First all grain under my belt

[Passload]

well, I finally did it. Made my first all grain a Blonde Ale.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Wakefield Naughty Blonde
Brewer: Justin
Asst Brewer: Mindy, Jennifer, Brett
Style: Blonde Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.047 SG
Estimated Color: 6.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 20.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 87.50 %
12.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 9.38 %
4.0 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 3.13 %
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 20.6 IBU
1.00 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Double Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 8.00 lb
----------------------------
Double Infusion, Light Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
20 min Protein Rest Add 10.00 qt of water at 129.9 F 122.0 F
60 min Saccrification Add 6.40 qt of water at 208.5 F 153.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 6.40 qt of water at 209.9 F 168.0 F

 

[Passload]

Some pics of the day

 

[Passload]

 

[Homercidal]

Awsum! I imagine that is what my first AG batch is going to be like (I hope). I can't wait for spring to arrive so I can bust out to the garage and do a brew!

 

[killian]

good choice going with the blond it looks like a good recipe.

 

[Passload]

Aw sum! I imagine that is what my first AG batch is going to be like (I hope). I can't wait for spring to arrive so I can bust out to the garage and do a brew!

Spring arrived here for one day. It was 78* yesterday and today it is 31* and there is freezing rain. Tonight and tomorrow we are supposed to be getting 8-10 inches of snow.

It went smoothly. I had a lot of fun doing it and I was really surprised at the length of time it took from getting everything ready, to final clean up. Also, I have found some things that I need to improve on, but they are not that big of a deal.

I am already planning my next beer. In a couple of weeks I will be brewing EdWort's Haus Pale Ale. Can't wait.

 

[Pugilist]

Great shots man, looks like it was a success! How did you find the AG process? More or less challenging than you thought?

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Did we have a boil over, or did someone throw up on your brew pot?

 

[oguss0311]

Passload, did you Make your sparge arm? It sorta looks like you did, and if so- I wanna do that too.

 

[Passload]

Great shots man, looks like it was a success! How did you find the AG process? More or less challenging than you thought?

I found it pretty darn fun frankly. I did a lot of research on here and pretty much everything fell into place like described. There were a few things that I will have to do a little different. Like start heating the next mash water right away. Other than that I had plenty of time to get everything sanitized during the mash. I found that I had a good amount of down time to really enjoy the process.

 

[Passload]

Passload, did you Make your sparge arm? It sorta looks like you did, and if so- I wanna do that too.

No I got it from my LHBS

 

[Tonedef131]

I did my first all grain yesterday too. Good to see someone was going through the same thing I was!

 

[Passload]

I did my first all grain yesterday too. Good to see someone was going through the same thing I was!

Congrats to you as well. I hope you found it as fun as I.

 

[Tonedef131]

Congrats to you as well. I hope you found it as fun as I.

It was great, and it only took 4 hours start to finish, I expected it to go a lot worse. The only snag I ran into was that I was missing one hookup for my wort chiller, so I had to makshift something. I will be stopping by the hardware store on the way home so I don't have to deal with that again.

Other than one spill during the vorlof and a lower efficiency than I had hoped for I couldn't have asked for a better experience.