Wish me luck - First AG beer this weekend

[grimeey]

Hey all - I'm new to the board and wanted to let everyone know that I'm attempting my first all-grain brew on Saturday. Of course i've been searching, reading, and taking notes on everything so hopefully it'll go rather smooth. We're doing a 10-gallon Stone Ruination IPA clone. Does anyone see any problems with doing a 10 gallon, 35# grain bill for your first AG? Also any tips would be greatly appreciated - I've read a ton but can always use help..

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

First off, welcome to the board! There's a wealth of knowlegde in this forum if you take the time to look for it.

If you've got the equipment to do 10 gallons, go for it! Best advice: watch your temps and hit them as close as possible. Use a brewing calculator to help figure out your sparge and mash water volumes, it'll make it a lot easier than doing the math.

Other than that, dive in a enjoy.

 

[humann_brewing]

Welcome, so are you planning on getting crappy efficiency? 35# is a lot for 10 gallons. If my memory serves me correct Ruinations OG is 1.072. I think that puts you in the range of 55% or so. Be careful you may end up with a 1.090 or more beer on your hands.

Also biggest advice is to not start drinking until the boil has started.

 

[grimeey]

We're using Brewsmith - I'll put in the recipe tomorrow so that hopefully wont be a problem. We built a mash tun from a 120qt cooler, so 10 gallons is nothing for it. Is there a potential problem using that large of a cooler?

 

[waldoar15]

We're using Brewsmith - I'll put in the recipe tomorrow so that hopefully wont be a problem. We built a mash tun from a 120qt cooler, so 10 gallons is nothing for it. Is there a potential problem using that large of a cooler?

You might end up with quite a bit of dead space in that, depending on the manifold design. Put some water in it, drain through the manifold and measure whats left in the cooler. You can add that to Beersmith and adjust your mash water volume.

 

[punk_rockin2001]

Just watch your temps. Thats about the most important thing I've learned. Mash temp, sparge temp, and fermentation temp have way more effect on the flavor than you realize, and any one of them being off make a totally different beer.

 

[grimeey]

Great idea - I will do that tomorrow (brew day is Saturday). Next question - I've been reading about pre-heating the mash tun and then draining that water before adding the strike water - any reason you can't use the same water to preheat the tun, wait for it to hit temp and then add the grains?

 

[humann_brewing]

Great idea - I will do that tomorrow (brew day is Saturday). Next question - I've been reading about pre-heating the mash tun and then draining that water before adding the strike water - any reason you can't use the same water to preheat the tun, wait for it to hit temp and then add the grains?

that is what you are suppose to do. Pre-heating the mash tun just means that you put your water in 5-10 degrees above your strike temp and let it heat up to mash/tun so you have a better chance of hitting your mash temp.

On the comment above, we are not questioning your space to mash a 10G batch, I am questioning needing 35# to create 10G post boil 1.072 wort. That is 55% efficiency, I am sure you will do better than that.

 

[grimeey]

It sounded like a ton of grain to me as well, but here is the recipe I was planning on using. This is a 5.5 gallon batch so I just doubled it..

All Grain Recipe - Stone Ruination IIPA::: 1.078/1.017 (5.5 Gal)
Grain Bill
14 lbs. - 2 Row Pale Malt
1 lb. - Crystal Malt (40L)
1 lb. - Munich Malt (10L)
1 lb. - Carapils


Hop Schedule (98 IBU)
1.75 oz - Magnum (60 min.)
1 oz - Centennial (30 min.)
1 oz - Centennial (10 min.)
1 oz - Centennial (1 min.)
2 oz - Centennial - Dry Hop in secondary

I've found variations of this recipe but they are all about the same grain bill - plus or minus a pound. Is this too much grain? - there will be about 13.5 ounces of hops in there as well so i definitely want a lot of body in the beer..

 

[FxdGrMind]

My first AG (Last week) was a very similar recipe. 101 IBU's per the calculation (but I used my home grown hops, so I might be on the sweet side.... with 12lb grains).

It's sure a dark beer even with 9lbs 2row and 3 lbs (1 ea) Crystal60L/Munich/Cara-pils.

I didn't get great efficiency 65% from the OG. Hope yours is better.

Cheers

 

[BierMuncher]

Vorlauf and drain very slowly. That big a grain bed will put a lot of pressure on your manifold setup and could cause a stuck sparge. Drain too fast and the suction will for sure pull that grain bed down tight and you'll clog the output.

Also...I'd say don't drink until you pitch the yeast.

 

[grimeey]

Hey all - I wanted to give an update on the brew. Overall it went very well. We hit a mash temp of 155 to start and it fell to 154 by the end of the hour. The recipe called for 154 so I was happy with this. Mash out hit 169 so darn close there as well. Our OG was 1.078 which gave us a 70% efficiency - not great but i'll definitely take it for my first time. I'll let you know how this one turns out in a few weeks. Once again thanks for all of the help...

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

70% is excellent for your first try. I didn't hit 70 until my 3rd batch. My first two were 58% and 64%.

 

[grimeey]

I've gotta tell you - Beersmith is just awesome. It would have been a ton of guessing to get all of the temps correct. Overall we were extremely happy with the results. Next up, and Alaskan Amber clone this weekend