First All grain Batch walk through! HELP!

[Zrab11]

Alright I know .. I know.. I need to just relax and have a homebrew.. Well I want to get most of my first all grain batch right so i have less mistakes to improve on.. I know i prob won't hit a home run with my first all grain beer but i sure don't want to completely strike out. So Here is my recipe and my brew day. Let me know if I am ok.


So I am doing the 21 day trial of beer smith.. I don't know if I entered all the stuff correctly but i think its pretty close. I am guessing on some of the water evaporation numbers and things like that but i am sure I'm pretty close. Will try to keep really good record of that over the next few brews.

HERE IS THE RECIPE

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: English Ale
Yeast Starter: Recommended
Batch Size (Gallons): 6
Original Gravity: 1.065
Final Gravity: 1.018
IBU: 65
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 8.5
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10


Batch Size: 6 gallons
Estimated Original Gravity: 1.065
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.018
Estimated Color: 8.5 SRM
Bitterness: 65.9 IBU
Mash Temp: 152 F

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.75 lb 2 Row (2.0 SRM) Grain 81.7 %
1.13 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 7.8 %
0.50 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
0.50 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
1.25 oz Citra [12.40%] (15 min) Hops 21.1 IBU
0.75 oz Citra [12.40%] (First Wort Hop) Hops 17.0 IBU
1.25 oz Citra [12.40%] (10 min) Hops 15.4 IBU
1.25 oz Citra [12.40%] (5 min) Hops 8.5 IBU
1.25 oz Citra [12.40%] (1 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
3.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
SafAle English Ale (S-04)

Now Here is my Brew Day

Equipment- I have a 15 gallon keggle with ball valve(with cam locks),dip tube, sight glass and digital thermometer on my HLT
I have a 60Qt Ice Cube cooler mash tun with Stainless steel Braid
I have a 15 gallon keggle with ball valve(with Camlocks),dip tube and dial thermometer for my brew kettle
I have 2 blichman burners
All of this is gravity Fed

BRew Schedule

1. I am batch sparging and on Beer smith I entered in "Single Infusion Medium Body,Batch Sparge" it says "Mash Inn" I am to add 17.97qt(4.492 gallons) of water at 163.7F and step 60 min.


2. So I add 5 gallons of water to my HLT I then heat it up to 163.7 and then add 1-2 gallons of water to my mash tun for 10 min to "Pre Heat the cooler"

Is this correct? Also how much do you usually add to pre heat a cooler?

3. Then I add the rest of the water to get me to 17.97 Qt(4.492 gallons) of water in mash tun.. Then add all the grains to the water and stir for a few minutes?

Is this correct? Also I want to make sure and Add grains to water and not water to grains?

4. Make sure temp is at 154F and close the lid and let it sit for 60 min

Is this correct? Also add cold water if I'm too high and more hot water
If I am too low.. Just never let the temp of grains go over 170F correct?

5.Then it has me batch sparge with 2 steps 1.19 gal and 3.96 gal of 168F water

6. So then I Vourlauf 1-2 gallons until my runnings are clean and pour that back into the mash tun and then siphon all the wort out of my mash tun into my brew kettle.

Is this Correct? Also Do i need to turn the burner on now and start getting the temp up to boil under my brew kettle or do I wait for all the wort to be in the kettle?

7. Now during the 60 min step time I heated up another 5.15 gallons of water for my 2 step batch sparge(1.19 +3.96 =5.15). I heated it up to 168F this time.

Why did I heat it up to 163.7F the first time and now 168F this time?? More specifically why did the instructions tell me to do that?

8. Now I empty 1.19 gal of water into the mash tun. And immediately siphon it into the boil kettle

Is this Correct? Also Do i Vorlauf at this step? Do i let the water sit in the mash tun for any certain amount of time? Do i need the grains to be any certain temp?

9. After I have run the 1.19 gallons of wort from mash tun into brew kettle. Now I put the 3.96 gal of water into the mash tun and Sipon it into the brew kettle.

Is this Correct? Same question for this step as well. Do i Vorlauf at this step? Do i let the water sit in the mash tun for any certain amount of time? Do i need the grains to be any certain temp?

10. Now I get my wort up to boil and Follow the hops schedule and do everything else the same as I have done with Extract.

So please look through the above Schedule and if you could be so kind to answer my questions and see if I have all my ducks in a row that would be much appreciated!Or point out any glaring holes in my brew day schedule!

