im getting ready to do an all grain brew for the second time, first time yeast failed. But I’m gonna go at it again, my hops are gonna be magnum for bitter, simcoe with either centennial or cascade for late hop additions, might dry hop with wakatu. Not sure yet on the dry hop. Any tips on boiling the grain to extract all the sugars for the wart?
I recommend looking over the online version of how to brew by John Palmer, or watching a few YouTube vids where people demo all grain brewing. Your suggestion that you boil the grain to extract sugars suggests to me that these references would help, as boiling the grain definitely is not the way to go. You need to convert starches to sugars with enzymes and boiling denatures enzymes. You boil the wort after the mash. Palmers book has info on mashing that you should read. (Do you have any idea what caused your yeast to fail the first time? That’s not unheard of, but is not exactly common either. We can probably advise you on avoiding that with more info on your process. But I digress ) Your mash and boil process will depend on equipment. Hard to make specific recommendations without knowing what you are working with. The easiest approach to all grain brewing imo is brew in a bag (BIAB). The online version of palmer’s book predates the rise in popularity of this approach among American homebrewers. Therefore you might want to google or look for Instructional video on that topic. Look for Basic Brewing Video, for example. Those shows often demonstrate the BIAB approach.
Boiling the grains is going to be a big mistake. I suggest the same as pweiss stated because you seem to not understand the brewing process.
Thank you, I didn’t realize I put boil the grains. I know not to exceed 165 in temp when doing the grains. Thanks for the info on where to look up for more tips
I’m currently using a bayou burner and 14 gallon pots, when I received my grain and yeast, the yeast felt a little warm, it was a hot day when I received it, the company only put 1 ice pack in with the yeast. I think that’s why my yeast died. It fermented for less then 24 hours then stopped.
That sounds odd. My guess then is that you mashed your grains too high. If it started to ferment that means that the heat received during delivery didn't kill it, and it should have just kept going. Try mashing in the 148-154F range.
165F would be way too high for any normal mash, unless you're trying to accomplish something special and are using it as part of a step mash. I'll second the recommendation to read "How To Brew."
Based upon what has been posted in this thread permit me to be the third to recommend that you read How to Brew cover to cover before brewing this batch. I agree with Jim in that if you truly witnessed fermentation ("It fermented for less then 24 hours...) then the yeast did indeed survive delivery. Cheers!
Welcome to the forum! These guys have a ton of collective wisdom and their recommendations are spot on. My assumption from what you posted is that you are using liquid yeast. You would do well to just use US05 dry for your first all grain. One less very important variable to stress over. Good luck!
Aim for 152F mash temp, so mash water should be about 162F when you dough in. If brewing a lighter color beer, use a couple of oz of acidulated malt to help bring pH into range (5.2-5.6). Make sure your grain is crushed well. Don’t over or under sparge. Example below: 5 gallon batch, need to collect 5.85 gallons of wort in boil kettle. 5.85 gallons needed (due to boil-off) + 6 qt grain absorption (at 0.5 qt/lb loss to grain) + 3 qt mash tun dead space + 1 qt (4% cooking shrinkage) = 8.35 gallons water needed. Vorlauf a good 5-10 mins after mash rest. Sparge slow. Take 75-90 mins. This will help efficiency. Don’t sparge hotter than 170F to reduce tannin extraction.
Thank you for all your wisdom, I will continue to work on my brews, will read up more on all grain brewing before I jump into it. Thanks again! Much appreciated.
Good info on all grain brewing appreciate the advice and the example. Will continue to work on my brews to eventually get to all grain brewing!
The air lock completely stopped bubbling after a couple hours and never showed signs of fermenting. I let it sit for a week to see what it did then dry hopped it. Tested the alcohol and it came out to 1%. Something went wrong, probably my attempt at creating the wart with all grain. It was my first try and I now know I need to read up more on how to all grain brew
Too late to edit. Adding to above... Did you by any chance read the "potential alcohol by volume" (or similarly named) scale on a hydrometer when you took your final reading? If so, that's the wrong one. You want the "specific gravity" (or similarly named) scale, and you want to take readings both before and after fermentation, then use software or an online calculator to estimate the ABV using those two readings. A reading of "1%" on a potential alcohol by volume scale would probably correspond (on the hydrometer) to a specific gravity of about 1.010, which could very well be right in the range of what was expected for the final gravity for the batch you made. TLDR: If you read the "potential alcohol by volume" scale on a hydrometer and it said 1%, chances are good that your fermentation was finished and the yeast were fine.
Did it taste like beer or was it really sweet? If it's sweet you can just add more yeast to it. If it tastes like beer then drink 6 of them and tell us how drunk you are -- we can surmise the alcohol percentage from that.
Did the wort ever develop a layer of krauesen( i.e. a thick whitish foamy layer on top)? If the wort failed to develop even a rudimentary krauesen you may be right, the yeast may have been compromised.
