I brewed my first all grain brew on Monday with only a few hiccups. My
biggest problem was a pump issue. I have two march pumps and had trouble
getting a good prime. In hindsight I should have brewed my first ag on a
simple gravity feed setup instead of my newly built single tier two pump
system. There is a real learning curve to AG brewing and having to learn the
pump operation caused unnecessary stress. However, after a few dozen cuss
words and a beer break (in which I re-read the instructions) I managed to
get both pumps primed.
Time was my second problem. I choose BierMuncher's Three Crops (Cream Ale)
recipe that requires a three hour mash and a three hour boil. This made for
a very long brew day. I would have been better served cooking a more
traditional beer requiring only 1 hour mash and 70 minute boil.
My third and most frustrating problem happened at the end of the cook as I
attempted to pump my wort into the carboys. I primed and re-primed my pump
over and over again but could not get the pump to work. After an hour of
priming and re-priming it suddenly occurred to me that my wort chiller was
smashing my dip to the bottom of my keggle. Once I removed the wort chiller
my pumps works perfectly.
All and all I truly enjoyed my first ag cook. It ended up taking 11 hours.
Pre-boil gravity 1.035
Post-boil gravity 1.042
Not sure why my pre-boil gravity was off but pleased I hit my post boil
numbers.
Carboys are now tucked away in my 60 degree fermenting chamber with SAF ALE
US-05 American Ale (Chico Strain) yeast.
Btw please excuse any spelling and grammar mistakes. I have a hard time
typing paragraphs on a smart phone. If I get time, I will get on my computer
and clean it up.
biggest problem was a pump issue. I have two march pumps and had trouble
getting a good prime. In hindsight I should have brewed my first ag on a
simple gravity feed setup instead of my newly built single tier two pump
system. There is a real learning curve to AG brewing and having to learn the
pump operation caused unnecessary stress. However, after a few dozen cuss
words and a beer break (in which I re-read the instructions) I managed to
get both pumps primed.
Time was my second problem. I choose BierMuncher's Three Crops (Cream Ale)
recipe that requires a three hour mash and a three hour boil. This made for
a very long brew day. I would have been better served cooking a more
traditional beer requiring only 1 hour mash and 70 minute boil.
My third and most frustrating problem happened at the end of the cook as I
attempted to pump my wort into the carboys. I primed and re-primed my pump
over and over again but could not get the pump to work. After an hour of
priming and re-priming it suddenly occurred to me that my wort chiller was
smashing my dip to the bottom of my keggle. Once I removed the wort chiller
my pumps works perfectly.
All and all I truly enjoyed my first ag cook. It ended up taking 11 hours.
Pre-boil gravity 1.035
Post-boil gravity 1.042
Not sure why my pre-boil gravity was off but pleased I hit my post boil
numbers.
Carboys are now tucked away in my 60 degree fermenting chamber with SAF ALE
US-05 American Ale (Chico Strain) yeast.
Btw please excuse any spelling and grammar mistakes. I have a hard time
typing paragraphs on a smart phone. If I get time, I will get on my computer
and clean it up.
