1st time all-grain lessons learned

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by ablemedic49, Jul 24, 2016.

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  1. ablemedic49

    ablemedic49 Initiate (0) Jun 14, 2016 Virginia

    Hello advocates,

    I decided I really wanted to share my 1st all-grain experience with you all. Some of you who are vets may not get anything valuable from this, but I thought I would share because when I got started there was nothing I could find to really prepare myself for this.

    I am going to keep my initial post simple for the sake of time that I do not have.

    I mashed about 13 lbs of grains @ 154F, I used the suggested 1.25 qts per lb of malt as was suggested. (batch sparging mind you.) Once that was done mashing, I recirculated and then hosed it into my kettle. Well I was still about 9 qts short of my 6.5 gallon pre boil target. So I measured out and added 9 more quarts to my mash tun for additional sparging. My target for fermentation was about 5.5, so I was expecting only a 1 gallon boil off. Well I was only able to get about 3-4 gallons of fermentable beer to the carboy and at about 20 points higher than my target gravity. So I don't know what exactly went wrong, but i have a feeling that it had to do with my grains retaining a lot of my water, and the boil off.

    So some things I plan on doing to combat it next time. Well for one, my boil kettle has no measurements on it. So I might make gallon marks on it in the future. I am not sure if that will affect sanitation but in my case it's necessary. Also I will need to add how much usually boils off at certain boil times and how much water is absorbed by the grain to my initial volume so that I can get much closer to my goals.

    Lastly,

    Taking a look at ABUs is super important. I didn't do that and I have a feeling I am going to pay with a very malty flavored beer. I only grabbed hops looking at their weight not ABUs, and I was off by as much as 50% on my ABUs for my boil.

    Anyways, I hope this helps someone out there out who might be about to dive into all grain. If any of the vets out there have some tips for me to prevent this in the future I'd love to hear it.
     
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  2. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Here is a video which details how to etch marks in your brew kettle.

    Cheers!

     
  3. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    That's probably a more permanent and accurate way to determine how much liquid is in the kettle, but all I do is stick my spoon down the side of the kettle until it just touches the liquid, and then use my thumb to mark the spot on the spoon where it meets the top of the kettle. By measuring that marked length, I know from a pre-determined chart how much liquid that I have at that depth. Oh, I could use a tape measure to directly measure down to the liquid level, but I look at that as a bit riskier for sanitation.
     
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  4. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    That's great feedback for a lot of noobies, so thanks for posting the info. Regardless of the issues that you faced, you're still going to have beer, and it will probably be a good one.
     
  5. corbmoster

    corbmoster Pundit (848) Dec 15, 2014 Texas
    Trader

    I'm not sure on how you plan to graduate your kettle. I would recommend the etching method JH referenced, or installing a sight glass. Although I have not done all grain brewing myself, It sounds like your guess is correct. Grains do absorb a lot of water (and they need to for the sugar conversions). If you don't account for this loss, you will come up significantly short. I would suggest using a program to help you out. Vikeman has a great spreadsheet called brew cipher(free). Another program a lot of people use is called beer smith (not free)
     
    ablemedic49 likes this.
  6. ablemedic49

    ablemedic49 Initiate (0) Jun 14, 2016 Virginia

    Thank you! That looks almost identical to my kettle. I am a little hesitant though, maybe it was just the video quality but I had a hard time seeing his marks. Either way great advice thank you!

    Mothergoose, you have always provided me pretty sound advice. I can't imagine the accuracy on your method is off by too much. So I may wind up trying that for my next batch. What is the conversion for this? inches/gal or however you figure it out? Also is it worth it to get a refractometer? It would be nice to measure my gravity prior to boil, so that I know exactly how much of the mash I can extract and if need be add more to my boil kettle provided my OG meets the recipe's.
    Thanks I'll have to check those out! I have the book "How to Brew" and it has helped me out a ton, I guess I need to go back and reread the all-grain section though. There was a ton of science and numbers that I skipped the first time around :confused:
     
  7. ablemedic49

    ablemedic49 Initiate (0) Jun 14, 2016 Virginia

    It might also be worth mentioning, my mash pH was almost spot on. It was about 5.1 at mash temps. So I think you are right Mothergoose, I will have beer lol. Just have to wait and see if it's delicious beer. I am scared to transfer it to a secondary though, I might wind up leaving this bad boy in the primary until it's time to bottle, because I have about 2 or more gallons of head space, and I am worried about oxidation.
     
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  8. corbmoster

    corbmoster Pundit (848) Dec 15, 2014 Texas
    Trader

    I just started reading that section. I've pretty much read everything else in the book. John Palmer goes pretty big into the science, even describing the reactions without explaining them. And even that is a little over the top for most home brewers. BUT, that does give good insight into how the beer making process works. Which will make you a better brewer in the end.

    In addition to playing with brew cipher (maybe enter the figures from the beer you made and see how much water you needed to start with), also consider you will have water loss from other factors, and everyone's system is a bit different. Others will have more or less water loss due to other factors. i.e.- a low output burner will lose more water due to evaporation because it takes longer to get to a boil. A more vigorous moil will lose more water to steam than a less vigorous boil. Since this is your first all grain batch, you will only make better beer from this point forward as you get used to your system.
     
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  9. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    The 'conversion' chart will depend on the diameter of your boil kettle, so you'll have to create your own chart by adding a gallon at a time to your kettle and then measuring the distance to the top of the pot. It's not precise with only a gallon increment, but you can wiggle the estimate of liquid amount if your measurement is somewhere between your chart measurements. I try to be a little short on what liquid I keep because I can make up any difference when adding water to my priming sugar that will make up any shortfall.
    I don't use a refractometer, thus I don't have an opinion, but that tool gets discussed on a regular basis in this forum and I read pros and cons about its use vs. cost and accuracy. Do a search of this forum using that word and you'll get a good number of opinions.
     
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  10. StupidlyBrave

    StupidlyBrave Zealot (507) Jan 2, 2009 Pennsylvania

    You can mark off volume on a cheap mash paddle as well
     
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  11. stealth

    stealth Pooh-Bah (2,023) Dec 16, 2011 Minnesota
    Pooh-Bah

    Exactly what I did - I just etched lines into my paddles with a box cutter and dip it into the kettle to measure. Quick and easy.
     
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  12. Hogue2112

    Hogue2112 Initiate (0) Apr 7, 2016 Ohio

    I use a dowel rod with etches in it. I actually filled up my brew kettle one gallon at a time on my cleaning day. Tedious, but accurate. Not very good for overall sanitation (wood harboring bacteria, etc) So to combat that, I took the liquid down post of a commercial keg (I made a HLT out of it.), and etched that. Now I have a SS tube that I can measure with. And it lives in the Sani bucket that is always ready to go on brew day.
     
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  13. GreenKrusty101

    GreenKrusty101 Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2008 Nevada

    The handle rivets on my 8 gal kettle and 3 rings on my keggles are the only reference points I need....after 100s of batches. :slight_smile:
     
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