First first brew comming up and its All Grain!

[LovesIPA]

A few things that I am missing are:
Scale- weighing out my hops ( I did find a site that helped convered grams to tsp)

You can't convert units of mass to units of volume without knowing the density. In other words, you just can't do it that way.

I use a digital scale that I got at a smoke shop for $30. I use it ALL the time. I weigh out DME for starters, hops, and water salts. I could not brew without it and I don't imagine you can either.

decent thermometer- I have a turkey thermometer (already been calibrated) but I am not sure if it will be long enough and I am nervous about letting heat out of my MLT to check the temp.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. If you're just checking the temp a few times near the beginning of the mash you will lose very little heat.

-Secondary Ferm- my first brew-day comming up is going to be a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone, it calls for dry hopping (with whole hops) and i only have a primary bucket

You can dry hop in the primary. You can throw them in whole or you can use a muslin bag. A bag makes it much, much easier when it comes times to rack the beer. You will thank yourself for using a bag and some stainless washers when your autosiphon isn't clogging up every 2 minutes.

A secondary isn't necessary.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Really bad idea. Way too much head space in a primary bucket to use it as a secondary.

I have always released so much dissolved CO2 I have never had an issue.

I still would rather go no secondary but that is more from laziness.

 

[corpsman619]

I don't understand, my bottling bucket and my fermenting bucket are the same size. So how would there be too much headspace in the bb and not the ferm??

 

[AnOldUR]

I don't understand, my bottling bucket and my fermenting bucket are the same size. So how would there be too much headspace in the bb and not the ferm??

Ideally a 5 gallon carboy is used as a secondary vessel. If you fill it up into the neck there is very little volume and very little surface area for oxygen to contact your beer.

 

[corpsman619]

So then why is it ok to use a primary (usually 6.5+ gal) to dry hop? As most people here don't use secondaries, so mist people here are fermenting with more than ideal of headspace

 

[AnOldUR]

When fermentation is active, it purges O2 from the head space. Good practice is to disturb that as little as possible. When you add dry hops to the primary you will introduce oxygen, but far less than if you had transferred the beer between two buckets. If you add the hops in a proficient manner a minimal amount of O2 will mix with the CO2.

Personally I use a carboy as a secondary vessel when I dry hop. I add the hops to the carboy and then purge with CO2 before transferring the beer on top of them. I also use CO2 to push the beer from one vessel to the other.

 

[Travestian]

One thing to note though is if you dry hop in the primary (which I do) you must wait until AFTER fermentation is over. Otherwise the yeast will have their way and the hop flavors and aromas will be much much less than if done after the fermentation. Oxygen is the reason I don't transfer beers anymore either. It also takes time I simply don't have.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Just so the OP does not get overwhelmed, a lot of this is "best practices" type stuff and much of it is even relatively recent. You will likely still make very, very good beer 95% of the time (after you get your process down) if you use all buckets with too much head space (even a 3/4" blanket of CO2 is enough in a close fermenter), use a secondary and even if you fail to use a yeast starter, ferment at 72 f, etc, etc.

As Charlie P liked to say: relax, have a homebrew (or quality commercial brew). You are skipping the training wheels and went straight to the big-boy bike...this does not mean you will be an Olympic cyclist on the first brew.

Pick your battles on the first one and focus on hitting your OG and not doing a boil-over. Make sure your wort is fully cool before pitching your yeast. Make sure fermentation is complete before bottling using at least two spaced reading the same. And the entire time, be fanatical about your sanitation. Your beer will still be very good if you dry hop in secondary, primary or not at all.

 

[Travestian]

I found a spray bottle with plain water in it helps to minimize boil overs. Simply spray the foam as it comes up. I also use FermcapS but that is completely optional.

 

[corpsman619]

what is an OP? lol

 

[LovesIPA]

what is an OP? lol

Original Poster aka thread starter.

