The Happy Mug
Well-Known Member
You'll probably enjoy reading about this mess.
My buddy Trever and I got together for our first all-grain batch. He provided the recipe and the grains, I provided most of the equipment. We had a great start, running over to my in-laws for my charismatic wooden spoon (I can't brew without it!), whirlflock, and burner. We had to run back to his place for his wort chiller and brewpot.
An hour later we got to work. Here's the recipe he formulated for an imperial stout:
7.25 lbs Maris Otter
5.0 lbs premium american 2-row
2.5 lbs dark Munich
.5 lb debittered black
.25 lb roasted barley
1.0 lb chocolate malt
1 oz galena hops full 60 minute boil
2 oz kent goldings 40 minutes into boil
1 tube WLP001, later became 2 tubes
Anyway, this was poorly thought out. We ended up mashing in two seperate brew pots because it was a rediculous amount of grain for a single 20-quart. We ended up filling those bad-boys up to the top keeping our temperatures as close as possible to target. We ended up with a 45 minute mash ~130, and another 45 minutes at ~150. We were aiming for 135 and 155, respectively. So, we figured it would be a little dry.
Anyway, our sparge was a disaster. Two grain bags stacked in the bottling bucket, sprinkling water on top with a pitcher. I figured, sparge until we were mostly clear. That stuff came off almost black for two brewpots full. The third brewpot was thinner, but still dark enough to be a nice brown. Beautiful colors. We ended up re-arranging the grain bags several times over the courge of our sparge.
We ended up filling all three 20 quart brewpots mostly to the top. We figured we had around 14 gallons now. In the third brewpot, our gravity was 1.034 @ 65, so we figured we'd use it rather than toss it.
We decided to split this up into two batches. We put all three pots on to boil, and drove to the homebrew store for a second vial of yeast and more hops. We decided to just boil it all down to one batch, and bought another thing of yeast to double-pitch.
It took six hours to boil all of that down to one pot, and we added the hops. When all was said and done, we hooked our two wort chillers up, with one in ice water and the second in the brewpot. I put Trev's wort chiller in the brewpot, but the hose fell down and melted away a little bit. It didn't melt through at least. We chilled that baby down to 65 real quick. We got an OG of ~1.130 coming off the brewpot at 80 degrees. We were stoked.
When it hit the 6.5 gallon carboy, we had to add more water to it. We poured in about two or three gallons, and ended up with 1.071 for our OG. Bummer!
Incidently, we ended up with this beautiful, pitch-black wort on the floor during the transfer. The stupid funnel fell and wasted about a quart. It's nice to brew at other peoples houses, because they have to clean up. Isn't that right, Trev? Hey, no complaints - he payed for it all.
We pitched both tubes of yeast, and Trev took baby stout home. He said it developed FIVE INCHES of trub, and was finished fermenting within a week. So she's in secondary right now, and I await with baited breath. I'm still waiting for the FG.
Trev said it tasted awesome on the transfer. A touch sweet, roasty, coffee-like, alcohol kick right up front. He's considering pitching another vial of yeast.
I spent an hour cleaning up...
My buddy Trever and I got together for our first all-grain batch. He provided the recipe and the grains, I provided most of the equipment. We had a great start, running over to my in-laws for my charismatic wooden spoon (I can't brew without it!), whirlflock, and burner. We had to run back to his place for his wort chiller and brewpot.
An hour later we got to work. Here's the recipe he formulated for an imperial stout:
7.25 lbs Maris Otter
5.0 lbs premium american 2-row
2.5 lbs dark Munich
.5 lb debittered black
.25 lb roasted barley
1.0 lb chocolate malt
1 oz galena hops full 60 minute boil
2 oz kent goldings 40 minutes into boil
1 tube WLP001, later became 2 tubes
Anyway, this was poorly thought out. We ended up mashing in two seperate brew pots because it was a rediculous amount of grain for a single 20-quart. We ended up filling those bad-boys up to the top keeping our temperatures as close as possible to target. We ended up with a 45 minute mash ~130, and another 45 minutes at ~150. We were aiming for 135 and 155, respectively. So, we figured it would be a little dry.
Anyway, our sparge was a disaster. Two grain bags stacked in the bottling bucket, sprinkling water on top with a pitcher. I figured, sparge until we were mostly clear. That stuff came off almost black for two brewpots full. The third brewpot was thinner, but still dark enough to be a nice brown. Beautiful colors. We ended up re-arranging the grain bags several times over the courge of our sparge.
We ended up filling all three 20 quart brewpots mostly to the top. We figured we had around 14 gallons now. In the third brewpot, our gravity was 1.034 @ 65, so we figured we'd use it rather than toss it.
We decided to split this up into two batches. We put all three pots on to boil, and drove to the homebrew store for a second vial of yeast and more hops. We decided to just boil it all down to one batch, and bought another thing of yeast to double-pitch.
It took six hours to boil all of that down to one pot, and we added the hops. When all was said and done, we hooked our two wort chillers up, with one in ice water and the second in the brewpot. I put Trev's wort chiller in the brewpot, but the hose fell down and melted away a little bit. It didn't melt through at least. We chilled that baby down to 65 real quick. We got an OG of ~1.130 coming off the brewpot at 80 degrees. We were stoked.
When it hit the 6.5 gallon carboy, we had to add more water to it. We poured in about two or three gallons, and ended up with 1.071 for our OG. Bummer!
Incidently, we ended up with this beautiful, pitch-black wort on the floor during the transfer. The stupid funnel fell and wasted about a quart. It's nice to brew at other peoples houses, because they have to clean up. Isn't that right, Trev? Hey, no complaints - he payed for it all.
We pitched both tubes of yeast, and Trev took baby stout home. He said it developed FIVE INCHES of trub, and was finished fermenting within a week. So she's in secondary right now, and I await with baited breath. I'm still waiting for the FG.
Trev said it tasted awesome on the transfer. A touch sweet, roasty, coffee-like, alcohol kick right up front. He's considering pitching another vial of yeast.
I spent an hour cleaning up...
Brew on! 
