First all grain, in the fermenter

[JimC]

Finally talked SWMBO into getting a turkey fryer and my first AG batch is under way. Made a 5 gallon batch of ESB. Blew my mashin temp by 6 deg so after adding boiling water to bring it back up its a bit soupy at about 1.6q/lb or so but it held 154f for an hour.

I got about 7 gallons of wort which is about 1 gallon to much for my pot. I used a bit to much mash (1.6q/lb) and forgot to lower my sparge water quantity a bit. I also missed my sparge by a few degrees too so I had to add even more boiling water to try and get it up to 170f. So I just had to much wort to deal with in my just-big-enough pot.

I boiled for 60 minutes and then put in the last gallon and ended up with about a 90minute boil which will throw off my IBU calculation a bit. OG was 1.045 but I also ended up with 5.5 gallons instead of 5 in the fermenter so I ended up with an efficiency somewhere around 70%.

A good learning experience and I don't think I did to badly for my first AG brew. A bit low OG for an ESB but its close enough. Wort is a nice rich golden colour and tastes better than any of my previous beers. Now the hard part.. waiting for it. An 8 or 9 gallon pot would be nice and is probably next on the list. I can turn the pot I have into an HLT.

 

[EdWort]

Congrats & Welcome to the Club, The All Grain Club. You won't believe the difference in your beers and you'll never look back.

 

[Axegod]

Congrats on the first AG !

I have done 3 so far...and still am learning about the equipment. Make sure you take some good notes as they will be very valuable next time. (and after)Software/tables/books can guide you, but everyone's set-up is different. I thought I made some very big mistakes - but was always surprised at the quality of the finished beer.

I have a feeling that my fourth AG would be perfect in terms of temps, water, etc. since I have good notes and improved with each batch. I am sure everyone goes through the same thing. You will also notice that you will probably modify reciepes/ingredirents based on your set-up.


Cheers.

 

[VermVerm]

Just remember that as long as it turns out beer it was a successful day. Also some of the beer that I have "messed up" have been really good. Sometimes they just end up in a different style than when you started...no biggy. It gets only more addictive (the fun of brewing not the beer) after you cross over. I couldn't help but feel I was cheating when made my extracts. But really I was just cheating my taste buds because its just so much better when you control the whole process. Cheers!

 

[boo boo]

Congrats on your virgin run.

You'll get more comfortable with the process the more you brew, so
get another batch ready. The only real downside is that you'll drink
more of it.
Crap, did I say that it was a downside?