 

[AnOldUR]

Ordinary Person ?
Old Pothead?
Ovulating Penguin?
Obese ******?
Obscene Proposal?


Let's stick with Original Poster or the Original Post.

 

[corpsman619]

Yeah so I'm going to brew on Saturday, I just have to figure out a way to get some free bottles in the next three weeks >

 

[Travestian]

Ask guys/gals you work with to save some for you. Just make sure they are pop off and brown. Screw top will NOT work. In exchange offer them some free beer. I generally do 2 of my homebrews for 12 bottles. I've gathered 300+ bottles this way. The other option is to buy 12 packs of Sam Adams or some other beer that has brown pop offs and drink them. Then save those bottles.

 

[MarcusKillion]

I have found that even after opening up a 7 1/2 gallon bucket after 3 weeks fermenting that it fills back up the head space with C02 after adding in hops . How ever I do like to secondary when dry hopping . Not sure why . just do .

boil over ? who does that ? Not me . Well maybe once or twice or .... 6 gallons in a 8 gallon pot can boil right over after them hops are dropped in . keep a close eye and a stir paddle in your hand or get ready to turn down the heat when it starts foaming up .

 

[Roadie]

I started out doing all grain just about six weeks ago but did a lot of reading (Palmer book, Charlie P. book, another brewing book, this site, etc.) and used one of Kals "Electric Brewery" setups, plus had an experienced brewer with us. All of that helped a lot. In a brewing school analogy we are still in kindergarten but having fun. We also converted our old basement fridge for fermenting in with a controller. While it was fermenting we built a keezer so also skipped learning how to bottle.

If you are properly prepared there's no reason not to start with all grain.

 

[MarcusKillion]

Yeah so I'm going to brew on Saturday, I just have to figure out a way to get some free bottles in the next three weeks >

you can not buy bottles locally ? You may be able to go to local bars and get theirs . I do not know what they do with them but I would bet it costs them money to get rid of them . I bet they throw them away. if you were here I would give you some .

Note : just thought I would mention that I was born in Imperial Beach

 

[jnr1005]

I say good for you for starting AG! We did it, and are happy. I didn't want to buy stuff for smaller extract brewing and my neighbor said extract had a different flavor and not as much control over the beer..so we said F it and went to AG right off the bat.

I did a lot of reading...thank goodness for this website! Also had a neighbor let me help him brew one batch and the following weekend we did our first 2. Still learning from some mistakes (1st batch was low gravity because we sparged in like 10 minutes...found out later slower is way better

Our last 2 haven't finished fermenting, but the wort going in tasted amazing and I am already experimenting with slanting yeast and such. If your going to jump in you might as well jump from the high dive

 

[plumber_bob]

I've mentioned it before. But I too started out with all grain and have never considered anything else. I built mine from the kegerator back to the grain mill. Took a year and some $$$'s but it was worth it.

pb

 

[Facinerous]

Hey man. Just caught onto this thread. Sounds like you have quite a bit swirling around your head for a first brew. I read through the thread and found it quite entertaining so thank you for that. I am also quite new to the whole home brew scene so I can understand all the questions. The people on HBT are awesome for that.

All I wanted to say is. You have read the books. You have a basic setup (which is actually more than many of us started with) All you need to do is do it.

I would recommend just making your Sierra Nevada kit as basic as possible as far as the specifics go. You don't need a scale to make everything weigh the right amount. You don't need a secondary carboy to make an amazing batch of beer. You don't have to hit the exact temps during the mash nor do you need to come out with the exact target volumes you hope to see or expect.

As exacting a science the brewing community has made things, the process of brewing doesn't nearly need to be complex or exact. As you will find tomorrow, you will have done all the math, all the calculations, and somehow during your brewing process something will happen where you will have to wing it and make the best you can of an unexpected situation.

Come brew day, (which is tomorrow for you I think) I hope you can just relax and not make it out to be more than it needs to. Just plan on five hours or so, as it will probably take some time. You will more assuredly produce some phenomenal beer, and further batches will come up in the works.

