Happy 1st AG brew day to me!!

[TechyDork]

Today was the day. i woke up this morning and decided that since the friggin Chiefs can't win a game to save anything i would avoid watching football in the morning and try to brew my 1st AG and be done by the Sunday night game.

Brew day went awesome!! I hit all my targets, and ended up with 3 gallons of what i hope will be an tasty jalapeno IPA.

I mashed in with 10.5qt of water and hit my temp @ 150. Moved my MLT indoors for the mash due to the cold temps outside. Only lost 2 degree over the hour. Did a conversion test after 60min and conversion was complete. Collected just over 6qts of wort in the kettle.

Sparged with 8qt of water @195 to hit 168. held that temp for 10 min and then drained to the kettle and started the boil.

Target preboil volume was 3.45 gal and i got just under 3.5gal, i will up this next time as i boiled off close to 1.25g in an hour. Was this due to the colder weather? Can i adjust this in beersmith so that it will give me the proper sparge amount?

Target preboil gravity was 1.051, and i hit it on the dot for an efficiency of 70%, according to beersmith.

at the end of the boil i had 2.25 gal of wort with an SG of 1.077, i added 3qt of water to get back to my desired 3g of wort, beersmith calculated the adjusted OG at 1.058 after the topoff water. Estimated OG was 1.058 at 70% eff.

All in it took me about 4.5 hours to brew today, and that includes having to boil 7 gallons of water to prep my new 8 gal aluminum brew pot.

Preping the new brew kettle (Notice one of my brew assistants slacking off in the bg)

Preheating the MLT(Brew assistant #2 standing watch)

Heating the mash water

Dough in! (hit my temp on the nose @ 150!!)

Hop additoins staged and ready, and a HB to RDWHAHB with!!

1st runnings

My assistants monitoring the sparge.

1st hop addition

Here is my recipe if any one is curious.

Type: All Grain
Date: 10/23/2009
Batch Size: 3.00 gal
Brewer: Dustin
Boil Size: 3.5 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Equipment
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 71.43 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 14.29 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 7.14 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.14 %

0.50 oz Cascade [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 24.2 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [8.50 %] (20 min) Hops 14.6 IBU
3.00 items Jalapeno (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [9.50 %] (10 min) Hops 9.8 IBU
0.60 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.60 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [9.50 %] (5 min) Hops 5.4 IBU
2.00 items Jalapeno (Secondary 7.0 days) Misc
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -

1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast-Ale (500ml starter)



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.058 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.058 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.020 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.89 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.96 %
Bitterness: 54.0 IBU Calories: 263 cal/pint
Est Color: 11.8 SRM Color: Color


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body Total Grain Weight: 7.00 lb

Single Infusion, Light Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 10.50 qt of water at 159.5 F 150.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 8.00 qt of water at 194.5 F 168.0 F


Thank you to everyone for posting all the great information that made my brew day a successful and enjoyable one!!

Dustin

 

[Touristbob]

Congratulations on your first all grain. Looks nice and cold already there

 

[FxdGrMind]

Nice Post! Great "Assistants"... he he he.. Well at least they don't drink all your beer!

I prep the same way! Lay it all out and sequence everything! Nice going!

Did you do all your heating on the gas outside? That's impressive! The wife/so will never be able to tell you to clean the kitchen or cut you off from it.... =)

 

[Palefire]

Congratulations! Looks fantastic.

Not that it matters, but why did you only make 3 gallons of beer if you've got an 8 gallon pot?

 

[TechyDork]

Congratulations on your first all grain. Looks nice and cold already there

it wasn't bad, 33f outstide and a little snow.

Nice Post! Great "Assistants"... he he he.. Well at least they don't drink all your beer!

I prep the same way! Lay it all out and sequence everything! Nice going!

Did you do all your heating on the gas outside? That's impressive! The wife/so will never be able to tell you to clean the kitchen or cut you off from it.... =)

Laying everything out made it simple to keep things organized. I heat everything outside. it worked out well. i was able to preheat that mash tun just with hot tap water, our water comes out pretty hot!! then i could heat the sparge water while the mash was going, and started boiling the 1st runnings while the sparge was sitting. Plus like you mentioned, less clean up and i was out of SWMBOs way.

Congratulations! Looks fantastic.

Not that it matters, but why did you only make 3 gallons of beer if you've got an 8 gallon pot?

I got the 8 gallon pot for the same price as a 5 gallon for when i decide to do a 5 gallon batch. i used to do 5 gallon batches but with just me drinking them and bottling they were taking up to much space in my apartment. so by doing 3 gallon batches i can brew more styles more often, plus the added surface area of the 8 gallon pot appears to allow for a faster boil of the 3 gallons.

 

[corvax13]

Nice - I just brewed my first all grain this weekend too. By the way, excellent choice of brewing assistants - mine's Rocko, an 8month old german shepherd (pic in my profile).

 

[TechyDork]

Nice - I just brewed my first all grain this weekend too. By the way, excellent choice of brewing assistants - mine's Rocko, an 8month old german shepherd (pic in my profile).

they are the best kind. they stay out of my way, don't complain that it is taking to long, and don't drink all my beer. though they do try to sneak a lick or two of the wort as i collect the runnings.