressful than extract (which I've only done 5 batches of...so that may not be a good judge). I think I made the right choice by investing the time and $$$ to go all grain.

Thanks for all of your continued help! I look forward to your thoughts!

 

[mongoose33]

As you do this, take very good notes about the process, timing, temperatures, and so on. This will allow you to adjust things as you go forward because you'll know exactly what you did and how it turned out.

Here's an example: I would put a gallon of boiling water in my mash tun to preheat it. Leave it there for maybe 15-20 minutes and then dump it out and put in the strike water. Add the grist and there I am.

Except....it's different during the winter than the summer. Once I crushed my grain the night before and left it in the cold garage with the already-set-up equipment. Guess what--grain that is about 45 degrees will drop the strike water temp more than grain from in the house where it is 68 degrees.

I've attached a pic below of one of my brew days showing the kind of stuff I record. After a while, some of it became standard process (I always pre-heat the mash tun, for instance), but I try to get it all down.

I record, for instance, the percentage of Alpha acids in the hops as they change from year to year, lot to lot.

Congrats on the first AG brew day. Nothing cooler than watching the magic of the mash!

 

[MSUCatBrewer]

As you do this, take very good notes about the process, timing, temperatures, and so on. This will allow you to adjust things as you go forward because you'll know exactly what you did and how it turned out.

Here's an example: I would put a gallon of boiling water in my mash tun to preheat it. Leave it there for maybe 15-20 minutes and then dump it out and put in the strike water. Add the grist and there I am.

Except....it's different during the winter than the summer. Once I crushed my grain the night before and left it in the cold garage with the already-set-up equipment. Guess what--grain that is about 45 degrees will drop the strike water temp more than grain from in the house where it is 68 degrees.

I've attached a pic below of one of my brew days showing the kind of stuff I record. After a while, some of it became standard process (I always pre-heat the mash tun, for instance), but I try to get it all down.

I record, for instance, the percentage of Alpha acids in the hops as they change from year to year, lot to lot.

Congrats on the first AG brew day. Nothing cooler than watching the magic of the mash!

View attachment 404667

Thanks for the reply! I did my pre-heat different than you did. I put in my strike volume, but went 10 degrees over strike temp; waited 15 min, then removed the lid and stirred down to the recommended strike temp. I felt like this method saved me some time, propane, and water.

Your notes are fantastic! Thanks so much for including them! I printed off the BeerSmith checklist it auto-provides with room at the bottom for notes...but I like your way better.

It looks like you have a water report taped to the bottom...I'm in Helena, MT and we have very good water for brewing, but when I inevitably move, monitoring h20 will be critical; that's a great way to keep your water stats in mind. Terrific organization! Again, thank's for your insights!

Onward! :rockin:

 

[mongoose33]

It isn't important how I preheat my mash tun, only that you know how you do it works a certain way and you can repeat it.

I've gotten to the point where my water amendments seem pretty routine. My local water is not good unless one's brewing a stout. So mostly I use RO and add salts as needed, using a little of my tap water as well.

Now you just have to be patient. It's easy to be patient....said no brewer EVER!

 

[MSUCatBrewer]

It isn't important how I preheat my mash tun, only that you know how you do it works a certain way and you can repeat it.

I've gotten to the point where my water amendments seem pretty routine. My local water is not good unless one's brewing a stout. So mostly I use RO and add salts as needed, using a little of my tap water as well.

Now you just have to be patient. It's easy to be patient....said no brewer EVER!

Thanks for all of your help! I may PM you if I get caught on something! [emoji106]