LaurieGator
Well-Known Member
Wow, that was an interesting experience... I went ahead and tried the Nut Brown Ale recipe from this site...
I am SO glad that I had 5 stepping with extract and partial mash batches under my belt before I tried this. I have learned a little something with each batch. Today, I think I crammed more learning in than the first 5 batches combined!
The MLT went very smoothly. I hit the temp right on, let it go for 60 mins then did my splarge. So far, so good.
I put everything into the pot and started the boil on the stove. I noticed a much larger amount of foamy substance on the top of the kettle than I had before with the extracts. No worries, I figure, it is probably from being all grain rather than using extracts. Then, the boil got a life of its own and decided to go gangbusters. Crap! I had never experienced anything close to a boilover with extracts on the stove. Blew air on it to get the foam down and turned the heat down right quick. Damn, what a mess...
Add my hops, life is good. Boiling happy but not boiling over. Add my wort chiller during the last 15 minutes and let it go. Went outside to attach the garden hose to the wort chiller to bring the temp down. Hose to inlet of wort chiller leaked and I ended up with a small amount of garden hose water in my wort. Oh well. Brought the stuff in and dumped it in the carboy. Oh poopies, I didn't boil off enough liquid...
Cut to crazy lady running around the house trying to figure out how to make a blow off tube that will work. Tried to put 3/8" hose onto middle stem in airlock, no go. Both are the same size. Run around the house looking for the extra 1/2" tubing I have to try to get this to fit... No 1/2" tubing to be found. I look into the mead making supplies and find one of those "all in one size" stoppers. Cool beans, the 3/8" tubing fits into that hole perfectly. Put tube and stopper into sanitizing solution while I wait for the beer to cool down from 85F to the 70's so I can pitch the yeast...
OG should be around 1.054, mine is 1.046.
I figure this wasn't too bad for my first all grain batch. The resulting liquid tastes pretty darn good so I figure the beer will be OK. I need to cut back on my splarging water by 1/2 - 1 gallon or cook on the stove longer to get the liquid level down closer to 5.5 gallons rather than 6 gallons.
I will also start exploring the threads to find out what things I can do to up my efficiency a bit. I did a preheat of the Rubbermaid MLT (10 gallon). I dumped the water, put it back on the stove to get temp back up to 170F then dumped water into MLT. Added grains, stirred, let sit 5 - 10 mins, stirred again, let sit for 60 mins. Temp after 10 mins was about 155F, temp went down to 150F at the end of the 60 minutes. I did not stir any more figuring that it might drive the temp down (Noobie jitters).
The LHBS did the grain grind and it didn't look as fine as some of the partial mash grain grinds that I have previously used.
I am using RO water so the mineral content should have been raised. I used some of the 5.2 pH buffer but I will add some Ca salts to the next batch.
I am so happy and so proud that I was able to do my first all grain batch! If I fall short on the next batch, I can try the DME to bring the OG up to where it should be...
No home brew available yet, but quite relaxed and no worries!
I am SO glad that I had 5 stepping with extract and partial mash batches under my belt before I tried this. I have learned a little something with each batch. Today, I think I crammed more learning in than the first 5 batches combined!
The MLT went very smoothly. I hit the temp right on, let it go for 60 mins then did my splarge. So far, so good.
I put everything into the pot and started the boil on the stove. I noticed a much larger amount of foamy substance on the top of the kettle than I had before with the extracts. No worries, I figure, it is probably from being all grain rather than using extracts. Then, the boil got a life of its own and decided to go gangbusters. Crap! I had never experienced anything close to a boilover with extracts on the stove. Blew air on it to get the foam down and turned the heat down right quick. Damn, what a mess...
Add my hops, life is good. Boiling happy but not boiling over. Add my wort chiller during the last 15 minutes and let it go. Went outside to attach the garden hose to the wort chiller to bring the temp down. Hose to inlet of wort chiller leaked and I ended up with a small amount of garden hose water in my wort. Oh well. Brought the stuff in and dumped it in the carboy. Oh poopies, I didn't boil off enough liquid...
Cut to crazy lady running around the house trying to figure out how to make a blow off tube that will work. Tried to put 3/8" hose onto middle stem in airlock, no go. Both are the same size. Run around the house looking for the extra 1/2" tubing I have to try to get this to fit... No 1/2" tubing to be found. I look into the mead making supplies and find one of those "all in one size" stoppers. Cool beans, the 3/8" tubing fits into that hole perfectly. Put tube and stopper into sanitizing solution while I wait for the beer to cool down from 85F to the 70's so I can pitch the yeast...
OG should be around 1.054, mine is 1.046.
I figure this wasn't too bad for my first all grain batch. The resulting liquid tastes pretty darn good so I figure the beer will be OK. I need to cut back on my splarging water by 1/2 - 1 gallon or cook on the stove longer to get the liquid level down closer to 5.5 gallons rather than 6 gallons.
I will also start exploring the threads to find out what things I can do to up my efficiency a bit. I did a preheat of the Rubbermaid MLT (10 gallon). I dumped the water, put it back on the stove to get temp back up to 170F then dumped water into MLT. Added grains, stirred, let sit 5 - 10 mins, stirred again, let sit for 60 mins. Temp after 10 mins was about 155F, temp went down to 150F at the end of the 60 minutes. I did not stir any more figuring that it might drive the temp down (Noobie jitters).
The LHBS did the grain grind and it didn't look as fine as some of the partial mash grain grinds that I have previously used.
I am using RO water so the mineral content should have been raised. I used some of the 5.2 pH buffer but I will add some Ca salts to the next batch.
I am so happy and so proud that I was able to do my first all grain batch! If I fall short on the next batch, I can try the DME to bring the OG up to where it should be...
No home brew available yet, but quite relaxed and no worries!
