TVarmy
Well-Known Member
I'm building my first mash tun, and I'm planning on doing my first AG beer in a week or two. I would like to know if I have the process right. After watching several videos and reading a few tutorials, this is what I think I've gleaned so far:
Heat the volume of water to be fermented (usually 5 gallons) slightly hotter than 153 fahrenheit and preheat the mash tun with hot water. Put the water in the mash tun, add the grain, and stir until it's steady and consistently at 153F and put the lid on and wait 45-90 minutes (depending on the recipe, etc). Drain the mash tun through heatproof tubing into a container, and wait for it to turn amber-clear (no hulls/grain) and put back the first runnings. Transfer wort to the kettle, then sparge (by pouring on 170F water) with roughly the amount of water absorbed by the grain, stopping if the hydrometer reading of the wort coming out goes beneath 1.010-1.008 (varies from source to source).
I'm also a bit confused on sparging. Do I stir the water into the grain bed, or just put it on top?
And can I use Betadine iodine (a first aid antiseptic) to test for conversion? Or should I buy some regular iodine or Iodosophor (I'm a starsan guy)?
I know to RDWHAHB, but there's a lot of small details to the process that are making me anxious.
Heat the volume of water to be fermented (usually 5 gallons) slightly hotter than 153 fahrenheit and preheat the mash tun with hot water. Put the water in the mash tun, add the grain, and stir until it's steady and consistently at 153F and put the lid on and wait 45-90 minutes (depending on the recipe, etc). Drain the mash tun through heatproof tubing into a container, and wait for it to turn amber-clear (no hulls/grain) and put back the first runnings. Transfer wort to the kettle, then sparge (by pouring on 170F water) with roughly the amount of water absorbed by the grain, stopping if the hydrometer reading of the wort coming out goes beneath 1.010-1.008 (varies from source to source).
I'm also a bit confused on sparging. Do I stir the water into the grain bed, or just put it on top?
And can I use Betadine iodine (a first aid antiseptic) to test for conversion? Or should I buy some regular iodine or Iodosophor (I'm a starsan guy)?
I know to RDWHAHB, but there's a lot of small details to the process that are making me anxious.