Going All Grain tonight (or tomorrow)

[Cheesefood]

First Q:

I mashed in at 175'. My MLT is sitting in my garage, and it's a balmy 27 outside. My garage door is partially open (since I was running my fryer). Will this upset my mashing? Should I add more hot water in a little while? I'm about 20 minutes in and I used 4 gallons for an 11 pound grist.

 

[Cheesefood]

C'mon Cheese -- are you gonna post your AG recipe? I would like to make this my inagural AG batch too (well, first full-sized batch I mean) , especially if I can use the Cheesefood authentic recipe!

It's completely untested, but sure.

 

[boo boo]

I hope your mash isn't at 175f and that you meant you mashed with 175f water to get your mash temps of 149f - 156f.
Open it up and stir it and take your temp readings again. If it is too low you can infuse more hot water to get the temps back up.

 

[Cheesefood]

I hope your mash isn't at 175f and that you meant you mashed with 175f water to get your mash temps of 149f - 156f.
Open it up and stir it and take your temp readings again. If it is too low you can infuse more hot water to get the temps back up.

Yes, strike was 175', added to mash and took a temp and it was quickly in the 165 range.

I'm trying to figure out the Schedule in Pro Beer Tools. How hot do I sparge? I used 4 gals of strike water, so how much sparge water? 5 gallons @ 165'?

EDIT: <165' @ 45 minutes. Not too bad.

 

[boo boo]

Use what ever you need to get your kettle volume. I use sparge water at 180f or so to get my mash up to about 165f for my first runnings and then sparge with 165f water for my second runnings.

You system may be slightly different.

Oops did I see you had it at 165 as a mash temp. Way too high.

 

[Blender]

I may be missing something but 165 degree mash seems high.

 

[user 574]

Agreed on the 165 being high. Is that correct Cheese? I couldn't imagine a strike temp of 175 only dropping to 165 though when its that chilly out.

 

[Dude]

Yes...what cooler are you using? What kind of thermometer?

FWIW, when we have temps like that, I bring the mash tun inside.

When Walker was here, he had his MLT facing the wind and lost like 15 degrees off his mash temp during the hour....mine was out of the wind and I lost 1&#176;.

Same exact set up.

 

[Cheesefood]

Yes...what cooler are you using? What kind of thermometer?

FWIW, when we have temps like that, I bring the mash tun inside.

When Walker was here, he had his MLT facing the wind and lost like 15 degrees off his mash temp during the hour....mine was out of the wind and I lost 1°.

Same exact set up.

10 gal Gott-style, with lid (which I took off).

It's down below 160 now. I've got about 15 minutes left for a 90 minute mash. I'm surprised no one posted the howtobrew.com link yet. EAC's.

 

[boo boo]

Agreed on the 165 being high. Is that correct Cheese? I couldn't imagine a strike temp of 175 only dropping to 165 though when its that chilly out.

Must have been 155f.

I strike with 168 - 170f to get 150 - 152f.


You DID mash lower than 160f didn't you?

 

[Cheesefood]

Sparged @ about 150-155 for the first batch (4 gal) and under 150 for the second 2 gallon batch. Mani got stuck twice. I'll need to figure out how to fix that.

Just realized that my spoon is marked for 5 gallons on my old pot, which is narrower than my turkey kettle. Now I won't know how much I have left! LOL. Whoops. Been boiling for about 20 minutes now, so what...2 hours before throwing in the hops?

 

[BierMuncher]

Mani got stuck twice. I'll need to figure out how to fix that.

Did you give the drain hose a good blow? Are your manifold "slits" on the bottom side or the top side (facing down or facing up)?

 

[Cheesefood]

Did you give the drain hose a good blow? Are your manifold "slits" on the bottom side or the top side (facing down or facing up)?

Yes to the first question, no to the implied Q of "Did you swallow?"

Slits are on the bottom and top, staggered. Pic in my gallery.

 

[BierMuncher]

Okay I saw. Looks okay. I would say this...my manifold slits are probably twice in number and only on the bottom side, as the top slits just get packed in my the soggy heavy grains.

I've never had a stuck sparge with it...knock on wood. Were you using a lot of oats or wheat? (I didn't see your recipe)

 

[Cheesefood]

Okay I saw. Looks okay. I would say this...my manifold slits are probably twice in number and only on the bottom side, as the top slits just get packed in my the soggy heavy grains.

I've never had a stuck sparge with it...knock on wood. Were you using a lot of oats or wheat? (I didn't see your recipe)

Three pounds of wheat, 7 pounds of 2-row, 1 pound of caramel.

 

[BierMuncher]

Three pounds of wheat, 7 pounds of 2-row, 1 pound of caramel.

That may be enough wheat (assuming it's flaked wheat?) to give a sticky sparge.

I have a mix of 5lb flaked wheat and 5lb pale malt I want to do today and I'm getting mentally ready for a stuck sparge. I'm thinking of sliding my manifold into a paint strainer bag and seeing if that helps.

Cheese...I'd say getting the ole hack saw out and doubling the number of your bottomside slits would help.

Sounds like you're having a fun brewday though.