Now onto the Mash PH.

In beer smith the Mash PH says 5.2 and then sparge runoff PH is 6.0

Am I correct in understanding that it means my mash PH should be 5.2 and after it becomes wort it is 6.0 PH?


Now here is my water report.

pH 7.0
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 432
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.72
Cations / Anions, me/L 7.7 / 8.1
ppm
Sodium, Na 14
Potassium, K 3
Calcium, Ca 90
Magnesium, Mg 30
Total Hardness, CaCO3 350
Nitrate, NO3-N 2.7 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 17
Chloride, Cl 51
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 327
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 268


I know it isn't the best.

But can I just use the 5.2 PH Stabalizer and add it to the water I heat up in my HLT to get the correct Mash PH. Or is this cheating or not the best way to get a proper PH to Mash with

I think that is all the questions I have right now. Please let me know if I overlooked anything important in the ALL grain Steps. I know there is still a ton to learn but i hope I'm off to a good start.

thanks for reading this long post! And thanks so much for giving me advice I really do appreciate it.

 

[jtratcliff]

I do my AG batches as BIAB so I don't have experience using a three vessel set up. However, your process looks pretty solid to me.

I might elect to go for a single batch sparge instead of a double. From what I've read here, multiple sparges don't offer enough of a boost in efffeciency to be worth the hassle. Especially for your first AG.

Add grains to water. Stir like crazy for a few minutes. Break up any dough balls. It takes a little bit for temp. to eqilibrate so check after 10-15 minutes. Add ice cubes or hot water to get close. Off by a degree or so is ok.

When you add your sparge water, stir like mad, let it settle for a few (15?) minutes then Vorlauf as before. You might want to just open your valves just part way at first until your grain bed is set, then open more for faster flow.

Your sparge water is often hotter than your mash temps to so that you "mash out" and stop conversion. this locks in the mash profile by denaturing the enzymes. You mash in at 163 so that the water+grain temp equilibrates at 154. You mash out at 168 (or higher) so that your grain bed goes over 160ish to denature the enzymes.

Go ahead and fire your 1st runnings to start boil. No need to wait until you have all the runnings before heating.

From my understanding of what folks have written here, 5.2 stabilizer doesn't work. I'd say don't sweat the pH for your first AG brew. Water chemistry is an advanced topic. Unless you know for sure you're missing something important RDWHAHB.

 

[jtratcliff]

Also... Good luck! Enjoy the brew day. Give yourself some extra time so you're not rushing around.

 

[jtratcliff]

And keep good notes so you can dial in your equipment profile in beer smith. I use brewtarget and once I got my equipment set up right, temps, volumes, OG,FG, etc are all spot on.

 

[Zrab11]

And keep good notes so you can dial in your equipment profile in beer smith. I use brewtarget and once I got my equipment set up right, temps, volumes, OG,FG, etc are all spot on.

Thanks so much for your rresponses.. Gave me some good info..

I'm hoping someone that has run a 3 vessel system can chime in.. But if not I appreciate you response!

 

[Hello]

Up until this point you have it right, as far as I can see.

Also Do i need to turn the burner on now and start getting the temp up to boil under my brew kettle or do I wait for all the wort to be in the kettle?

Personally, I would just wait to get everything in the kettle. There is no harm in waiting and most of all, even after you have Vourlaufed, you may find you need to do it again if it doesn't come out as clear as you had intended. To my knowledge, there is no set number of gallons to vourlauf. It is what it is until it is clear.

Why did I heat it up to 163.7F the first time and now 168F this time?? More specifically why did the instructions tell me to do that?

I have no idea except that perhaps this is accounting for cool-off in your tun.

8. Now I empty 1.19 gal of water into the mash tun. And immediately siphon it into the boil kettle

Is this Correct? Also Do i Vorlauf at this step? Do i let the water sit in the mash tun for any certain amount of time? Do i need the grains to be any certain temp?

If it is not coming out clear, then yes. If you're getting clear or near enough for your liking, wort, then nope.

I think your grain temp will be whatever it is. I don't think you're supposed to necessarily try to re-heat them. It may be that you were told to dump in the higher temp water for this purpose alone. To keep the temp of the grain as even as possible.

Am I correct in understanding that it means my mash PH should be 5.2 and after it becomes wort it is 6.0 PH?

If I didn't know better (and I don't) this would totally be my assumption.

