Top 3 mistakes beginners make?

[Scut_Monkey]

I would never heat my sparge water up to 200, I think that is very bad advice. Just stay calm and calibrate your thermometer before you get started.

I consistently have to heat my sparge water to 200 degrees sometimes higher to hit 165 during the sparge. This is NOT bad advice if you calculate what your sparge water needs to be at to hit ~168F accurately. As soon as it's added to the grain it hits 160ish which is where it needs to be.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

I forgot my addition. I only need one.

1. Thinking that the results from your first all grain attempt will blow away a good extract recipe.

 

[permo]

#1 not hitting mash temp
#2 not using enough water or miscalculating water volume
#3 just creating stupid recipes thinking you are going to turn the world upside down.
Learn how to brew an awesome pale ale before you try a to brew a "chocolate doughnut pancake suprise imperial russian dubbel"

that being said, I understood the science and math behind the brewing. My biggest learning was to use the specialty malts in moderation...less is more in many cases. One of my early brews had a pound of honey malt, and it was supposed to be an ESB....some folks like it...me not so much.

 

[Ketchepillar]

1. Do all math beforehand.
2. Visualize and run through the whole process beforehand (specific to your equipment)
3. Have all your needed equipment ready at hand.
4. Calibrate thermometers, be precise with water volumes and temps.
5. Take notes on EVERYTHING.

Essentially, be well prepared and detailed oriented. Later on, once you have a number of batches under your belt you can decide to be a slacker brewer if you want.

 

[bakins]

Top 3 mistakes beginners make:
1 - sparging - no sparge is so much easier to maintain temps -- more thermal mass. No worry about tannins, ph, etc (in general, at least). Only have to calculate initial strike water.
2 - chilling - chill is not needed. Pitch yeast the next day.
3 - not getting the chlorine/chloramine out of the tap water. Campden and/or carbon filtration is a necessity.

At least that's how I wished I would have started.

 

[bbrim]

"I consistently have to heat my sparge water to 200 degrees sometimes higher to hit 165 during the sparge. This is NOT bad advice if you calculate what your sparge water needs to be at to hit ~168F accurately. As soon as it's added to the grain it hits 160ish which is where it needs to be."
If you mash out there is no need for this process. It is a much more more reliable way to hit your temps at this phase in the brew, plus it stops enzyme activity, maintaining the desired level of fermentables.

 

[vgoreham]

Top 3 mistakes beginners make:
1 - sparging - no sparge is so much easier to maintain temps -- more thermal mass. No worry about tannins, ph, etc (in general, at least). Only have to calculate initial strike water.
2 - chilling - chill is not needed. Pitch yeast the next day.
3 - not getting the chlorine/chloramine out of the tap water. Campden and/or carbon filtration is a necessity.

At least that's how I wished I would have started.

If your city uses chlorine, there is no worry because this will boil off quite readily. Chloramine, on the other hand..

 

[jfkriege]

1. Sanitation
2. Yeast Health (pitching rates, oxygenation, etc.)
3. Fermentation control (temperature control and/or stability)

 

[joety]

"I consistently have to heat my sparge water to 200 degrees sometimes higher to hit 165 during the sparge. This is NOT bad advice if you calculate what your sparge water needs to be at to hit ~168F accurately. As soon as it's added to the grain it hits 160ish which is where it needs to be."
If you mash out there is no need for this process. It is a much more more reliable way to hit your temps at this phase in the brew, plus it stops enzyme activity, maintaining the desired level of fermentables.

I raised my efficiency (although I'm not sure why) by mashing-out several batches ago. It allows me to use cooler sparge water and I'm getting the appropriate rests for the mash. If you read your Beersmith tools accurately, you'll see a single infusion mash calls for a second stage "mash out" using water over 200 degrees to raise the grain bed. I will note that once you start doing this it is important to drain enough wort until you can see the top of the grain bed (an inch or less) before you start sparging as you risk collapsing the bed with all that water. DAMHIKT

Edit: Another benefit for me personally is it gave me a job for my original 4 gallon BK, so now all three BK's (15, 8 and 4) have a job to do during brew day and I don't feel I bought something that was quickly outdated.

