Going All Grain tonight (or tomorrow)

[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.