First AG

[fat.sam]

I performed my first AG yesterday and overall I am pleased. Everything went fairly smooth, I just took my time and enjoyed the whole process. My OG was right on where I wanted it so I should be happy, right? I made a yeast starter out of a re-harvested liquid yeast and just when I was about to pitch it I took a smell and damn--it was bad. Strong vinegar and something else I can't describe, so I dumped it. I am glad I had a dry pack of US-56 laying around. I still haven't seen any activity out of the airlock but my house is about 68 degrees and I pichted my yeast (into wort) at about 70 degrees, so I figure it will take a while to get going.

Anyway, I need to thank all the great information/people on this site to help me get through a good day of beer making.


10# American Two-row
1# American Crystal 80L

Batch Sparge:
3 Gallons Strike:
160 degree 60” rest/stir
4 Gallons Sparge
170 degree 15”

Irish Moss @ 15”

Hops:
1 oz Magnum @ 60”
.5 oz Cascade @ 15”
.5 oz Cascade @ 0”

Yeast:
Safeale US-56

O.G. 1.051
F.G. ?
Brewed (1-27-07)

 

[Orfy]

Well done.

How long are you planning to leave it before ?

 

[fat.sam]

I will do the 1-2-3 method. Luckily I have a couple of cases of well-aged extract HB in the wait. I am wondering what the taste difference will be between the AG and EX, hopefully the extra work was well worth it. I did like half the cost of the AG.

 

[david_42]

Another convert to the emergency stash of dried yeast!

 

[Evets]

Yeah, I always have some Nottingham or 56 on hand.

 

[zoebisch01]

Sounds good! I haven't 'graduated' to saving and reusing yeast yet. Well, I did save one strain but I haven't reused it in a starter method yet. Pretty soon, you'll be able to mash, lauter and sparge with your eyes closed.

 

[RichBrewer]

Sounds like you did a great job with your first mash. If you hit your desired OG then there isn't much else you could do better.
I do see a way for you to increase your efficiency a bit. You could increase the sparge to about 5 1/2 or 6 gallons for that amount of grain. This would require a longer boil and you will get a higher OG so you may just want to keep it as is.
I ran your numbers through ProMash and you are getting about 63 percent efficiency. If you could bump your efficiency to 75 percent you could drop your grain bill by about a pound and a half. (1 1/2 pounds of grain doesn't cost that much so it's up to you if you want to even mess with it)
Try using 1/2 gallon per pound of grain for sparging next time and you will see an increase in efficiency.