Like so many others, my first AG was Bee Cave Haus Pale Ale 
I decided to do a 2.5 gallon BIAB for my first run. Everything went pretty well (for a first time anyway..) but there is a lot of room for improvement.
The good:
- Had the procedure down pretty well (mentally, at least!) so there were no real surprises.
- I hit my mash temp almost dead on. I dropped down to 148F after dough-in, but a few minutes on the burner had me up to 152F. The pot went into the oven (set on lowest setting) and stayed between 151-152F the whole time
- Sparge went well, although my sparge pot had too much water so I had to empty some out to fit the bag.
The less-good:
- HBS was out of Cascade so I had to sub Centennial
- HBS was out of Nottingham so I had to sub Wyeast 1274
- OG came in low at 1.044
- Brewhouse efficiency was only at 54%...This is probably because I have an electric stove and a concave brewpot :-/
I assume my efficiency will increase with practice. From what I understand, I can increase my grain bill a bit to compensated for the lower efficiency. I am also pretty surprised that I barely got 2.5 gallons in the fermenter. I started with 4.75 pre-boil and didn't have as much evaporation as I had hoped. It is still a good size for me since I am the only beer drinker in the house, but we like to do our best
I also had a LOT more trub in the bottom of the pot. I have done partial-mash before. Is this just a result of doing an all grain batch? I also didn't have a filter on the end of my tubing so I avoided digging too deep into the bottom of the pot (because of the trub). I didn't want a ton of junk in the bottom of the fermenter.
Finally, my fermentation is moving slowly after 12 hours (but it IS moving). The Nottingham really takes off, but I guess the Wyeast is slower to get going, or just slower to do the job. Fermentation temp is between 64-68F. I have the primary sitting in a tub of water/ice to try to keep the temp more constant.
Any comments and helpful advice/ words of encouragement would be appreciated!
I decided to do a 2.5 gallon BIAB for my first run. Everything went pretty well (for a first time anyway..) but there is a lot of room for improvement.
The good:
- Had the procedure down pretty well (mentally, at least!) so there were no real surprises.
- I hit my mash temp almost dead on. I dropped down to 148F after dough-in, but a few minutes on the burner had me up to 152F. The pot went into the oven (set on lowest setting) and stayed between 151-152F the whole time
- Sparge went well, although my sparge pot had too much water so I had to empty some out to fit the bag.
The less-good:
- HBS was out of Cascade so I had to sub Centennial
- HBS was out of Nottingham so I had to sub Wyeast 1274
- OG came in low at 1.044
- Brewhouse efficiency was only at 54%...This is probably because I have an electric stove and a concave brewpot :-/
I assume my efficiency will increase with practice. From what I understand, I can increase my grain bill a bit to compensated for the lower efficiency. I am also pretty surprised that I barely got 2.5 gallons in the fermenter. I started with 4.75 pre-boil and didn't have as much evaporation as I had hoped. It is still a good size for me since I am the only beer drinker in the house, but we like to do our best
I also had a LOT more trub in the bottom of the pot. I have done partial-mash before. Is this just a result of doing an all grain batch? I also didn't have a filter on the end of my tubing so I avoided digging too deep into the bottom of the pot (because of the trub). I didn't want a ton of junk in the bottom of the fermenter.
Finally, my fermentation is moving slowly after 12 hours (but it IS moving). The Nottingham really takes off, but I guess the Wyeast is slower to get going, or just slower to do the job. Fermentation temp is between 64-68F. I have the primary sitting in a tub of water/ice to try to keep the temp more constant.
Any comments and helpful advice/ words of encouragement would be appreciated!
