Newb Problems - Don't drink too many home brews on brew day

[Turk10mm]

I really need to stop getting bombed on brew day. I had my first all grain batch yesterday. i started off with something simple to learn the ropes AHS Texas Blonde. First off, I started drinking when I started setting up at noon. Well that's not good when your brew day ends up taking until 7pm and you never stopped drinking.

So my first mistake, I screwed with my mash tun when I didn't have to. I preheated my tun and was looking for a mash in temp of 151. I added my 2.5 gallons of strike water at 164 degrees and hit a mash in temp of 152. So hot dog that's good for a first timer, if i say so myself. Well, 30 minutes in and I was down to 150. I think my dead space was the cause. Well like an idiot who couldn't leave well enough alone, I heated up a quart and a half of water to 170 and added it in. My temp dropped to 140 almost instantly. Well, I was a dumb fool again and heated up another quart and a half of water at 170 and re-opened the tun again and poured it in. Well now my temp was down to 135. I'm certain the temp drop was from me opening the mash tun and letting all the heat out. The good news is I got a good 35-40 minutes at my mash in temp. So I let it be for the rest of the hour.

Then I vorlaughed and drained my first runnings carefully.

I did a double batch sparge with 2.5 gallons at 177 and ended up at 167 degrees on my last sparge, which was right on target.

By the time I was done, I was stupid drunk, and I couldn't find the stupid plug for the airlock. I ran around like a drunken wildman looking for the stupid stopper. I ended up using aluminum foil until I could go to the LHBS. I bought 3 of those stupid things today. Along with 2 more of every little part I could think of.

I'll be drinking water on my next boil. I bet it goes smoother.

 

[jonmohno]

Drink a bunch of coffee or some energy drinks your first few I recommend it. I wouldnt start drinking craft/home brew til you get comfortabable. I only enjoyed it after i was done(and releived)It is a lot of clean up that can be a *****.

 

[mlg5039]

WTF are you using as a mash tun that looses 10 degrees every time you open it, even though you add h20 thats much higher in temperature???


I think you had too much homebrew and couldn't read your thermometer.


But regardless, you'll make beer and it'll probably be okay.

 

[Homebrewtastic]

You're better off not using an airlock anyway. You'll get a better flavor profile from your yeast with less pressure in the beer.

 

[earwig]

lol at "vorlaughed" Anyway I often have the same problem. I decided to wait until I begin my boil before I start drinking. By the time it begins to hit me I already have all my equipment organized and just have the cool-down, pitch and clean ip left

 

[Turk10mm]

I think you had too much homebrew and couldn't read your thermometer.
.

Hah, that could be right. I think it could have been two problems. I was heating up such a small amount of water that my thermometer was getting radiant heat from the bottom of the kettle. There's a good chance that my water was not 170 like I thought it was.

I'm usign a 10 gallon igloo. I had a temp probe in the mash so I know that the temp dropped.

I hit my og on the money at 1.042.

The good news is that today I got my valves, pump, and tubing. Tomorrow all my fittings for quick disconnects arrive as well as sight glasses and thermometers. So next time I'll have a proper HLT. I was winging it at best this weekend. I was too impatient to wait for the entire setup to be done.

 

[SKMO]

WTF are you using as a mash tun that looses 10 degrees every time you open it, even though you add h20 thats much higher in temperature???

This was the 1st question that popped into my mind as well. Perhaps OP lives in Antarctica and was brewing on a windy day ?

That said, math was never my strong suit either, like adding and subtracting whole numbers.... always gets me confused.

 

[LakewoodBrew]

Were you reading the temp of the Air inside the tun? That could drop quickly, but to drop mash temp 10deg? I'm no math wiz either but the thermal mass in that tun is pretty substantial. maybe you were adding snow/ice to the mash?

 

[SKMO]

You're better off not using an airlock anyway. You'll get a better flavor profile from your yeast with less pressure in the beer.

Now this is about the most "INTERESTING" comment I have seen this evening, or for quite a while. Actually it's complete BS

It's really got my interest up. Please, Mr. HomeBrewTastic, just please provive a link to a reputable source of information that explains how high pressure has an effect upon the taste of the resulting beer.

This kids, is why we should not try to learn ANYTHING from the Internet. Too many HomeBrewTastics out there.