Wish me luck. Doing EdWorts Haus Pale Ale. Starting around 1pm central time. Will post pics as things progress. Little nervous, but extremely excited!
First AG Today!
- Thread starter motleybrews
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
BrewKnurd
Well-Known Member
If you've done your homework and pay attention to what you're doing, everything will work out fine. 
RandomBeerGuy
Well-Known Member
If you have done partial mashes then your ready for AG. Can't wait to see the updates and pictures. Wish you luck on your journey in becoming an ALL GRAIN BREWER! 
discnjh said:If you've done your homework and pay attention to what you're doing, everything will work out fine.
I've done so much homework it's retarded. The SWMBO has been real supportive when I've been up late at night watching stupidly long YouTube videos, I've read How to Brew cover to cover 3 times, and spent countless hours reading HBT. I've got diagrams I've drawn on how I'm setting up, pages of notes (the "stream of conscious" kind where it only makes sense to me), and I did a dry run late last night. I'm a theatre person, so had to do a dress rehearsal! I'm so ready. But I'm still a little nervous!
I skipped PM. Not because I didn't think it was necessary, but because of all the research I've done, I felt I was ready to give AG a shot. Hopefully it works out. Like I said, I've read, watched videos, read more, asked questions, watched more videos, and read more. I have the boil and beyond down pat as I've got 10 extract and extract w/ specialty grains under the belt.RandomBeerGuy said:If you have done partial mashes then your ready for AG. Can't wait to see the updates and pictures. Wish you luck on your journey in becoming an ALL GRAIN BREWER!
BRING IT ON GRAIN! I'M GONNA CRUSH YOU AND TURN YOU INTO DELICIOUS BEER!!!!!
I'm brewing today too! So, we're sort of brewing together but 2000 miles apart. I'm going to mash in in about 30 minutes. I just crushed my grain.
Have a good time, and let us know if you need moral support or have any questions!
Have a good time, and let us know if you need moral support or have any questions!
ilikethetrees
Well-Known Member
Have fun and don't overthink things! Welcome to the best thing ever.
Ended up starting later than planned. My brew buddy got tied up with his family. I'm 30 minutes into the mash. Just stirred it. It's been holding steady at 152.
At the last minute decided to batch sparge (had decided to yesterday but woke up really wanting to try fly sparging) so I could get done with everything (pitching yeast and cleaning) before dark. Heating up sparge water now. Going to transfer it to my HLT when it gets to temp since I'm only using one kettle.
Pics.
What the setup was going to be:
What the setup became:
Just poured in and stirred the grain:
So far, it's not near as hard as I thought. It's a lot different than extract, but since I had everything setup and crushed and measured out this morning, it hasn't been too bad. And it's actually really relaxing. I'm enjoying it immensely.
At the last minute decided to batch sparge (had decided to yesterday but woke up really wanting to try fly sparging) so I could get done with everything (pitching yeast and cleaning) before dark. Heating up sparge water now. Going to transfer it to my HLT when it gets to temp since I'm only using one kettle.
Pics.
What the setup was going to be:
What the setup became:
Just poured in and stirred the grain:
So far, it's not near as hard as I thought. It's a lot different than extract, but since I had everything setup and crushed and measured out this morning, it hasn't been too bad. And it's actually really relaxing. I'm enjoying it immensely.
I just got done cleaning up and putting away my stuff about an hour ago. I absolutely LOVE the smell of the mash. It's like bread dough or cookies- just rich and so wonderful.
Your equipment looks good! I"m glad you're enjoying yourself. It's great fun, and it's so gratifying to pour a beer and think, "I MADE this!"
Your equipment looks good! I"m glad you're enjoying yourself. It's great fun, and it's so gratifying to pour a beer and think, "I MADE this!"
FoundersBrew
Well-Known Member
I just got finished with this same brew. Everything went well just a few points off, should be 1.051, I ended up at 1.056. This is a great beer, my second batch of it.
Wow. Just got everything cleaned up. Took lots of notes, and made a few mistakes. but i'm not worried. i went into this beer as pretty much a test batch. to see my mistakes, and to learn from them. If i get good, drinkable beer in a month and a half, awesome. If not, I've learned a lot.
The good:
-Mash held temp @ 152 for the entire hour.