 

[Cheesefood]

Fun. I was getting a lot of evaporation since it's so cold and dry, so I tossed in my hops (forgetting about the bag I bought) and put the cover on. I was excited, because SWMBO was putting Miles' snow-suit on so we could take him sledding in the back yard. 15 minutes later, I come back to the garage to find a boil over happened, dumping a few pints of wort and a lot of hops. so I threw in a pinch of leftover Perle 6.1% to compensate.

 

[the_bird]

Fun. I was getting a lot of evaporation since it's so cold and dry, so I tossed in my hops (forgetting about the bag I bought) and put the cover on. I was excited, because SWMBO was putting Miles' snow-suit on so we could take him sledding in the back yard. 15 minutes later, I come back to the garage to find a boil over happened, dumping a few pints of wort and a lot of hops. so I threw in a pinch of leftover Perle 6.1% to compensate.

You put the cover on and left for fifteen minutes?

Brew-mornings are good times for mother-child bonding, in my experience.

 

[Cheesefood]

You put the cover on and left for fifteen minutes?

I didn't NOT get high this morning.

Brew-mornings are good times for mother-child bonding, in my experience.

That's what I said! But I'm going to be out of town Sun-Wed Night and then Fri-Sunday. So I won't see Miles this week until Thursday, and then not till Sunday afternoon/evening. Plus, it's the first time conditions have been good for sledding.

 

[Dude]

10 gal Gott-style, with lid (which I took off).

It's down below 160 now. I've got about 15 minutes left for a 90 minute mash. I'm surprised no one posted the howtobrew.com link yet. EAC's.

Cheese...I know it kind of sounds like you are getting slammed here--but you are doing great. We are just trying to offer advice.

No one, I repeat NO ONE will nail their first mash temp with a new system. Keep good notes and remember for next time to compensate. You really want to be between 148-158 for a good mash temp.

One other thing I noticed--once you get a good system down, mashing for an hour will be sufficient. Many say most conversion takes place in 20 minutes. 90 minutes is just overkill and can make for a longer brew day when it isn't necessary. I used to mash fo r90 minutes all the time, now I do 60 at the most and I can't notice a difference in efficiency, beer flavor, or anything like that.

 

[Cheesefood]

Aw, it's a fun day for me. Just now for example - I weigh out my 1/2oz of hops, and as I set the bag of hops down I dump the stuff on the scale all over the freakin' kitchen. Anyone ever have that one happen?

 

[Dude]

Aw, it's a fun day for me. Just now for example - I weigh out my 1/2oz of hops, and as I set the bag of hops down I dump the stuff on the scale all over the freakin' kitchen. Anyone ever have that one happen?

Almost every freaking time.

My brew days are usually a comedy of errors.

 

[Cheesefood]

Almost every freaking time.

My brew days are usually a comedy of errors.

I'm just glad it happened while SWMBO and Miles were taking a nap.

 

[BierMuncher]

Cheese,

Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. Imagine how good that brew will taste.

(Assuming you don't spill the rest...)

 

[Cheesefood]

What a rip-off. Good thing I get a chance for a do-over in a few weeks when I brew with the local guys.

FG: 1.065
Size: 3.5 gallons.

How did I end up 2 gallons light?

 

[user 574]

Well, I sparge until I get about 8-8.5g but I do boil 75 minutes, whole hops and I get bigger evap out here. How much pre-boil did you get? You batch sparged right? (I fly). For fly, I'll keep sparging until I get 8.5 or if the wort drops below 1.010 from the mashtun.

EDIT - Could top off a bit to get more volume I guess.

EDIT EDIT - And I end up with about 5.5

 

[EdWort]

What a rip-off. Good thing I get a chance for a do-over in a few weeks when I brew with the local guys.

FG: 1.065
Size: 3.5 gallons.

How did I end up 2 gallons light?

Good question. I use a spread sheet to calcualte how much water.

I mash in with 1.25 quarts per pound. I then have to add extra water to make up for the stuff absorbed by the grain. It almost 2 gallons. That could be your reason.

 

[Cheesefood]

Good question. I use a spread sheet to calcualte how much water.

I mash in with 1.25 quarts per pound. I then have to add extra water to make up for the stuff absorbed by the grain. It almost 2 gallons. That could be your reason.

I used 4 gallons for mashing, or 1.45 qt/p, then sparged with 6 gallons.

 

[the_bird]

I used 4 gallons for mashing, or 1.45 qt/p, then sparged with 6 gallons.

You mashed with 4, sparged with an additional 6, and ended up with 3.5?

That doesn't make any sense.... even if you lost two gallons to the grain (which would be a bit high, your recipe isn't THAT big), that means you would have boiled away more than 50% of your pre-boil volume.

How much do you think you lost in the boilover? Any left behind in a dead space?

 

[Cheesefood]

You mashed with 4, sparged with an additional 6, and ended up with 3.5?

That doesn't make any sense.... even if you lost two gallons to the grain (which would be a bit high, your recipe isn't THAT big), that means you would have boiled away more than 50% of your pre-boil volume.

How much do you think you lost in the boilover? Any left behind in a dead space?

PBT thinks I should have 5.5, so it must be something like the hops soaked up a half gallon and I lost a gallon or more to my boil over (which may be possible).

Next time, I'll be more careful and less of a tool. I'm pretty sure that this won't be an award winning beer, and quite honestly I'd like to perfect this recipe to the point of it winning actual awards. I'm probably going to make a new one right on this cake.