But can I just use the 5.2 PH Stabalizer and add it to the water I heat up in my HLT to get the correct Mash PH. Or is this cheating or not the best way to get a proper PH to Mash with

Yes, you can add 5.2 to the water you heated your MT up with. Now, I have read on this site and another site that people question this whole 5.2 thing. Logically, I kind of do as well, but I am considering using it for the heck of it. To me, this can lower or increase your pH, but the formula of 5.2 is the same for either task. I don't get that but I am not a scientist and I haven't yet played one on TV. Ergo, ignorance (my own) will be bliss and for that, I'll likely use it because that is what some of the internet said to do.

I think you have this all right. My setup will be gravity fed and based on a number of videos I've watched and instructions I've read (and a class I took), I think this is as right as it can get.

I will echo what someone else wrote, relax, give yourself a ton of time because if you're like me, moving from extract to all grain will take longer and trying to rush it isn't going to help stress levels.

Good luck!

 

[Ibrew2little]

Here's some motivation.

Was washing all my beer glasses. So not the best pic. This was my first all grain batch. IPA. ABV 10.2% with 120 IBUs. Few things I would like to change. BUT. Still better than any kit beer I've ever made! Saluté

 

[Ibrew2little]

Also for anybody looking at this. I did a seven day dry hop which resulted in a little bit of fuzzies in my beer. Have any ideas of how to prevent this from my next go around? Thanks

 

[schaez]

Try heating your strike water 4-5 degrees hotter than the calculation. Then measure your temp after the transfer to the mash tun. If it's within 2-3 degrees than add the grain. Stir until you hit the temp. Going above the calculated temperature gives you some room for error. There's going to be some heat loss in the transfer and you can adjust this in the equipment profile in beersmith, but you'll have a better idea of what it needs to be set to after running your system a few times.

Your mash will be fine if the temp isn't exactly at the target temperature. You want to hit it, but you'll still make good beer at 148 degF or 158 degF. It will have some affect on your finishing gravity, but your first times through you'll be learning your system.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[schaez]

When I used propane I usually turned on the boil kettle burner on low once the first wort was in it. There's no harm in waiting. All this step does is try and save time and get to a boil faster.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[schaez]

Heating the sparge water temperature to 168 degF is more related to sparging after a mash out. At 168 degF the enzymes in the mash stop working and no further conversion occurs. The hotter temperatures also help with rinsing the grains. Without a mash out the 168 degF is just a good temperature without risking tannin extractions. You don't want the mash to go above 170 degF. When I use to batch sparged I actually used sparge water around 180 - 185 degF since I could add it fast and stir it in and keep the mash below 170 degF. I would go with 168 degF sparge and see where your efficiency is.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[StoneHands]

1. I am batch sparging and on Beer smith I entered in "Single Infusion Medium Body,Batch Sparge" it says "Mash Inn" I am to add 17.97qt(4.492 gallons) of water at 163.7F and step 60 min.


2. So I add 5 gallons of water to my HLT I then heat it up to 163.7 and then add 1-2 gallons of water to my mash tun for 10 min to "Pre Heat the cooler"

Is this correct? Also how much do you usually add to pre heat a cooler? I usually add all of my strike water to my tun, that's been heated to 7-8 degrees over my target temp to preheat. For instance, on an 11 lb grain bill, I heat 3.44 (11 lbs x 1.25 qt/lb) gallons to 160. Dump it in my tun. I check my tun temp, once it drops to 151.2F, I add my 70F grain and it drops to 140F which is my initial temp.

3. Then I add the rest of the water to get me to 17.97 Qt(4.492 gallons) of water in mash tun.. Then add all the grains to the water and stir for a few minutes?

Is this correct? Also I want to make sure and Add grains to water and not water to grains? I add all my grains to my water, but stir well.

4. Make sure temp is at 154F and close the lid and let it sit for 60 min

Is this correct? Also add cold water if I'm too high and more hot water
If I am too low.. Just never let the temp of grains go over 170F correct? It's easier if you slightly overshoot. Stir like mad to get the temp down.

5.Then it has me batch sparge with 2 steps 1.19 gal and 3.96 gal of 168F water

6. So then I Vourlauf 1-2 gallons until my runnings are clean and pour that back into the mash tun and then siphon all the wort out of my mash tun into my brew kettle.

