First all grain brew...disaster!!!!

[Mountainbeers]

I've been talking about going AG for a while now, so SWMBO decided to get me a kit for my birthday not realizing I wasn't totally prepared for the endeavor. After a week of staring at the kit I decided that

a) I HAVE TO BREW...NOW! and

b) that I've been putting off going AG for no reason so I'm going to go for it.

I put together a 5 gal MLT with a Rubbermaid round cooler because I didn't have time to look for a 10 gal bargain and didn't want to worry about losing heat on my first try. Tested it out with just plain water for an hour and didn't lose a degree. Got my mash water up to my strike temp (170) and doughed in. Then I stirred until the mash temp was down to 154 and put the lid on. When I opened it up after an hour I was down to 144 somehow. My guess is that I shouldn't have stirred for so long. Just mixed and closed the lid since the strike water temp should have made all the corrections. I don't have a digital thermometer so it's possible that I didn't have a very accurate temp reading.

I then started my runnings into a container and, like an idiot, walked away for a second. When I came back wort was all over the floor because the tubing had floated up and somehow come out. I just estimated how much I had lost and corrected my boil to try and hit my OG. Lastly, I only had one open fermenter and it was a 6.5 gal so now I have about 3.5 gal in a 6.5 gal primary. The best part? I hit my OG exactly!

I know that oxygenation is usually only an issue in secondary. So do you think I should just leave it in primary for the whole fermentation or should I go pick up a 3 gal carboy and rack to it for secondary?

 

[beltbuckle]

I'd keep it in the primary. All the headspace will be co2 anyway. And why rack to a secondary unless you need to for a specific reason (lager, fruit beer, etc.)?

 

[corvax13]

Well, aside from a sticky floor, I would not call your brew day a disaster at all - congrats on your first all grain.

I say leave it in there - the CO2 will blanket it nicely, you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[jmo88]

That sucks that you lost all that wort. I wouldn't go and get another fermenter. The fermentation will kick out any oxygen, so I wouldn't be concerned there. I wouldn't move it to a secondary either.

Despite the spill, it looks like it wasn't a disaster.

 

[Mountainbeers]

So you guys aren't concerned about a mash temp drop that big? (154-144)

Secondary isn't necessary I don't guess. The kit recommends 2 weeks primary and 2 weeks secondary but for no apparent reason.

 

[jmo88]

Are you sure you checked the temp in various spots of the mash? You want to take an average of these temps as there are hot spots until things settle a bit. If you mash did drop that much, (though I don't see more than one degree drop in my 10 gallon rubbermaid) and you hit your gravity, then you had good conversion. If you did your entire mash at 144F, (more likely) then your FG will be a few points lower. No worries. It'll be good.

 

[Mountainbeers]

I didn't check it in multiple spots. I'll remember to do that next time. I have no way of knowing if I actually got good conversion because of the spill.

 

[Beezer94]

I learned you need to heat the water a little warmer than calculated and let it sit in the cooler for 5-10minutes. Than check the temperature; add the grains, mix well, then give it a minute or two and check the mash temperature.

If the cooler is allowed to preheat, you shouldn't lose more than a degree or two during an hour.

 

[annasdadhockey]

Sounds like you didn't temper your mash tun first. Next time, heat your strike water to about 180, then dump it in your tun. put the lid on and swirl it a bit. The tun should absorb somr of the heat. Let it sit for maybe 10 minutes covered, the take the lid off and let it get to strike temp. I'll bet that'll do it.

 

[jlpred55]

Sounds like you didn't temper your mash tun first. Next time, heat your strike water to about 180, then dump it in your tun. put the lid on and swirl it a bit. The tun should absorb somr of the heat. Let it sit for maybe 10 minutes covered, the take the lid off and let it get to strike temp. I'll bet that'll do it.

+1 good advice, I do this very thing. I usually only wait a few minutes but until you get your process down 10 minutes is a good mark.

 

[wedge421]

So I just did my first AG after 3 years of doing extract. I did a batch sparge setup, 60 mins at 155F mash out with an extra gallon then sparge with 3.5 gals of 175. That went fine, boil and hops went fine. When I went to run it through my IC i have tons and tons of coldbreak and hops in my carboy. And at 4.5 gals my wort was like 10points over so i added a gal of water and now I have 2 section in my carboy. A layer of trub, a layer of nice dark orange beer and a layer of yellow/star san beer foam. I really hope it evens out .Its very disheartening to have this happen. It was also my first run with a Keggle. I def need to add something to my pick up tube to min this trub.

 

[MikeG]

You're gonna end up with beer, definitely not a disaster! On my 10 gal cooler MLT I put a folded blanket on the lid for better insulation, give it a try. I have very little heat-loss

 

[Yambor44]

Not a bad day ay all! My first was similar. I ended up with 2.5 of a 5 gallon batch and it turned out great! Don't worry, yours will be fine!

 

[flyerwire]

well hell, i was expecting to hear a real disaster. That wasn't bad at all. As others have said, pre-heat the MLT. It took me a handful of batches to get acclimated to the nuances of my equipment. I had at least one issue in my first 5 or so batches. After that its become fairly repeatable and much more relaxing. Hey, even if its only 3.5 gallons, you still ended up with beer to drink!