First All Grain - First Double Batch

[keelanfish]

Last night was a big step in the adventure that is homebrewing for Myers Brothers Brewing. Over the past couple months, my brother and I have been building equipment and gettting things set up and organized at his apartment for all grain brewing. In addition, we have upped the size of things and have the ability to do larger batches.

So, last night we did a double batch of Haus Pale Ale that we picked up from Brewmaster's Warehouse (can't say enough about the good experience with them). I was worried that the 10 gallon cooler wouldn't be big enough to mash it, but it worked fine. In actuallity, the more limiting factor was the 15 gallon kettle. That thing was full to within about 1 inch of the top at the start of the boil. It was cold last night, about 27 degrees (I know, doesn't seem cold to most of you, but for Atlanta, it's cold), so it took a while to get it all to a nice boil. Had a little boil over before hot break, but everything turned out fine.

The two kits together is supposed to make 11 gallons of beer, but we ended up with 11.5 to 12 gallons. The estimated O.G. is 1.051, but we missed it slightly due to ending up with too much wort. We hit 1.048, so we didn't miss by much.

I don't know if I'm doing the math correctly, first time trying to calculate efficiency, but here's what I came up with.

16 lbs 2-row pale x 38 pts/lb/gal / 11.5 gal = 52.87
4 lbs Vienna Malt x 35 pts/lb/gal / 11.5 gal = 12.17
1 lbs Crystal 10L x 35 pts/lb/gal / 11.5 gal = 3.04

For a possible O.G. of 1.068 (assuming 100% efficiency)

Actual O.G. was 1.048

So to get batch efficiency: 48/68 = 70.6%

I hope my math is correct, but if it is, I'm pretty stoked about hitting 70% on our first attempt at all grain. I even forgot to add the 5.2 buffer to the mash, so I think I will do even better next time.

***Photos Coming Soon***

 

[hopsalot]

math checks out

 

[keelanfish]

***Update***

My brother just called. He said the smaller of the two glass carboys we pitched in last night had exploded. Luckily we had it immersed in a water bath, it didn't make a mess, but apparently one whole side is missing. He's taking photos and I'll post later. 5 gallons lost, I feel like crying.

This might make me a believer in the Betterbottle...

 

[PuckX]

Damn, sorry to hear about the carboy exploding. Nothing worse than wasting good beer.

Quick question though, why didnt you just continue to boil until you were at 11Gallons? I know I wasn't the one standing out in 27 degree weather so easy for me to say.

 

[caspio]

if they'd already done their other hop additions, it would have screwed up the IBU/hop aroma ratio. Last time I brewed Ed's haus ale a crackhead neighbor started eyeballing my equipment - getting him to go away distracted me right at the end of the boil. ended up with more bitterness and very little hop aroma/flavor. no biggie though, was still tasty

Bummer on the exploding carboy. what happened? clogged airlock/dropped/old stress fractures?

 

[keelanfish]

We're still trying to get used to all the new equipment. That's the best reason I can give for why we ended up with too much at the end. We'll nail it better next time.

I'm not sure what happened with the carboy. I assume the airlock clogged. I left a lot of headroom and figured with it being a relatively low gravity beer and dry yeast, it wouldn't be a problem. Luckily it was the smaller of the two carboys, so we still have 7 out of the 11 gallons left. My brother installed a blow off tube on the other one today.

From what he described (I haven't seen it), the airlock was still attached to the top. Literally one entire side of the carboy cracked off. It must have been a defect or crack in the glass that couldn't handle any pressure or temperature changes. I figure if the airlock clogged, it would relase through the top before shattering the glass.

I'm thinking about better bottles, but wonder with doing larger batches if I shouldn't try to convert a keg to a fermenter. Anyone got any thoughts on using a keg to ferment 10 to 12 gallon batches?

 

[keelanfish]

Here are some photos of the brew day.

Ingredients from Brewmasters Warehouse

The very full mashtun

Start of boil (very full 15 gallon pot)

Cooling (smells awesome!)

 

[keelanfish]

Transferring to Carboys

After Pitching Yeast & Aeration (good head already!)

Tragedy - Smaller Carboy Explodes around 18 hours after pitching

5 gallons of beer now sitting in water bath

 

[Bobby_M]

Better bottles FTW.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Congratulations on the the first AG and especially on the use of the Tote! That could have been HORRIBLE!

 

[bendavanza]

Wow that was a FULL pot!
I've never seen a carboy crack like that, there must have been a weak spot, that's some thick glass! I would use a blowoff tube for the first day or 3 regardless.
When I first started brewing I would dump hot wort into my carboy with only 1/2 gallon or so of cold in the bottom, never broke one. I doubt your break was temp related, I figure weak spot and pressure.

 

[keelanfish]

I removed the blow off tube and replaced it with an airlock on the remaining 7 gallon carboy. There is still some airlock activity. Fermentation is in day 5 now and the temperature has been holding steady around 70 degrees.

While I had the top open, I used a theif and took a sample and adjusted for temperature, the gravity is at 1.008. Ed Wort indicates in his recipe that the F.G. should be 1.011. It's only been 5 days, should I be concerned? Is this an indication of mash temperatures being too low?

I tasted the sample and it wasn't bad. It was a room temp of course, and not carbonated. I didn't taste or smell as much hop as I expected.

 

[bakins]

Cooling (smells awesome!)

You have some more pics of that chiller?