Is this Correct? Also Do i need to turn the burner on now and start getting the temp up to boil under my brew kettle or do I wait for all the wort to be in the kettle? I usually drain/vorlauf my initial mash runnings, then add my sparge water to rinse the grains. I too do this in two steps, so I end up vorlaufing 3 times, but with a batch sparge, doesn't take long.

7. Now during the 60 min step time I heated up another 5.15 gallons of water for my 2 step batch sparge(1.19 +3.96 =5.15). I heated it up to 168F this time. I usually just split my sparge water in half and do two equal sparges. Measure the volume of your first runnings and make sure your sparge water will get you to your pre-boil volume.

Why did I heat it up to 163.7F the first time and now 168F this time?? More specifically why did the instructions tell me to do that? Just make sure your sparge water is hot. With a batch sparge it's not totally important since you'll be going from mash to boil relatively quickly (unlike a fly sparge). Hot sparge water (around 170) will make sure your mash doesn't drop in temp, making it harder to get to a quicker boil - saves time since you're heating sparge water while still mashing.

8. Now I empty 1.19 gal of water into the mash tun. And immediately siphon it into the boil kettle

Is this Correct? Also Do i Vorlauf at this step? Do i let the water sit in the mash tun for any certain amount of time? Do i need the grains to be any certain temp? Any time you disturb the grain bed, vorlauf. Again, I vorlauf, empty the mash tun. Add half the sparge water, stir, vorlauf and empty the tun again. Add the second half of sparge, stir, vorlauf, and empty the tun for the last time. I probably get negligible efficiency boost by splitting the sparge, but it works for me.

9. After I have run the 1.19 gallons of wort from mash tun into brew kettle. Now I put the 3.96 gal of water into the mash tun and Sipon it into the brew kettle.

Is this Correct? Same question for this step as well. Do i Vorlauf at this step? Do i let the water sit in the mash tun for any certain amount of time? Do i need the grains to be any certain temp?

10. Now I get my wort up to boil and Follow the hops schedule and do everything else the same as I have done with Extract.

So please look through the above Schedule and if you could be so kind to answer my questions and see if I have all my ducks in a row that would be much appreciated!Or point out any glaring holes in my brew day schedule!

Now onto the Mash PH.

In beer smith the Mash PH says 5.2 and then sparge runoff PH is 6.0

Am I correct in understanding that it means my mash PH should be 5.2 and after it becomes wort it is 6.0 PH?


Now here is my water report.

pH 7.0
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 432
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.72
Cations / Anions, me/L 7.7 / 8.1
ppm
Sodium, Na 14
Potassium, K 3
Calcium, Ca 90
Magnesium, Mg 30
Total Hardness, CaCO3 350
Nitrate, NO3-N 2.7 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 17
Chloride, Cl 51
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 327
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 268


I know it isn't the best. Your water is extremely hard. I wouldn't use it for brewing, especially all grain (sorry). Get some RO water or distilled from the store, especially for your first all-grain brew.

But can I just use the 5.2 PH Stabalizer and add it to the water I heat up in my HLT to get the correct Mash PH. Or is this cheating or not the best way to get a proper PH to Mash with Don't use the 5.2 stabilizer, won't work.

I think that is all the questions I have right now. Please let me know if I overlooked anything important in the ALL grain Steps. I know there is still a ton to learn but i hope I'm off to a good start.

thanks for reading this long post! And thanks so much for giving me advice I really do appreciate it.

Hope this helps!

 

[StoneHands]

I want to stress again, that your water isn't very good for brewing. Your grain bill doesn't really have any dark malts either to help acidifiy the mash. I don't think you'll get to the proper pH if you use your water and that grain bill. The beer won't be as good as it could be, my guess it'll be a bit "muddy" and just meh. Follow the water primer, especially for your first AG batch. Use some calcium chloride and some acidulated malt (don't change your grain bill, just add the acid malt according to the water primer), and use distilled or RO.

 

[Zrab11]

I want to stress again, that your water isn't very good for brewing. Your grain bill doesn't really have any dark malts either to help acidifiy the mash. I don't think you'll get to the proper pH if you use your water and that grain bill. The beer won't be as good as it could be, my guess it'll be a bit "muddy" and just meh. Follow the water primer, especially for your first AG batch. Use some calcium chloride and some acidulated malt (don't change your grain bill, just add the acid malt according to the water primer), and use distilled or RO.

What do you mean follow the water primer?

 

[StoneHands]

What do you mean follow the water primer?

Sorry, it's the lengthy thread here. The first post in the thread is where the info is.