-Figured out my process pretty darn good
-Extracted right at 2.5 gallons (of the original 4) when i drained the first runnings
-Pitched yeast right around 68
-My efficiency was right around 74%
-2nd sparge went fine
-Got 5.5 gallons in the fermentor
The bad:
-I had a slightly stuck first sparge. No worries, just stirred it up real good, let it sit another few minutes, and vorlaufed, and all was fine
-By the time my 2nd sparge happened, the water was a little too cool, so i heated up a gallon to boil, added it to my HLT, and then inadvertently put all the water in, instead of leaving a gallon. Lesson learned.
-My wort chiller ended up spraying like crazy. I tested this damn thing 3 times. no troubles on any of those times. Brought water to a boil, cooled it. 3 times. no problems. put it in the wort with 15 min left in the boil, ended the boil, turned on the water, and it spewed all over the place. my helper was inside checking some football scores, so by the time i figured out it was happening (i ran inside to for a minute) about half a gallon of water had gone into the wort. Memphis water is pretty darn good, so i'm not too worried. Sanitized a little pitcher, scooped out some of the wort. no worries. will be building a new one, or adjusting this one before my next batch. ended up switching to the other inlet, and it spewed too, but i held my hands over it and redirected the spray as best i could. a few drops got in.
-Didn't fully chill with the chiller, so when it was about 110, i took it inside, and gave it an ice bath. Got it chilled to 68ish in about 32 minutes total (wort chiller and ice bath).
-My OG was a few points off. Should have been 1.051, but according to the beersmith adjusted reading (took hydrometer reading at 101.1 and the reading was 1.048) was 1.054, again, i'm not worried.
-my goal was for the yeast to be pitched before dark, and cleaned up shortly after. Thanks to the stuck sparge, and the issues with the wort chiller, that didn't happen, but everything is cleaned, dried, and put away, and i've had a beer, and its 9:06.
All in all, I made a few mistakes, learned a lot about my processes, learned a lot of lessons, and had a great time. Great beer, or crap beer, or beer that gets trashed, it doesn't matter. I had a blast.
The good:
-Mash held temp @ 152 for the entire hour.
-Figured out my process pretty darn good
-Extracted right at 2.5 gallons (of the original 4) when i drained the first runnings
-Pitched yeast right around 68
-My efficiency was right around 74%
-2nd sparge went fine
-Got 5.5 gallons in the fermentor
The bad:
-I had a slightly stuck first sparge. No worries, just stirred it up real good, let it sit another few minutes, and vorlaufed, and all was fine
-By the time my 2nd sparge happened, the water was a little too cool, so i heated up a gallon to boil, added it to my HLT, and then inadvertently put all the water in, instead of leaving a gallon. Lesson learned.
-My wort chiller ended up spraying like crazy. I tested this damn thing 3 times. no troubles on any of those times. Brought water to a boil, cooled it. 3 times. no problems. put it in the wort with 15 min left in the boil, ended the boil, turned on the water, and it spewed all over the place. my helper was inside checking some football scores, so by the time i figured out it was happening (i ran inside to for a minute) about half a gallon of water had gone into the wort. Memphis water is pretty darn good, so i'm not too worried. Sanitized a little pitcher, scooped out some of the wort. no worries. will be building a new one, or adjusting this one before my next batch. ended up switching to the other inlet, and it spewed too, but i held my hands over it and redirected the spray as best i could. a few drops got in.
-Didn't fully chill with the chiller, so when it was about 110, i took it inside, and gave it an ice bath. Got it chilled to 68ish in about 32 minutes total (wort chiller and ice bath).
-My OG was a few points off. Should have been 1.051, but according to the beersmith adjusted reading (took hydrometer reading at 101.1 and the reading was 1.048) was 1.054, again, i'm not worried.
-my goal was for the yeast to be pitched before dark, and cleaned up shortly after. Thanks to the stuck sparge, and the issues with the wort chiller, that didn't happen, but everything is cleaned, dried, and put away, and i've had a beer, and its 9:06.
All in all, I made a few mistakes, learned a lot about my processes, learned a lot of lessons, and had a great time. Great beer, or crap beer, or beer that gets trashed, it doesn't matter. I had a blast.
Oh yea, another bad:
-left my hop bags at the apt (just moved into a house but still have a few months left in the lease at apt where all but this batch has been done). Didn't realize it until too late, so there will probably be a lot more trub than I usually get.
I did save 4 cups of grain. Might make cookies, might make dog treats. Gonna save enough for bread next time
-left my hop bags at the apt (just moved into a house but still have a few months left in the lease at apt where all but this batch has been done). Didn't realize it until too late, so there will probably be a lot more trub than I usually get.
I did save 4 cups of grain. Might make cookies, might make dog treats. Gonna save enough for bread next time