 

[OLDBREW]

I think one thing that new brewers get confused with is talk of grainbed temps and water temps.

When adding 195-200*F water to a 10-12# grainbed that is at 150*F while sparging, there is no harm in doing so. You can add some boiling water with no harm. The thing that you are concerned with is the grainbed temperature itself.
As long as you don't get that up over 170*F, you are fine. Stirring real well at dough in or mashout/sparge makes the entire bed uniform in temperature. You want to probe different areas of the grainbed after about 5 -10 minutes into the mash after dough in, and try to hit the center of it's depth when taking readings. You're looking to come out with even readings all over the grainbeds center(as in half the depth).
If you have dough balls, or didn't really stir the mash good enough, you may find that some parts of the bed are cold, some are hot, then some right on.

Same goes at mashout or sparge, calculate you water volume, and temp, then stir real well to get the whole bed at a consistant temperature.

 

[Newton]

Top 3 mistakes beginners make:
1 - sparging - no sparge is so much easier to maintain temps -- more thermal mass. No worry about tannins, ph, etc (in general, at least). Only have to calculate initial strike water.
2 - chilling - chill is not needed. Pitch yeast the next day.
3 - not getting the chlorine/chloramine out of the tap water. Campden and/or carbon filtration is a necessity.

At least that's how I wished I would have started.

No chilling? Really? Everything I've read suggests that chilling as fast as possible is key to good brewing. I would like to do no chill though. Is there a book or article reference you could point me to read further on a "no chill" approach? Thanks!

 

[kryolla]

I dont recommend no-chill for beginners, the sooner you pitch the yeast the better. I also recommend batch sparge for beginners so you can get as much carbs out as you can.

 

[jjones17]

1. Not pre-heating or otherwise accounting for the temp of the MLT, thus missing target mash temp.
2. Opening the MLT 500 times to check the temp and stir the mash, thus lowering it.
3. Not thoroughly stirring the mash and/or waiting for initial mash temps to stabilize before trying to correct them.


4. Using the 179F or whatever Beersmith says for sparge water, which is usually too low. Heat the damn water up to at least 200F.



5. That is assuming you have an accurate thermometer....if you don't, well all bets are off.

OH MY GOD... your number 4 is so accurate its almost a miracle. This is so true, in fact I usually keep some boiling water on hand as I almost NEVER hit my sparge dead on and its usually low.

 

[riromero]

Here's the big 3 mistakes I made (make?) when mashing long after I thought I wasn't a beginner.

1) Obsess about high efficiency. Better to just spend an extra $1.50 and settle on 65%. Whatever.

2) Batch sparge without a stainless braid. Sparging with the braid now takes me 5 minutes per round, and nightmare 2 hour stuck sparge sessions recede into the mists of time.

3) Vorlauf. This might bring the hate, but any tiny bits that make it past the braid settle out in the fermenter anyway. I can't really tell the difference. I usually skip the vorlauf now.

 

[Beernip]

Not keeping a few pounds of DME on hand for when you don't hit those OG's the first few times while you are working through your effs.

 

[OLDBREW]

OH MY GOD... your number 4 is so accurate its almost a miracle. This is so true, in fact I usually keep some boiling water on hand as I almost NEVER hit my sparge dead on and its usually low.

When you think about these cooler/ice chest designs, their whole function is to hold the temperature at a certain temperature for as long as possible.

The down fall using them for mash tuns is that if you put a certain amount of hot water in the cooler/chest, the first thing it does is absorbs the heat to get up towards that temperature to stabilize. As this occurs the temperature of the water drops as the heat is being pulled into the cooler. This is what is known as the mash tun thermal mass.

When the first real brewing software came out for use of the homebrewer, it was ProMash. In the setup portion of its software under mash systems/evaporation, there is a setting for "mash tun thermal mass" This setting is to adjust what your mash tun adborbs when you do not preheat your cooler, or what ever you may use to make the calculator work right.

From using the software and dialing in the system using this adjustment, you can actual get the strike water calculator to work right without preheating the cooler.

