First all-grain brew follow-up - Day 10

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Applecrew135, May 30, 2013.

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  1. Applecrew135

    Applecrew135 Crusader (431) Jul 18, 2012 Pennsylvania

    Things are looking up for my first all-grain brew! The Centennial Blonde has been sitting in the primary for 10 days now at about 66-67 F, and is still occasionally bubbling a little bit, so I know it's not done. I took a gravity reading and it's at 1.013 (OG was 1.055). I'll check it again in a couple of days.

    It's got a great aroma & color, and really tastes great. I'm pretty excited, I really think this is going to be an awesome beer when it's ready!
     
    #1 Applecrew135, May 30, 2013
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  2. Mfedonczak

    Mfedonczak Initiate (0) Aug 18, 2008 Texas

    Congrats on your first all-grain! Glad to hear it went well.
     
    #2 Mfedonczak, May 30, 2013
  3. bgjohnston

    bgjohnston Initiate (0) Jan 14, 2009 Connecticut

    Be sure to ride that Triumph while you are waiting to bottle!
     
    #3 bgjohnston, May 30, 2013
  4. HerbMeowing

    HerbMeowing Maven (1,295) Nov 10, 2010 Virginia
    Trader

    Sadly...no.
    If home-beering were only that easy.
    Yes Johnny!
    You've achieved 76% attenuation.

    It's done when the gravity is stable over two or three days; altho...it doesn't hurt to let it ride another day or three before packaging.
    New brewers often have a difficult time judging whether their beer is actually awesome or not.
    Feel free to send me several bottles...post-paid of course...for a free...no obligation critique.
     
    #4 HerbMeowing, May 30, 2013
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  5. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah


    Let it sit for another week before you go peeking. You'll want to keep your mitts off until it's done if your not dry hopping. Take a gravity reading in a week. Take another reading 3 days after that. If you get the same number, move to bottling. Drink your samples, or discard them. DON'T put them back in the fermenter.

    The hardest part of brewing is sitting on your hands and letting the beer do it's thing. :slight_smile:
     
    #5 inchrisin, May 30, 2013
  6. premierpro

    premierpro Savant (1,060) Mar 21, 2009 Michigan

    Let your beer sit on the yeast for three weeks before packaging. I have confidence my yeast will do its job and never take a reading before three weeks.
     
    #6 premierpro, May 30, 2013
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  7. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah

    If it's the centennial blonde on HBT, that beer is done more than likely. 76%, I'd say your there. Check the gravity in 3 days and see if it's changed.

    I brewed that once as a "here's how ya do it" intro to all grain with a friend who's wanting to brew. We put it together at the store, and I made some changes to the recipe.

    It was grain to glass ( kegged though ) in 14 days, and tasted pretty good for a non hoppy beer. I used Cascade and Amarillo in ours and it turned out well with some minor tweaks.
     
    #7 FATC1TY, May 30, 2013
  8. Applecrew135

    Applecrew135 Crusader (431) Jul 18, 2012 Pennsylvania

    That's the one! I scaled it down to a 2.5 gallon batch and went low on the efficiency as a first guess as a new-to-me process. I wound up with 3 gallons @ 1.055 instead of 2.5 gallons @ 1.042 :astonished: It will be an even less-hoppy non-hoppy beer, but I am content for now. The gravity sample I drank did not disappoint me. Should have decent body, and if carbonation helps it feel a little drier, I will be very happy with my first all grain brew!

    Well, I saw this as a learning opportunity, and I was not disappointed. At least I will have a better idea of my efficiency and volumes next time and will hopefully get closer to my target values.

    Based on the higher OG, I still think the gravity might drop a point or two. I'll check again on Sunday.
     
    #8 Applecrew135, May 30, 2013
  9. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,452) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Society Pooh-Bah

    That totally kicks ass! My first all grain was very exciting for me too. Truthfully, it wasn't stellar* but when I popped the first bottle and it was by every measure a successfully created beer, it was stellar to me!

    it was a maris otter / willamette smash, and I didn't use nearly enough willamette, so it was heavy on the MO and a bit light on the hops, although there was enough bitterness to balance it out
     
    #9 AlCaponeJunior, May 30, 2013
  10. Applecrew135

    Applecrew135 Crusader (431) Jul 18, 2012 Pennsylvania

    I'm so stoked the way this has turned out! Agreed it may not truly be the most awesome beer ever, but to me it is! I'm really looking forward to sharing it with friends & family at our annual LobsterFest!

    I'm really looking forward to getting my process dialed in. There's so many things I want to try! An Oktberfestbier for my birthday at the end of September, a weizenbock for Christmas... and then SMASH brews to learn more about malts & hops... the possibilities seem endless!
     
    #10 Applecrew135, May 30, 2013
  11. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,564) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah

    Enjoy it.

    You had enough sense to pick a nice clean, simple recipe, with a low OG and plenty of room for error. Good on you for that.

    The beer is a pretty drinkable beer. Hopheads might not like it, but I have said keg on tap right now simply because at 5.5 or whatever it was, it's a lawnmower beer for me. It's a BMC like beer with some great amarillo flavor to it without being bitter or arrogantly hopped on the nose. I drink it like water when it's hot, and I don't feel like much else.
     
