Going All Grain tonight (or tomorrow)

[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.

 

[the_bird]

Losses to the hops? In Caramel Cream Ale?

I'm hooking up a sight value to the keggle before I brew next, 'cause I'm sick of not having a good idea how much wort I actually have in there. I haven't been as far off as that, but my last batch was about a gallon short (I aim for 5.5. I hit 4.5). It'll also help me make sure that I'm sparging enough, even batch sparging.

 

[Cheesefood]

Losses to the hops? In Caramel Cream Ale?

I'm hooking up a sight value to the keggle before I brew next, 'cause I'm sick of not having a good idea how much wort I actually have in there. I haven't been as far off as that, but my last batch was about a gallon short (I aim for 5.5. I hit 4.5). It'll also help me make sure that I'm sparging enough, even batch sparging.

It's one of the next things on my to-get list, along with a good brew thermometer (I'm using the one that came with the turkey fryer) and a thermothingie.

 

[the_bird]

$20 at Northern Brewer. It's set up so that you can put a stem thermometer through the same opening.

 

[delboy]

Welcome to the club cheesefood it takes a few AG batches to get into a groove.
1065 for your CCVA that seems high compared to your extract version (not that im questioning the maker of his own recipe). Maybe you could have topped it off to 4.5 gallons this would bring you out about the 1050 mark.
Then again maybe it was destiny and the 6.5% version will be awesome.

 

[Rhoobarb]

Congrats, Cheese! You got your first one behind you and that's the important part. Dude is right; you never hit your stike water on the money your first time on a new system. I didn't. Plus, I had a stuck sparge my first time. I think it's some sort of brew god's right of passage that something has to go awry. Kind of like when actors claim that a bad rehearsal makes for a great opening night.

I'm betting your beer will still turn out much better than you expected. My first AG sure did! Next thing you need to do is start planning your next session!

 

[jezter6]

Brews that go awry almost always taste better because of all the mistakes you make.

I brewed with just some leftover ingredients - bottled it this weekend and it tasted awesome.

Another batch we had a stuck sparge, broken hydrometer, and broken ashtray (I smoke a ton while I brew) - bottled it this weekend too and it tasted spectacular.

Last week I brewed 2 copies of nearly the same recipe, but it was my first time trying to brew alone...and one of them (the lower OG one, where I switched hop additions and left out some candi sugar -all by accident) near blew off using the same yeast as the other one....so I'm getting kick ass fermentation for a batch that ended up with barely 60% efficiency, whereas my 75% efficiency brew is struggling to keep up.

I'm betting that all of them will be great in the bottle because of all the screw ups I made

 

[Desert_Sky]

about fricken time cheese!!!!


grats man.....welcome to the club

 

[BierMuncher]

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

Cheese, here is what I'm planning on rigging around my manifold to prevent a stuck sparge. I have 5lbs of flaked wheat going into my Belgian Wit this weekend.



Lots of slits and they're all on the bottom.