Then in the future you come up with crazy, great ideas and delve into the exact science part of things.

Good luck (Tomorrow?)

 

[corpsman619]

**update**
My first brew day was pretty stressful, I started around 1130 am and didn't start clean up till 730 pm.
I learned a lot that's for sure. One of the hardest things for me was keeping to the proper water measurements (3.87 gal strike water, 2.65 sparge) how the Hell are you supposed to keep to those kinds of measurements? Then I mashed in at 154, had to leave my house, got back and there were 20 min left and the temp was at 140!!! Got it up to 155 and kept it there for an extra 15 min past the 60 min Mark. Collected about 7.5 gal of wart boiled down to about 6 (90 min Boil) ended up hitting the OG dead on 1054 (don't ask me how)

 

[insanim8er]

Now I know many of you are thinking "well that's all fine and good but you have no hands on experience" and to that I say "YOUR DAMN RIGHT I DONT"
-Cheers

Man, I did one extract brew from a recipe given to me at my LHBS. After that one extract, I went all grain and haven't regretted it. My first all grain blew the pants off the extract brew. That first batch was the only one I bottled too...

I did as you. I read a ton. Reading brought up questions, so I researched each thing and learned more and more until I felt comfortable.

Now I have temp controlled fermentation chambers. I sold all my glass carboys and built spunding valves to fermenting in stainless kegs and I just got a 20gallon Blichmann boilermaker, so I'm starting to do 10gal batches.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

**update**
I learned a lot that's for sure. One of the hardest things for me was keeping to the proper water measurements (3.87 gal strike water, 2.65 sparge) how the Hell are you supposed to keep to those kinds of measurements? Then I mashed in at 154, had to leave my house, got back and there were 20 min left and the temp was at 140!!! Got it up to 155 and kept it there for an extra 15 min past the 60 min Mark. Collected about 7.5 gal of wart boiled down to about 6 (90 min Boil) ended up hitting the OG dead on 1054 (don't ask me how)

On the water...I do not keep those kind of measurements. I play with the mash water calculator until I get a nice round number (like 4 gallons) for the strike water, slightly over heat the strike water then fill the mash tun. Stir it and check the temp until you hit the temp then dough in.

For you sparge water...again round up (I just realized the math n you example does not work so lets say 4 gallons again) and boil a couple minutes longer.

On the mash temp, I told you that would be you hardest. What are you use for a tun? I am about 90% sure you never were at 154 for the entire mash volume...there is no such thing as stirring too much at dough in. Your beer may, or may not, have slightly less body that you had planned because of the lower mash temp (how long was your mash?).

Just a suggestion...until you get you process down, you really should n't leave all grain all by itself except when chilling. Extract you can't leave alone at all until it is chilling so this is not special to all grain.

 

[AnOldUR]

. . . how the Hell are you supposed to keep to those kinds of measurements?

HLT with sight glass and thermometer. Heat to about 170 degrees. Add strike water to mash tun. Stir to strike temperature (about 160.) Dough in. Stir to mash temperature. Heat HLT to 180 so it's ready for sparge.

You have your infusions worked out to two decimal places. Don't worry too much about the volumes. Plus or minus a quart or more will have no effect on your final beer.
.

 

[corpsman619]

On the water...I do not keep those kind of measurements. I play with the mash water calculator until I get a nice round number (like 4 gallons) for the strike water, slightly over heat the strike water then fill the mash tun. Stir it and check the temp until you hit the temp then dough in.

For you sparge water...again round up (I just realized the math n you example does not work so lets say 4 gallons again) and boil a couple minutes longer.

On the mash temp, I told you that would be you hardest. What are you use for a tun? I am about 90% sure you never were at 154 for the entire mash volume...there is no such thing as stirring too much at dough in. Your beer may, or may not, have slightly less body that you had planned because of the lower mash temp (how long was your mash?).

