I've done it!

[BrewJr]

So last night i finally stepped into the big league with my first All-Grain batch! and man i had a lot of fun doing it! after all that work i thought to my self "What the hell took me so long to do it?!?" If there are any extract brewers out there contemplating the switch, i'd say stop waiting and do it! it went well except for a few hicups but all in all i think i will have a wonderful batch, we did a Hoegaarden clone that i ordered from AHS, added my strike water and hit 152 dead on. I was about 10min late on sparging because i mis-judged how long it would take 5Gal of water to heat up to 170 deg so that was mistake #1 and mistake number two was that i mis-judged how cool my wort was and ended up pitching at about 85-90! hopefully that wont effect it to much. i opened up my closet door and low and behold she was a bubblin! with a good start of krausen! i guess mistake number three was that i also mis-judged how long the process would take, i started about 7:30ish and didnt go to bed until around 12:15! but now i know! just wanted to thank all of you that have posted great tips here on HBT, it helps out a lot!

 

[llazy_llama]

Well done! Glad to hear everything went fairly smoothly.

What's the next milestone for you? Hops growing? Maybe home malting? There's always something else to look forward to.

 

[BrewJr]

matter of fact i just placed an order for some hop ribo's about 15Min ago at Freshhops.com!

 

[humann_brewing]

Well done! Glad to hear everything went fairly smoothly.

What's the next milestone for you? Hops growing? Maybe home malting? There's always something else to look forward to.

Don't forget yeast storage, jars, slants and suspension. I am working on slants here shortly.

Congrads BrewJr and keep going. What yeast did AHS send you with that kit? The 85-90 is really high but if you get it down to 70 before fermentation starts you should be ok.

 

[GunnerMan]

Grats, im right there with you, why it took me so long to go AG ill never know, it is really very simple if you want it to be.

 

[Beer:30]

IMHO too many people make a big deal about going all grain. Good for you, hope you enjoy it.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Grats on the AG going fairly well. What are you using for equipment?

Oh and a friendly tip on forum posting. Try and break up your post into paragraphs. Makes an easier read.

 

[PintOfBitter]

I'm with you - why did we wait so long?

The answer, of course, is $$$. Making a $15 batch of REALLY AWESOME beer makes the equipment cost not as important anymore...

 

[KUbrew]

did you start at 7:30AM and finish at 12:15AM or did you start at 7:30PM and finish at 12:15AM? If you started in the evening I would say that's not bad. It usually takes me almost 5 hours from start to finish.

 

[BrewJr]

i got my equipment off of E-bay, two converted igloo coolers, i put a post on here a while back and asked the pros if it was a good deal and pretty much got told that i could have put it togeather myself for cheaper but i said screw it i don't feel like it i'll just order it all done!

As far as the yeast i used White labs Belgin Wit 400, its looking very good so far!

Started at 7:30 P.M

And i'm taking that advice about breaking up my post to readable sentences!

Oh any tips on growing hops? i live in San diego so i think i have a good region to do so....

 

[BigNastyBrew]

Congrats man! I started with Mr. Beer in December and moved to AG in February.

Less than 5 hours on your first one? Congrats!

 

[WBC]

IMHO too many people make a big deal about going all grain. Good for you, hope you enjoy it.

Well I can only guess that you have not tried it yet? Until you do you will not realize the big difference in all aspects involved.

• Better control over taste and sweetness of the brew. Can malt has been already mashed and you have no way to change sweetness etc.
  
• Cheaper per batch once you have the equipment.
  
• Fresher taste.
  
• More choices of grain types.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Yeah, 5 hours on your first one is pretty good. I think my fiorst AG with a multi tier system took me 8 hours.