I'm just trying to make my first all-grain beer. I am just trying to make an American pale ale of sorts. This is also my first crack at creating my own recipe from scratch. I wanted it to be fizzy (and not flat) and first suggested 3.5 vols but I have since been educated (and heckled,) and I'll shoot for 2.5 for my bottling.
I'm so lost. HELLLP! Just upgraded from white buckets to 10+ gallon stainless system...
- Thread starter bmac8
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Great. Thanks.
I'm certainly not heckling you - I'll offer congratulations for diving into all-grain brewing. You'd mentioned you were doing a German beer and wanted 3.5 volumes, just hadn't heard of such a high volume, unless maybe doing a hefeweisen.
Ha, thank you for that. I'm heckling myself anyway, so it is all fair game...and it is fun to report back here as I stumble along... I hope it entertains, but along the way, I am definitely learning.
I’d just like to say that I have really enjoyed reading through this thread and seeing your determination to see this through! It’s also great to see all of the support from this community. All I can add at this time is encouragement and I’ll leave you with this. I still remember when I was where you’re at in my brewing journey. It all seemed quite overwhelming. But after lots of research and question asking I went for it. Sure, it didn’t go perfect that first batch (or batches even to this day……lol) but at the end of the day I made beer. The important thing was, looking back after that first batch, what had seemed so overwhelming and almost impossible now was so much less intimidating. I’m excited to see how it goes for you when you take the leap. Just try not to get to caught up in the details starting out, there will be plenty of time for that later. I know you’ll do just fine. Now go make some beer! 
PS: that is a dead sexy brew setup you have! Congratulations on that find.
PS: that is a dead sexy brew setup you have! Congratulations on that find.
Thank you for that very kind and encouraging post...I’d just like to say that I have really enjoyed reading through this thread and seeing your determination to see this through! It’s also great to see all of the support from this community. All I can add at this time is encouragement and I’ll leave you with this. I still remember when I was where you’re at in my brewing journey. It all seemed quite overwhelming. But after lots of research and question asking I went for it. Sure, it didn’t go perfect that first batch (or batches even to this day……lol) but at the end of the day I made beer. The important thing was, looking back after that first batch, what had seemed so overwhelming and almost impossible now was so much less intimidating. I’m excited to see how it goes for you when you take the leap. Just try not to get to caught up in the details starting out, there will be plenty of time for that later. I know you’ll do just fine. Now go make some beer!
PS: that is a dead sexy brew setup you have! Congratulations on that find.
I could keep the thread in suspense... but then, this has gone on way too long.
How did I do?
Ahem.
POST-GAME REPORT:
Well, a fail, but not a Superfail. I wasted some grain, but my loss was a big win for my next door neighbor's chickens, who received all the spent grain... and I'll get some eggs out of it!
"You can't make an omelet without ruining a bunch of grain" --bmac8
That, and some water, was the only thing lost. I completed an all-grain mash but rookie-panicked when I only saw about 7 gallons of wort.
Mistake: I started with a simple (but incomplete, semi-self-authored) American SMaSH IPA recipe, and that is the first mistake I made--I had not accounted for the water soaked up into the grain, and that was where I halted major brewing operations.
Mistake: I did not understand sparge step, and I went deer-in-headlights instead of adding water... wort could have easily been saved, but I stopped right there.
Good news: I saved all the other ingredients for the next brew day.
Good news: propane burner worked great. Temp sensors, plumbing, pumps and connections all worked great.
Good news: cleaning and sterilizing went well following the fail. This is a major accomplishment as I am working in a garage without a sink, and water that is hosed in (long food-grade safe RV hose comes in from garden.) I walked some of the cleaning waste back into the house and dumped into toilet. Cleaning-rinsing waste water pumped out and down driveway. Cleanup went well.
Good news:
No animals were harmed in the making of this mini-wort.
Good news: I know I have support here in this group. Special thanks to Steve Sibelman who visited and helped me very much.
Happy Holidays, all!
LET THERE BE BEER!
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I'm sure emotions were riding high, but next time if stuff doesn't look right, take notes and keep going! In this case your recipe would have just been "imperial" 5 gallon!
Did the grain drain OK?
(edit: I've dumped a perfectly good batch or two myself.)
Did the grain drain OK?
(edit: I've dumped a perfectly good batch or two myself.)
I have a very high threshold for dumping, and while I often make a different beer than I had intended, people tell me that I've never made an undrinkable beer. Despite my "best" efforts. Knock on wood.
Congratulations in your first brew!
After a couple hundred more your first one will be a reminder of how your journey progressed. In time almost everyone improves the process and learns from every batch. Keep good notes, learn and keep enjoying your brew days!
Merry Christmas to you, and everyone else following along!!
After a couple hundred more your first one will be a reminder of how your journey progressed. In time almost everyone improves the process and learns from every batch. Keep good notes, learn and keep enjoying your brew days!
Merry Christmas to you, and everyone else following along!!
I’m glad to hear that you jumped in, sorry to hear it didn’t go great. All steps along the journey. Not to complicate things but a hot liquor tank of some sort may be a good addition to your setup, that or as others have mentioned, a brew bag. Also wondering if your RIMS heater could be used to heat sparge water on the way to the mash tun? I’d think the flow would have to be pretty slow. Just a thought. A sink is a game changer when it comes to all grain brewing as well! Wishing you and everyone here a safe and happy holidays!