    #11 FATC1TY, May 30, 2013
  12. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,452) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I'll never stop bragging about my Bravo/Munich SMaSH. 4oz of hops, 12 lbs grain. It was amazing, or at least the four people who actually drank the beer all agreed that it was amazing, with three out of the four being the ones that brewed it, for whatever that's worth.:rolling_eyes:
     
    #12 AlCaponeJunior, May 30, 2013
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  13. Applecrew135

    Applecrew135 Crusader (431) Jul 18, 2012 Pennsylvania

    Update:

    I rechecked the gravity on Sunday, June 2; the gravity was 1.013, so it hadn't bumped at all in three days. I bottled yesterday, and today I got around to measuring the volume of trub/yeast cake left behind in the fermentor.

    My purpose here was to back-check all my measurements to see if they made sense, because frankly, the 92% efficiency I originally calculated was very suspect.

    So, I bottled 300 oz. I left 48 oz trub/yeast cake in the fermentor, and lost 8 oz to sampling. This means that my original volume into the fermentor was less than I had thought. I had originally measured 3 gallons, but my back calculation revealed the actual volume into the fermentor was 2.76 gallons. Plugging this value back into my efficiency calcs revealed that my efficiency was actually 84%, which I find much more believable and I feel pretty comfortable about that.

    So I'm still learning about my process, and on my next brew day I know I need to track a few items a little better. These are:
    • Measure volume of wort from first running from mash. I'm mashing in a paint strainer bag and I am squeezing my grains. BeerSmith is over-estimating the residual volume left in the grains; I would like to figure out how to tweak BeerSmith to correct this.
    • Measure volume into the fermentor more accurately. I was off by a quart.
    • Take better notes! My notes are not too bad, but will have to improve. I want to do an authentic Oktoberfest soon, using a traditional decoction mash... so better notes will be critical.
    Cool beans! Now I can't wait to taste the results, but that won't be before the end of the month. I'm going to be more patient this time!
     
    #13 Applecrew135, Jun 7, 2013
  14. mikehartigan

    mikehartigan Maven (1,421) Apr 9, 2007 Illinois

    I found the switch to all-grain to be almost disappointingly simple. My reaction after my first all-grain brew day was an incredulous "that's it?!?!?" My only regret was not having done it years earlier (when parts were even cheaper).
     
    #14 mikehartigan, Jun 7, 2013
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  15. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,452) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Society Pooh-Bah


    LOL, that was about my reaction too. The mythical pedestal on which I was elevating all grain brewers was in fact mythical, because all grain ain't much harder than extract. I'd say the hardest part is in fact making the decision to do it, and taking the plunge. Well, it's more like a baby-step than a plunge. :rolling_eyes:

    Beersmith can be tweaked to the point where you'll be within a point or two of your OG basically every time. You can tweak volumes and other parameters too (although I don't have instructions handy for your particular application).

    I have not personally been paying a lot of attention to my efficiency. Now mind you: I did have to adjust that parameter when I was dialing in my system in order to get the OG to work out right. But on my current system, it just wasn't high on my list of stuff to keep track of. The data is there, I just haven't been looking at it. :rolling_eyes:

    When my upgrade to ten gallons is complete, I'll be paying a lot more attention to every parameter, especially while I'm dialing it in.
     
    #15 AlCaponeJunior, Jun 8, 2013
  16. Applecrew135

    Applecrew135 Crusader (431) Jul 18, 2012 Pennsylvania

    Tasting Update

    Well, my first all-grain beer was going to be reserved for our annual Lobsterfest this coming weekend... but we have had to postpone the affair till later this summer. So, with my son home from college... and a barbeque this past weekend... I caved big time. Half a case down in three days...

    First off, it is not strictly speaking, a bad beer - it's drinkable, pleasant, and some really like it (including my wife, who is not per se a beer drinker). I'm not completely satisfied, however.

    These are my thoughts:
    • WAY under-carbonated - probably half of what it should be. My friend from the UK really likes the low carbonation, probably similar to the level found in a cask-condition hand-drawn ale. Personally, I like a little more.
    • Too sweet - and this is sort of what I expected from my brewing experience. I grossly under-estimated my efficiency for my first all-grain. I anticipated 65% and actually hit 84%, so the beer was a lot bigger, and consequently under-hopped
    • Mouthfeel was a little heavier than the style I was trying for. This was probably the result of the low carbonation and higher OG.
    • Taste is, as expected, very malty and slightly sweet. Needs to be better balanced... but I already suspected this would be the case. It finishes nicely and you can really taste the grain, which I think is awesome.
    • Alcohol content is 5.5%. I was aiming for about 4.5%, so technically, this is a fault... But I won't complain about this one...:astonished:
    Next steps:

    Well, I'm still learning. So, to enhance my learning experience, I am going to brew this beer AGAIN as follows:

    • Back off on the grain bill to account for my new estimated efficiency. I'm going with 80% this time
    • Really track some of my volumes better
    • I got a scale! So now I can weigh my hops and priming sugar
    • Going to mash a little lower to increase fermentability
    • I also got a temp controller for my refrigerator, so now I can control me fermentation temp.
    Does anyone have any other suggestions for me?

    Thanks!
     
    #16 Applecrew135, Jun 25, 2013
  17. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    What was your mash temp? Lowering the mash temp does not always increase fermentability. There are limited data that indicate a sweet spot at either 151F (Greg Doss data) or 153F (Kai Troester data). At least under specific test conditions.
     
    #17 VikeMan, Jun 25, 2013
  18. Applecrew135

    Applecrew135 Crusader (431) Jul 18, 2012 Pennsylvania

    Never mind on the mash temp.... just went back through my notes and saw my mash temp was 150 F. I thought I had mashed a little higher, but I was mistaken. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the effects of reducing the grain bill will have. For one thing, the beer will almost certainly be better-balanced!
     
    #18 Applecrew135, Jun 25, 2013
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