First all grain and a ?

[timmb76]

Well I finished my first all grain brew day yesterday. It took around 6 hrs. I think everything went fairly well. I batch sparged and collected around 6 1/4 gallons of wort. Had my first 2 boil overs when I couldn't get the burner shut off fast enough, a spray bottle of water took care of the foam from then on. Only other major problems were a leaky mash tun, (good thing it was only the pre-heat water), forgetting to aerate, (too many home brews), and my question. I was using a 5 G beverage cooler for a mash tun. I thought I had everything planned out, until time to sparge, when I realized 5 G of water was not going to fit with 10.5# of grain. So I decided to split the water into 2 batch sparges. Did I do the right thing or will this cause problems with off flavors? I ended up with An OG of 1.058 and the recipe called for 1.052, but that was before I added 1/2 gallon of top off water. I pitched a 1L starter, and it was bubbling away in 4 hrs. Sorry if I am rambling, just a little excited and anxious.

 

[shecky]

You'll be fine. You did exactly the right thing with the sparge. A good many of us batch sparge with two equal volumes, or at the least do two batch sparges.

 

[timmb76]

Thanks for the response. That's good to know. In the future I plan on converting a 10 g cooler for my mash tun, and using my 5 g for a HLT or for partial mashes in the winter.

 

[GoldMiner]

I recommend Fermcap S - no more boil overs.