First All-Grain Today

[Panthro63]

About to take on my first all-grain brew today!
Doing an Irish Red Ale AG Kit from Northern Brewer.

Got my yeast starter ready, Mash Tun prepared, pots ready to boil.

With all the snow on the ground and a faucet that can't hook up to a wort chiller, I'm going to use a large tub and fill it w/ the snow outside to chill.

Fermenting in a plastic 6.5 BM Bubbler - interested to see if the cap stays tight for me, or like so many others, it becomes an issue.

Any last minute bits of advice that you remember from your first all-grain brew?

 

[rmyurick]

A tip from my last session: make sure you start to heat your sparge water when you mash in. Probably overall a good idea to have a checklist ready of what to do next. Also, when you mash in, make sure to stir it well, if you're using a picnic cooler type mash vessel.

 

[aprichman]

Instead of opening the mash tun every 20 minutes and stirring I just swirl everything around with the lid left on. Also make sure to put a blanket on top of the mash tun - I went from losing 4-5F every 60min to 1-2F.

 

[kombat]

Take pictures and post them here! You'll get a bunch of "likes." (Well, you'll get one from me, at least. I love photo threads).

 

[Panthro63]

Here's how things turned out:
8.75 lbs of grain - red ale.
Mash went well. 3.2 gallons of water.
Mashed out with 1 gallon at 60 min for 10 min with water at 170.
Began dispensing the water into kettle, dumping back the first few pours full of sediment.
4 gals of Sparge water was ready when needed at 168 - fly sparging.

Started to notice the volume was getting a bit too high in the 10-gal pot w/ about a half gallon of sparge left. Quit it - estimated I had about 7 gals (pot has no markings)

Pre-boil OG was kinda low, 1.033.
60-minute boil went well.
Cooled in a tub full of snow and ice - but it took about 30 minutes to get down under 100. (gonna need to invest in that damn chiller)
That 10 gallon pot is freaking heavy BTW. Jeezus.
Sanitized everything.
Began siphoning into 6.5 gal plastic BM Bubbler.
Post-boil Gravity:1.041. Target was 1.044, so close.

Learnings:
* Volume is a little low. Only got 4.8 gallons - should've sparged that extra half gallon instead of getting nervous. Would've probably hit the goal of 5.5 w/ that water.
* Taking way too long to get temps down all-around - post boil and now getting things ready for pitching yeast. Stuck in the high 70s for a good hour.
* Next time, hooking up an outdoor burner for the main boil. Would make things a bit more efficient.

Going to let it ferment 3 weeks (not going to secondary it) and bottle.
Whew.

 

[RM-MN]

Next time put some water in that tub with the snow and ice. The direct contact of the water will chill your brew in half the time. If you have it, keep dumping snow in as what is in there melts away.

 

[TxBigHops]

Here's how things turned out:
8.75 lbs of grain - red ale.
Mash went well. 3.2 gallons of water.
Mashed out with 1 gallon at 60 min for 10 min with water at 170.
Began dispensing the water into kettle, dumping back the first few pours full of sediment.
4 gals of Sparge water was ready when needed at 168 - fly sparging.

Started to notice the volume was getting a bit too high in the 10-gal pot w/ about a half gallon of sparge left. Quit it - estimated I had about 7 gals (pot has no markings)

Pre-boil OG was kinda low, 1.033.
60-minute boil went well.
Cooled in a tub full of snow and ice - but it took about 30 minutes to get down under 100. (gonna need to invest in that damn chiller)
That 10 gallon pot is freaking heavy BTW. Jeezus.
Sanitized everything.
Began siphoning into 6.5 gal plastic BM Bubbler.
Post-boil Gravity:1.041. Target was 1.044, so close.

Learnings:
* Volume is a little low. Only got 4.8 gallons - should've sparged that extra half gallon instead of getting nervous. Would've probably hit the goal of 5.5 w/ that water.
* Taking way too long to get temps down all-around - post boil and now getting things ready for pitching yeast. Stuck in the high 70s for a good hour.
* Next time, hooking up an outdoor burner for the main boil. Would make things a bit more efficient.

Going to let it ferment 3 weeks (not going to secondary it) and bottle.
Whew.

Did you adjust your gravity readings for temperature? I did my first all grain brew in January, and I guess it was the first time I had taken a pre boil gravity reading. I completely freaked out and sent my wife to the LHBS for some DME. Then I talked to another brewer on the phone who told me to adjust for temperature. At 160 degrees, my 1.038 reading was actually 1.048. Whew!

 

[Panthro63]

Did you adjust your gravity readings for temperature? I did my first all grain brew in January, and I guess it was the first time I had taken a pre boil gravity reading. I completely freaked out and sent my wife to the LHBS for some DME. Then I talked to another brewer on the phone who told me to adjust for temperature. At 160 degrees, my 1.038 reading was actually 1.048. Whew!

Yep - reason being, I googled "Low pre-boil OG" and saw some posts saying to do the same thing
Waited 'til things cooled down a bit and it was more normal. Still just a tad low, though.