Help me improve my process (Pictures!)

[h4mmy86]

I've seen a couple people mention squeezing the grain bag. I thought this was a no no because you extracted off flavors by squeezing the water out of grain. I could be wrong. I use a strainer with a handle and set bag on top then sparge.

It's debatable. I've read a lot of people arguing both sides. To me, I can't see anything wrong with squeezing the bag.

If you don't do any kind of sparge I'd definitely encourage you to squeeze the bag.

 

[Braufessor]

Great series of pics. Must have taken some time and effort to document it all. Overall, looks good. Lots of good suggestions above. Only thing I noticed as a "potential" problem is your airfilter for oxygen. I believe they are not supposed to get wet - yours was not in the sanitizing water, but it seemed close to being in the water. Maybe just be careful that it does not go in when sanitizing.

 

[Yooper]

Have you verified that you need acidulated malt? Most of the time your grains will bring the pH down to the recommended range without adding anything.

Um, no it won't. Unless you're using a ton of black/roasted malt most of the time a too-low pH isn't going to happen. It's far more likely that without acid or acid malt that the pH is too high. Acid malt can be a huge help in lowering pH appropriately.

 

[jheld00]

Kind of off topic but always wear shoes while brewing. Even that 152F mash will leave a nice little burn.

 

[passedpawn]

Kind of off topic but always wear shoes while brewing. Even that 152F mash will leave a nice little burn.

Hmmm, I never wear shoes and still have all my toes.

 

[RTL]

Have you verified that you need acidulated malt? Most of the time your grains will bring the pH down to the recommended range without adding anything. I bought a digital pH meter and with my water I definitely need to lower the pH because even with a porter and all the dark malts that are in that I mash in at 6.0 pH. One teaspoon of acid blend from the LHBS puts me right at 5.3.

+1

To what Yooper and RM-MN have said I would just like to add that you should get a Ward labs report for your water, a PH meter, and download the EZ water calculator. With those tools you won't need 5.2 (which is worthless anyway) and it will tell you what adding your calcium chloride is actually doing to your wort. Getting a consistent mash and boil PH will help your final product a lot when you're doing all grain. I think you're on track with testing a few recipes, that will tell you what changes make the biggest impact on the final product. It sounds like you already take good notes so keep that up too. Good luck.

 

[badlee]

The mash out is to make sure that all of the sugars you have created are soluable enough to flow out into the wort.
Without this step you end up leaving a heck of a lot behind. I made the mistake of no mash out on my first brew and instead of a SG of 1040 I got 1032.
But now I do hybrid,bag in a cooler

 

[Squad1Guy]

well i just use one hand to hold the top of the bag. And the other hand to squeeze it inbetween my hand and forearm. Then I yell ow ow ow, thats hot. (its true)

That's my method too! Crude and slightly uncomfortable but effective I use it in conjunction with dunk sparging so I get to heat up my hands twice!

 

[RM-MN]

Um, no it won't. Unless you're using a ton of black/roasted malt most of the time a too-low pH isn't going to happen. It's far more likely that without acid or acid malt that the pH is too high. Acid malt can be a huge help in lowering pH appropriately.

Quoted from "How to Brew" by John Palmer, "Many brewers have made the mistake of trying to change the pH of their water by adding salts or acids..... Most of the time adjustments won't be needed due to the natural acidity of the malts". This excerpt is from the section "Understanding the Mash pH" and I think it is pertinent to the OP's concern.

Uh, were we arguing or saying the same thing?

 

[paulster2626]

Kind of off topic but always wear shoes while brewing. Even that 152F mash will leave a nice little burn.

Wear a helmet too. Always.

 

[jerrodm]

Wear a helmet too. Always.

And a cup, if you're using WLP090--that stuff's vicious.

 

[Darwin18]

I also don't see many issues at all with your set up or process.

However, I would really recommend giving liquid yeast starters a chance. I've observed with my starters that I see signs of fermentation (krausen, air lock activity) within 6 - 8 hours of pitching. I would also echo what others have said about your water. I have not played under with water chemistry as I'm very pleased with what comes out of my tap, but it would probably be very helpful for you to get your water tested by Ward labs. Also ditch the 5.2 stabilizer. I don't believe it is helpful in anyway and it likely imparts unwanted flavors to your beer.

 

[jheld00]

And a cup, if you're using WLP090--that stuff's vicious.

I forgot to add, wear a Kevlar vest (depending on where you are brewing) "safety first"

 

[AnchorBock]

I'd be more careful with your strike/mash temps, if you hit your strike temp you won't need to do anything after doughing in. I'd also look into water chemistry a bit more, I typically am adding gypsum, calcium chloride, epsom salt, table salt and sometimes chalk to RO water to achieve a specific profile. I agree with scottland about tasting the wort, I wouldn't adjust a recipe based on that.