I don't use Beer Smith, but I would think that there may be an adjustable setting like the one used in ProMash for compensating for the thermal mass of the tun used.
If you go on the Beer Smith forum, or email them, they can tell you how to set up the correction factors, if the program does in fact have one?

On the other hand:

Most brewers instead of going through the hassle of getting the software dialed in, just Pre heat the coolers/chests to get the strike water calculator function to work properly. Others just make their proper amount of strike water a lot hotter then needed then stir it into the cooler, and wait for the temperature to drop into the proper range before dough in.
When stepping up in a cooler for mashout or sparge you face the same problem as the cooler/chest will first absorb the heat before raising the temperature.

When using a strike water calculator, you need to know:
The exact temperature and weight of the grist/grain for the batch.
The thermal mass of the mash tun used.
The amount of strike water you will be using.
The desired temperature of your mash

These factors will formulate the temperature needed to hit the strike temps accurately.

 

[bakins]

If your city uses chlorine, there is no worry because this will boil off quite readily. Chloramine, on the other hand..

You do not want to mash in water that contains chlorine. By the time you get to the boil, your beer is already ruined if your water has high chlorine. Trust me But, yes, with chlorine, you should be able to drive it off by boiling it before you mash. I just use campden tablets.

 

[bakins]

I dont recommend no-chill for beginners, the sooner you pitch the yeast the better. I also recommend batch sparge for beginners so you can get as much carbs out as you can.

Why do you not recommend no-chill for beginners?

I get 80% (or around there) just about every time I no-sparge. Most beginners would be ecstatic about that. No worry about sparge calculations, getting grain bed too hot or the sparge pH, etc.

I think beginners get too caught up in the "I must do it like I see all the cool folks on HBT do it" -- I know I did. However, sometimes the simplest way is a pretty good way to do it.

So cast off your HLT's, MLT's, and wort chillers and be free.

 

[jjones17]

When you think about these cooler/ice chest designs, their whole function is to hold the temperature at a certain temperature for as long as possible.

The down fall using them for mash tuns is that if you put a certain amount of hot water in the cooler/chest, the first thing it does is absorbs the heat to get up towards that temperature to stabilize. As this occurs the temperature of the water drops as the heat is being pulled into the cooler. This is what is known as the mash tun thermal mass.

When the first real brewing software came out for use of the homebrewer, it was ProMash. In the setup portion of its software under mash systems/evaporation, there is a setting for "mash tun thermal mass" This setting is to adjust what your mash tun adborbs when you do not preheat your cooler, or what ever you may use to make the calculator work right.

From using the software and dialing in the system using this adjustment, you can actual get the strike water calculator to work right without preheating the cooler.

I don't use Beer Smith, but I would think that there may be an adjustable setting like the one used in ProMash for compensating for the thermal mass of the tun used.
If you go on the Beer Smith forum, or email them, they can tell you how to set up the correction factors, if the program does in fact have one?

On the other hand:

Most brewers instead of going through the hassle of getting the software dialed in, just Pre heat the coolers/chests to get the strike water calculator function to work properly. Others just make their proper amount of strike water a lot hotter then needed then stir it into the cooler, and wait for the temperature to drop into the proper range before dough in.
When stepping up in a cooler for mashout or sparge you face the same problem as the cooler/chest will first absorb the heat before raising the temperature.

When using a strike water calculator, you need to know:
The exact temperature and weight of the grist/grain for the batch.
The thermal mass of the mash tun used.
The amount of strike water you will be using.
The desired temperature of your mash

These factors will formulate the temperature needed to hit the strike temps accurately.

Wow, great post and very thorough. I personally use a SS stock pot for my mash (BIABWithSparge), and it works great. Its tough to get your thermal mass dead on, and I use beersmith and there is an adjustable calculator for this. To keep things simple, I just add my sparge/mash water based on beer smith and then use boiling water to bring up my temp to desired point and then lid. I lose at most .5 degree F in an hour given my low headspace. When I start using a cooler (which I may), I should be able to work in the thermal mass calcs easier.