ryser2k
Well-Known Member
I cut out of work a little early on Friday to go home and brew up my first all-grain batch, a Scottish Heavy ale, from an AHS kit. It's only my second batch in 4 months, that month in Virginia really screwed up my brewing schedule. Anyway, I have to say that it definitely took a heck of a lot longer to do the all-grain brew than it does to do a partial mash. I'm not sure that there was any more work involved, but the time from start to finish was a lot longer. At least I got to watch a movie (The Terminal) between steps instead of standing over a boiling pot the whole time.
I'm looking to streamline the process so I can finish an all-grain batch in about the same amount of time that it took to do partial mash. I don't have all the great equipment, just the bare bones setup like Paul from Cruisenews... so that could be slowing me down a little. Also, I noticed some discrepencies between what my AHS directions said and what Cruisenews said... for example, AHS said to mash for 90 minutes, while Cruise said 60. I did 90 just to be sure, but I'm looking to cut time whereever I can here Is there any real benefit for waiting that extra half-hour?
I used Paul's method for sparging also.. although I was not sure how much I should recirculate the wort before draining it off. I tried to eyeball the clarity and just go off of that, but is there a better measure for how much I should recirculate (specific amount of time or specific quantity of wort)? Also, I didn't boil enough water for the first sparge so I had to do a second one, which added a good half-hour...
From start to finish, I would say the brew took me almost 5 hours. I guess I shouldn't really complain since it was my first shot, but I was starting to get annoyed when it was dark out and I was still waiting for my wort to cool... that immersion chiller I got wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be, although it did save me from having to run out and buy a huge bag of ice.
I'm looking for tips on how to make the process go a little more smoothly. From your experience, is there anything I should have done differently? If you had to pick one piece of equipment that would help me do things better and faster, what would it be?
Oh and one last thing... what the heck do you do with your spent grain? I remember reading that Janx feeds turkeys with his ... but I don't have the land or the turkeys for that. I was going to just dump it all into a garbage bag but there was still a decent amount of water in with it. It was so easy with partial mash, I just dumped the grain bag into the bucket that the LME came in, then sealed it all up!
Ok, I've done enough talking... as usual I've got lots of questions, but I'm sure you guys will have lots of answers... you always do
I'm looking to streamline the process so I can finish an all-grain batch in about the same amount of time that it took to do partial mash. I don't have all the great equipment, just the bare bones setup like Paul from Cruisenews... so that could be slowing me down a little. Also, I noticed some discrepencies between what my AHS directions said and what Cruisenews said... for example, AHS said to mash for 90 minutes, while Cruise said 60. I did 90 just to be sure, but I'm looking to cut time whereever I can here Is there any real benefit for waiting that extra half-hour?
I used Paul's method for sparging also.. although I was not sure how much I should recirculate the wort before draining it off. I tried to eyeball the clarity and just go off of that, but is there a better measure for how much I should recirculate (specific amount of time or specific quantity of wort)? Also, I didn't boil enough water for the first sparge so I had to do a second one, which added a good half-hour...
From start to finish, I would say the brew took me almost 5 hours. I guess I shouldn't really complain since it was my first shot, but I was starting to get annoyed when it was dark out and I was still waiting for my wort to cool... that immersion chiller I got wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be, although it did save me from having to run out and buy a huge bag of ice.
I'm looking for tips on how to make the process go a little more smoothly. From your experience, is there anything I should have done differently? If you had to pick one piece of equipment that would help me do things better and faster, what would it be?
Oh and one last thing... what the heck do you do with your spent grain? I remember reading that Janx feeds turkeys with his ... but I don't have the land or the turkeys for that. I was going to just dump it all into a garbage bag but there was still a decent amount of water in with it. It was so easy with partial mash, I just dumped the grain bag into the bucket that the LME came in, then sealed it all up!
Ok, I've done enough talking... as usual I've got lots of questions, but I'm sure you guys will have lots of answers... you always do