How much water will grains soak up?

[Yooper]

Well, it's more like dropping the grainbag in the sparge water and you can dunk it up and down if you like but if you can open the bag, clip it to the walls of your pot and stir it really well, you'll extract the most sugar.

That would work well. You can pull the grain bag out of the mash, and then stick the grain bag in the pot of sparge water, just as Bobby explains. (See Deathbrewer's tutorials for pictures). Probably just as efficient as the sprinkling method, and a bit easier to manage.

I'd suggest keeping some extract on hand, just in case the efficiency is low the first time, so you can add it later if you need to bring up the OG.

 

[Saccharomyces]

If you don't have a wort chiller, I would split the wort across two pots and boil each for 60 minutes; then move both pots to a bath tub half full of cool water. Change out the water after 15 minutes, and after one hour dump both pots into your fermenter. Good to go. That will chill your brew quickly enough you will get a good cold break, and you won't have to worry about measuring temps etc. if you just let it sit for awhile.

 

[dontman]

If you don't have a wort chiller, I would split the wort across two pots and boil each for 60 minutes; then move both pots to a bath tub half full of cool water. Change out the water after 15 minutes, and after one hour dump both pots into your fermenter. Good to go. That will chill your brew quickly enough you will get a good cold break, and you won't have to worry about measuring temps etc. if you just let it sit for awhile.

But he doesn't even want to split mashing and sparging into two pots.

 

[impatient]

I broke down and spent some money.

10 gallon cooler with false bottom and plumbing.

 

[impatient]

Well, it's more like dropping the grainbag in the sparge water and you can dunk it up and down if you like but if you can open the bag, clip it to the walls of your pot and stir it really well, you'll extract the most sugar.

I was under the assumption that after stirring to remove any dry spots that you should not disturb the grain bed. Otherwise Your running will not be as clear.

 

[dontman]

I was under the assumption that after stirring to remove any dry spots that you should not disturb the grain bed. Otherwise Your running will not be as clear.

I'll respond to this post first. Again you are confusing things a bit. There is no way to do deathbrewer's method without disturbing the grain bed BUT there is no such thing really as a grain bed when referring to brew in a bag. But you made this part of the conversation moot with:

 

[dontman]

I broke down and spent some money.

10 gallon cooler with false bottom and plumbing.

This VERY wise purchase. Awesome! You are all set to do AG now as long as you have an HLT and a separate 30-60Qt brew kettle. Brush up on the math. Calibrate your thermometer. Find the chart on how to adjust your hydro for hot temps. The most useful bit of that is to know that 155 degrees adds .020 to the graviity reading.

 

[impatient]

Here is the recipe that I plan to brew. I changed my mind against using the 2-row. What category would something like this fall into.

Vienna Fuggel
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General
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Category: Specialty Beer
Subcategory: Specialty Beer
Recipe Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5 gal.
Volume Boiled: 6 gal.
Mash Efficiency: 72 %
Total Grain/Extract: 10.00 lbs.
Total Hops: 1.0 oz.
Calories (12 fl. oz.): 187.5
Cost to Brew: $22.50 (USD)
Cost per Bottle (12 fl. oz.): $0.42 (USD)

Ingredients
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10 lbs. American Vienna
1 oz. Fuggle (Whole, 4.9 %AA) boiled 75 minutes.
Yeast: Danstar Nottingham

Notes
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Vital Statistics
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Original Gravity: 1.047
Terminal Gravity: 1.009
Color: 8.00 SRM
Bitterness: 22.7 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 5.0 %

 

[Yooper]

Is that the whole recipe? Are there any other grains or hops additions?

 

[impatient]

Is that the whole recipe? Are there any other grains or hops additions?

No its a smash recipe. I want to do a few smash recipes in order to get an idea of what each different grain can do for the brew before creating something original.

 

[Yooper]

No its a smash recipe. I want to do a few smash recipes in order to get an idea of what each different grain can do for the brew before creating something original.

Well, I can understand that. It's a different approach for the first AG, but I can understand it. My concern is that the beer may be just boring, with no flavor or aroma additions, or any other malt besides vienna. You won't get any hops flavor from the bittering addition, so you may not be very happy with the results.

It doesn't really correspond to a style that I know of. It's Vienna malt, English hops, American yeast.

Sometimes you can get an idea of malts simply by using them in recipes. You can taste the grain, too, of course and get an idea of what it may bring to a beer.

Of course, it's your beer and you should do what you want. I would probably follow an established recipe to make a style I like first. In the first AG, there are so many things going on, that I'm not sure if you taste "astringent" for example you'll know if it was sparge temperature, hops flavor, malt flavor, the water supply, the mash time, the equipment, etc. I think SMaSH beers are more helpful for experienced brewers. The equipment is already dialed in, the water is a known quantity, the hops are usually some that you're familiar with, and the malt is usually crushed similiarly. I would suggest maybe trying an easy AG recipe that you know will be good before venturing off into unknown territory.

 

[dontman]

Try Maris Otter instead of Vienna in that recipe if you are deadset on SMaSH.

I like Vienna but only as 15 % or so of a European style beer. I have never even thought of using it as a base grain.

Best yet follow Yoop's advice and just go with a simple but proven recipe. BM's Centennial Blonde or Ed Wort's Haus Pale.

 

[impatient]

Figured I would follow up that the fuggel vienna did not turn out well. It was watery and boring.

But, I drank it because I made it.