I don't think there's a RIMS heater in @bmac8 's collection of gear. His Hop Rocket is just that, not a RIMS Rocket (unless the coil is hiding somewhere).
Brian, let me know when you're ready to try again. Maybe I can join you for your next brew day.
Roger that, im not supe familiar with the tower of power equipment. My brewing experience is all pretty much manual hands on with gas burners. What does the mash temp controller control? Is there a heating element in the mash tun or is it just to operate a pump or something?
edit to say: I have read the description of the tower of power and understand that it operates the burner (under the brew kettle I assume since the mash tun is insulated). I guess my question would be how one would go about sparging with this setup and no HLT?
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Brewer Mike
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Nice to see your optimism! Many would be dejected.
Edison - “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
Edison - “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
Brian's mash tun does have a small integrated heat source on its bottom to help maintain mash temp. It seems SSBrewTech has discontinued this InfuSSion option.
The sparge question is critical, and was key to the first-try troubles. A third vessel to hold sparge water (temperature non-critical if below ~170°F) is needed. He could use his conical for this, but a large, cheap pot or bucket could be more handy for batch sparging using dechlorinated water.
It's unclear how the previous owner of Brian's gear dealt with this issue.
Tis a mystery indeed. After thinking about this for awhile I remember touring the old brewery in New Glarus some years ago. They had a two vessel system there and as I recall they would dough in in the brewing/boil vessels. After the rest they would then pump the whole volume of the mash grain and all through the second vessel that had a false bottom. I believe this is referred as a lauter tun. The lauter tun would act as a filter to separate the spent grain from the wert and the wert went back to the brew vessel to be boiled.
Now the part I don’t really recall is how they sparged or rinsed the grain bed that was left behind in the lauter tun. I suppose they could have had another source of heated clear water (hot liquor) that they used to sparge or rinse the grain bed or perhaps they just added water to the brew vessel as they recirculated (vorlauf) until they had the desired volume although this seems inefficient. As I said I don’t really recall but perhaps the original owner was using some variation of this method? Not sure.
Any how, using the fermenter as a HLT sounds like a really great idea. Sorry for the long post.
So there is some sort of heating element in/under the mashtun?
22nd amendment's brew pub heats up sparge water and store in the fermentor so it doubles as a HLT.
When I started all grain brewing I was doing batch sparges with a cooler and single kettle and burner. I would heat up mash water only then move to mashtun and heat up sparge water while mashing. First running were collected in a bucket than transferred to kettle once the sparge water was moved to the kettle.
If you batch sparge you can use cold water and dont need a HLT too.
It seems like the tower of power is designed to be a expensive 2 vessel full volume mash setup, never did get the attraction.
No reason you can't fly sparge with unheated water. The drawback is the same as for batch sparging with cool water - it will take you longer to heat up to boil temp (although it will not require more energy.)
Brew on
The tower of power has been set aside for now in favor of the simplicity of manual control.
SSBrewTech used to sell a kit called "MTSs" that mounts under the tun and adds heat. There are some references to it here on HBT. I believe that's installed in (under) Brian's mashtun.
SSBrewTech used to sell a kit called "MTSs" that mounts under the tun and adds heat. There are some references to it here on HBT. I believe that's installed in (under) Brian's mashtun.
Yes, it could be batch or fly. Batch would be simpler: one and done in a twenty gallon tun. Hey, I made a little poem
I never thought about or seen people talking about it but that makes sense.No reason you can't fly sparge with unheated water. The drawback is the same as for batch sparging with cool water - it will take you longer to heat up to boil temp (although it will not require more energy.)
Brew on
I have seen the fresh sparge water riding on top of the mash liquor while fly sparging, always thought it was temp difference but maybe it is just the gravity difference.
I'll go out on a limb and suggest the previous owner may have used more conventional HLT, MLT, and boil kettle at first and the insulated MLT came sometime later.
Considering the Tower of Power in this case is two-channel, one channel probably was for heating & holding the sparge water to specific temp and the other channel as the RIMS temp control for a direct-fired MLT.
It's a credible story. We will see if/how the new owner incorporates the Blichmann controls into his brewing.
I believe the clear area above the grains during fly sparging is simply water that hasn't mixed with malty goodness. That happens as it flows down through the mash.
There's likely both temperature and gravity/sweetness gradients in the tun as the sparge progresses.
@bmac8 must be astonished at the turns this thread has taken.
Pretty much. You actually try to minimize mixing of the sparge water and mash wort during a fly sparge.
There is a definite concentration gradient during a fly sparge, as this is how you maximize lauter efficiency. There may or may not be a temperature gradient, depending mostly on the starting temp of the grain bed and the temp of the sparge water.
Brew on
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Quite. I might have chosen a word poorly, suggesting stirring. Don't do that during sparge.
I meant that, as the water moves down through the grain bed, it combines with the gelatinized malt, rinsing or extracting sugars (mostly), and becoming the mixture of water and yummy maltiness that we call wort.
Cheers!