Just a suggestion...until you get you process down, you really should n't leave all grain all by itself except when chilling. Extract you can't leave alone at all until it is chilling so this is not special to all grain.

*Onkel*
-Those water measurment were made up, i just throwing numbers as an example.
- I am using a 48 quart retangular water cooler(cant remember the name off the top right now.
-MY Beersmith suggested to dough-in @ 169 to hit 154 mash temp. This actually got me down to about 150, I had to add about two gallons of boiling water and brought it back up to 160, but at that point there was only 20 min left in my 60 min mash. So I left it at 160 for 15 min past the 60 min mark (this was suggest by my LHBS).
-I would have never left if I didnt have to. IT seems that everything that could have happened that day happend. I had a alot of stuff going on and two kids to try to keep away from the hot pot and sanitized equipment. HUUUUUGE learning experience, hopefully the beer comes out ok. The wort tasted pretty damn hoppy

 

[insanim8er]

what is an OP? lol

Original post

 

[Onkel_Udo]

*Onkel*
-Those water measurment were made up, i just throwing numbers as an example.
- I am using a 48 quart retangular water cooler(cant remember the name off the top right now.
-MY Beersmith suggested to dough-in @ 169 to hit 154 mash temp. This actually got me down to about 150, I had to add about two gallons of boiling water and brought it back up to 160, but at that point there was only 20 min left in my 60 min mash. So I left it at 160 for 15 min past the 60 min mark (this was suggest by my LHBS).
-I would have never left if I didnt have to. IT seems that everything that could have happened that day happend. I had a alot of stuff going on and two kids to try to keep away from the hot pot and sanitized equipment. HUUUUUGE learning experience, hopefully the beer comes out ok. The wort tasted pretty damn hoppy

Yeah, I actually tend to keep about two gallons of boiling water around for just this reason. Pre-heating the mash tun is a real must either by using slightly overheated water and waiting for it to drop to your dough-in temp.

I was not implying you left for anything less than an emergency. I was kind of hinting that you CAN get to the point that you can leave for 45 minutes once you understand your system...but it takes about 10 brews to get there.

You beer will likely be fine if you hit your OG. That hop bill was relatively high in IBU's if I remember correctly but the beer will taste significantly different fermented and carbonated.

 

[corpsman619]

Yeah, I actually tend to keep about two gallons of boiling water around for just this reason. Pre-heating the mash tun is a real must either by using slightly overheated water and waiting for it to drop to your dough-in temp.

I was not implying you left for anything less than an emergency. I was kind of hinting that you CAN get to the point that you can leave for 45 minutes once you understand your system...but it takes about 10 brews to get there.

You beer will likely be fine if you hit your OG. That hop bill was relatively high in IBU's if I remember correctly but the beer will taste significantly different fermented and carbonated.

One thing that I am pretty nervous is about is that when I was transferring from pot to primary (not sure if I mentioned, brew smith gave me a water measurement that was off so I ended up with about 6 gal instead of 5.5) there was a ridiculous amount of foam. Maybe it is because of me pouring it through a strainer into the bucket but the once i was about 3/4 of the way done pouring it foam just started pouring out onto the lawn. I didn't know what to do so I just kept pouring till I had poured the entire pot. A few hours later I checked and all of the foam settled and I had 6 gal of beer.
Now I am concerned that some of the foam recession may cause an infection.
Also I am trying to keep it cool through the end of this California summer.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I would not worry too much because you cannot do much but let it ferment at this point. Likely no harm done. Next time, siphon the wort but them you will worry you did not aerate enough.

On temperature the water bath (mistakenly also called a swamp cooler) will do it. Bucket with you fermenter in it and a half liter or two of ice added eack morning and night.

If you feremnter is close to full because you overshot your volume, make sure you are using a blow-off tube for the first 3-5 days of ferementation. Likely this time you did not pitch enough yeast to get the type of vigorous fermentation that will launch you airlock into the ceiling along with krausen/hop splooge...but you never know.