ghank15
Well-Known Member
Ok. So I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I have a few questions.
As the title dictates, I am looking to start brewing all grain around January-ish.
Now, I have been reading up on the processes and equipment necessary to do this for a few weeks. That said, I'm still a bit confused. I get the basics. I understand what the mash does. I know what a sparge is. And I understand that I need to do the process a few times so that everything can be made clearer. I just want to do the best job possible the first time, so that my next few tries will be successful.
Instead of asking a whole bunch of questions, I will give a run down of how I expect to do things, and any critique, advice or info that I can get in response will be extremely beneficial.
It is also important to note that I generally brew 4-4.25 gallon batches instead of the usual 5 gallons, due to only having 5 gallon carboys. They just can't handle a full 5 gallon batch.
I have a propane burner with a 7.5 gallon brew kettle to heat up the water.
I did some calculations, and to achieve a 1.050 OG, I'd need about 9 LBS of base malt. I would plan on adding 1-1.25 pounds of specialty malt. So, for simplicities sake, 10 Lbs of grain.
Step 1: Determine Strike water volume. 1.25(quarts) * 10 (lbs of grain)=12.5 quarts, or 3.25 gallons for Mash.
Step 2: Heat 3.25 gallons to mash temp. Transfer water to gatorade style cooler (as sold by northern brewer). Add grains. Mash for 1 hour. (Do I need to stir the mash? Won't heat get lost if I do this?)
Meanwhile, heat sparge water.
(Herein lies an important question. How much sparge water do I use? I have seen suggestions that say the amount should be equivalent to the strike water, twice the amount of strike water, or however much water is needed to go into the boil. For my extract batches, I barely get ANY boil-off. After heating 4 gallons of water, steeping the specialty grains, and adding about 5 pounds of DME, I end up with between 4 and 4.25 gallons of wort. I did some searching, and I figured out that the DME addition would add about 0.37 gallons to the total volume. Thus, my boil-off rate would be between 2.75% and 9%.)
Using the third option for amount of sparge water, I can assume I would have about 0.48 gallons of water absorbed by the grains. This would leave me with 2.72 gallons. Thus, as per my previous boil-off rates, I would sparge with 1.65 gallons of water.
With a boil-off rate this low, I can't reasonably expect to end up with 4-4.25 gallons of wort to go into the fermenter if I do a sparge with more water than this. However, I am afraid my efficiency would suffer if I only used a gallon and a half of water for the sparge.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Step 3: Sparge
Now, I remember reading that I should recirculate some of the initial wort through the Mash tun (which i guess would now be the lauter tun?). Should I do this? Or should I just add the sparge water?
Step 4: Bring Wort up to temp, start the boil, and brew as usual.
As previously stated, any input would be useful. Any critique or advice of my process would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You!
As the title dictates, I am looking to start brewing all grain around January-ish.
Now, I have been reading up on the processes and equipment necessary to do this for a few weeks. That said, I'm still a bit confused. I get the basics. I understand what the mash does. I know what a sparge is. And I understand that I need to do the process a few times so that everything can be made clearer. I just want to do the best job possible the first time, so that my next few tries will be successful.
Instead of asking a whole bunch of questions, I will give a run down of how I expect to do things, and any critique, advice or info that I can get in response will be extremely beneficial.
It is also important to note that I generally brew 4-4.25 gallon batches instead of the usual 5 gallons, due to only having 5 gallon carboys. They just can't handle a full 5 gallon batch.
I have a propane burner with a 7.5 gallon brew kettle to heat up the water.
I did some calculations, and to achieve a 1.050 OG, I'd need about 9 LBS of base malt. I would plan on adding 1-1.25 pounds of specialty malt. So, for simplicities sake, 10 Lbs of grain.
Step 1: Determine Strike water volume. 1.25(quarts) * 10 (lbs of grain)=12.5 quarts, or 3.25 gallons for Mash.
Step 2: Heat 3.25 gallons to mash temp. Transfer water to gatorade style cooler (as sold by northern brewer). Add grains. Mash for 1 hour. (Do I need to stir the mash? Won't heat get lost if I do this?)
Meanwhile, heat sparge water.
(Herein lies an important question. How much sparge water do I use? I have seen suggestions that say the amount should be equivalent to the strike water, twice the amount of strike water, or however much water is needed to go into the boil. For my extract batches, I barely get ANY boil-off. After heating 4 gallons of water, steeping the specialty grains, and adding about 5 pounds of DME, I end up with between 4 and 4.25 gallons of wort. I did some searching, and I figured out that the DME addition would add about 0.37 gallons to the total volume. Thus, my boil-off rate would be between 2.75% and 9%.)
Using the third option for amount of sparge water, I can assume I would have about 0.48 gallons of water absorbed by the grains. This would leave me with 2.72 gallons. Thus, as per my previous boil-off rates, I would sparge with 1.65 gallons of water.
With a boil-off rate this low, I can't reasonably expect to end up with 4-4.25 gallons of wort to go into the fermenter if I do a sparge with more water than this. However, I am afraid my efficiency would suffer if I only used a gallon and a half of water for the sparge.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Step 3: Sparge
Now, I remember reading that I should recirculate some of the initial wort through the Mash tun (which i guess would now be the lauter tun?). Should I do this? Or should I just add the sparge water?
Step 4: Bring Wort up to temp, start the boil, and brew as usual.
As previously stated, any input would be useful. Any critique or advice of my process would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You!