First all grain brew this past weekend

[Zowat]

Seems a few people were brewing there first all grain this past weekend. I figured i'd add my name to the list :rockin:

I've been slowly assembling my all grain equipment needs ( home depot mash tun ) and after collecting a few last pieces of equiptment ( 40 qt brew pot and Bayou classic patio burner)

I Brewed a Hefeweizen this Saturday. Everything went pretty smooth thanks to all the great advise on this forum. I used a recipe I found here pretty sure it was The Pol's recipe that he posted for someone else a while back.

Everything went pretty smooth hit all the mash temps within a few degrees and ended up with 7 gallons preboil. The only hitch is i think i had the gas on to high cause after a 60 minute boil i was left with about 4.5 gallons. Oh well now i know better Pitched my starter and 8 hours later i was getting bubbles out of my blow off tube about 1 second apart. The fermentation has finally started to subside a bit but i still have a good 3 inched of krausen.

The best part is I got a haier kegerator from a friend who was losing his storage space so i said i'd help him out with finding a good home for it So today i order 4 used kegs and all the tubing and connectors I need.

I just wanted to thank everyone here for all the great posts. Even tho i havent asked any questions I've learned so much in the last month or so since i joined.


Cheers

Erik

 

[D2T]

Glad to hear of your success! I had the same problem the first time I used my Banjo burner too...came up a few gallons short. Just remember that once the water gets boiling you need almost no heat to keep it going.

 

[Professor Frink]

Sounds like a great beer to come! Between all-grain and having beer on tap, you may never buy a commercial brew again.

 

[jpuf]

Yep, sounds like a winner! Congrats

I know what you mean, you don't have to ask a lot of questions here, most can be answered with a simple search. The only bad thing is you don't get the chance to thank the folks that provided the answers. So I'm taking this opportunity to say "thanks folks" for all the good advice, tips and tricks.

 

[noobrich]

Boiling is very important. I would not reduce your boil. If you did not add enough water at the beginning this is not unusual nor would I be concerned.

If your Original Gravity is to high just add water. It's that simple.

Richard

 

[t-dogg]

congrats, I agree with noobrich I like to have a very hardy boil.

 

[cweston]

I find that with a fairly high BTU burner and a big pot (I use a keggle), you have alot of control over your boil rate. If I keep it just at a nice slow rolling boil, I evaporate way less (possibly 1 to 1.5 gallons less) wort over the course of 60 minutes than if I keep it really going at the highest heat without boilovers.

My first several full boil batches, I tended to boil off too much. Like everything else, you'll get it dialed in after a few batches with the system.

 

[Zowat]

I had 7 gallons preboil and since it was kinda windy out so I left the burner cranking on high. I think next time i'll dial the burner down a bit but still keep it a rolling boil. I guess coming from mostly extract brewing with a 3 gallon pot on my stove i was just used to full blast on the burner. I ended up with 4.5 gallon in the fermenter the rest boiled away or lost to trub. The OG was a few points off of the recipe i used still pretty close that i'm not worried.

I'm very happy with my first attempt at all grain. learned a few things but that what its all about anyway. Thanks for all the advise and comments.

 

[Bobby_M]

I've come up short a couple times and have just decided to add an extra gallon to the process. Heck, you can use the extra wort to make a starter next time.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

A note on burner vs boil: I've noticed that once the boil starts it takes very little heat for me to maintain a nice rolling boil, even when doing a 10 gal batch.