First All-grain

[roo_dr]

So I've checked the new mash tun, no leaks, sorted my sparge water vessel and technique, and got the kettle / burner position figured to collect my first all grain wort and go with the boil. I've chosen the recipe, picking up the grains ready cracked tomorrow, and the wee yeasties are sitting in the fridge having a rest before the big day. I've planned the brew, and intend to brew the plan, nothing could possibly go wrong with my first AG right?

So what did you forget with your first AG?

 

[chunckious]

Added the "into fermenter" water amount as the "mash in" amount.......ended up being lawn food.

 

[bignath]

Added 10 spoonfuls of 5.2 stabiliser instead of the recommended dosage of 1.

Dont ask me how.......

 

[Gar]

My first all-grain was also my first brew...

Forgot to put the airlock in before putting the lid on and managed to push the grommet straight though into the beer (no biggie)

Forgot to take a gravity reading (but remembered a few hours later)

Remembered what an un-fit ******* I was lifting the kettle and carrying the fermenter around

 

[tallie]

Forgot to work out how much sparge water I needed for batch sparging! I frantically searched and found out though before the end of the mash.

Not crucial for your first AG but good habit to get into early is checking and recording your pre-boil gravity - I don't think I started doing that until about the 10th batch.

Another thing I would forget every now and then was to close the taps before filling vessels. Oh, and if you're planning on using it, don't forget to add your whirlfloc and yeast nutrient towards the end of the boil.

Good luck, and above all else, have fun!

Cheers,
tallie

 

[Yob]

I didnt do a "test run" with just water so didnt know what my losses were going to be,or what my boil off was going to be, in all i ended up with ALOT of missing liters and a bucket full of missing points... it didnt tale me long to sort out the issues i had amd on my last one (4th) i managed to hit every target:-D..

sooo much fun

 

[kelbygreen]

Well what when wrong???? nothing untill I put the mash on and came back 45mins later to "check on it" and I was mashing in a esky with voile and it was over hanging over the sides. So when I went into the shed I was shocked to find my voile laying on the ground and the dog cowering in the corner LOL.

I soon realised that dogs like the smell of grain and wort! Lucky the lid on the esky closed shut, So then I measured the temp and it was 58 deg instead of 65 deg :S I washed the bag and strained the wort threw the voile and into the kettle.

I have also went to lift the bag and one corner let go so all the grain was in the water and had to strain threw voile. I have also stirred the grain (with a manifold) and it came apart and then I hand to get a chemical glove to try to put it together, Then that was to hot so I got a leather glove in the chemical glove and got it going again. Done this twice and the second time I had to tip the whole lot into a fermenter then I and to fix the manifold then tip it back into the mash tun.

 

[going down a hill]

I have also went to lift the bag and one corner let go so all the grain was in the water and had to strain threw voile. I have also stirred the grain (with a manifold) and it came apart and then I hand to get a chemical glove to try to put it together, Then that was to hot so I got a leather glove in the chemical glove and got it going again. Done this twice and the second time I had to tip the whole lot into a fermenter then I and to fix the manifold then tip it back into the mash tun.

That sounds like a lot of hard work for something that shouldn't even be a step. But you gotta do what you gotta do to get the beer.

 

[roo_dr]

I've planned the brew, and intend to brew the plan, nothing could possibly go wrong with my first AG right?

What could possibly go wrong....

Well I ended up with 17L of 1.043 wort instead of 21L of 1.045, and this was AFTER the boil, so it's probably going to be rather more bitter than expected, around 51 IBU instead of 36 IBU. Funnily enough I was thinking I needed to start upping the IBU's when still brewing extract ales anyway!

I've narrowed down the cause to not measuring the volume of wort pre-boil, a schoolboy error I know, and probably not sparging enough (batch sparged the Mash + another tun-full).

:wacko:

This retard is now the proud owner of a metal ruler and measurements for volumes 1-30L in the kettle.

 

[roo_dr]

What could possibly go wrong....

Well I ended up with 17L of 1.043 wort instead of 21L of 1.045, and this was AFTER the boil, so it's probably going to be rather more bitter than expected, around 51 IBU instead of 36 IBU. Funnily enough I was thinking I needed to start upping the IBU's when still brewing extract ales anyway!

I've narrowed down the cause to not measuring the volume of wort pre-boil, a schoolboy error I know, and probably not sparging enough (batch sparged the Mash + another tun-full).

:wacko:

This retard is now the proud owner of a metal ruler and measurements for volumes 1-30L in the kettle.

Just cracked the first one and it is a real beauty!! Somewhat surprised, and really, very, happy :icon_cheers:

 

[kelbygreen]

haha nice work roo! nothing like cracking your first AG (unless you fully failed!)

 

[Cocko]

Drinking my first AG was the best* day of my life...

I think the only thing I did wrong on my first brew day was.... Well.... I.....

Ok, didn't have any AG to drink!



Reading up helps a bit.


*Best equals top 20.

 

[kelbygreen]

well if you was doing the other 19 when you where drinking your first AG then that would of been truly the best day

 

[Cocko]

well if you was doing the other 19 when you where drinking your first AG then that would of been truly the best day

I tried!.... I can only just walk again! Damn it...

:lol:

First AG tastings rule! :kooi:

 

[kelbygreen]

lol how would I know it was going to come to that!!

No looking back now roo!

 

[pyrosx]

I put "4" in the "trub losses" box of beersmith. Apparently this is the wrong thing to do, even if you actually expect to lose 4L in the bottom of your kettle to trub. I still don't know WTF is going on with that box.

I got wort that was significantly less strong than it was supposed to be... twice. Putting it at zero and manually adding some "trub loss" to the actual batch volume makes everything work out properly.

Also - tried to siphon 90ish degree wort using a plastic transfer hose (hot fingers, kinked soft tube, funfunfun!) .... and then I pitched a stressed acetaldehyde producing yeast starter.

Despite all that, beer was still drinkable!

 

[Josh]

Reply is a bit late, but I didn't boil vigarously enough. Resulted in a DMS laden beer. It was my first all grain, so I drank every bottle, bar one which is still in the garage somewhere.

 

[roo_dr]

AG #2 - surely nothing could go wrong this time...

Only I purchased a nice new wireless electric thermometer to keep an eye on the urn & mash tun temperatures.

Water to 77oC, added to tun, grains stirred in, check temp 70oC, added a smidge of room temp water and settled on 68oC for the mash.

An hour later - temp still 68oC

Checked it with the traditional brewers thermometer - 55oC

Stupid bloody Weber Thermometer!

So I'm thinking my mash has been sitting at sub-mash temperatures for the last hour, maybe 55-60oC. What to do? I've drawn off the mash water, heated it up to 70oC on the stove (checked with the right thermometer!) and re-mashed, now sitting at 65oC. I'm going to leave it for 30mins and then decide what to do - maybe up to 70oC for 10mins then and crack on with the boil. I have no idea how it's going to turn out, and if it's a great beer then it'll be a one of.

Always learning!

 

[roo_dr]

I'm going to leave it for 30mins and then decide what to do - maybe up to 70oC for 10mins then and crack on with the boil.

Cancel that - I'm going to restart the clock and do the 60mins mash again. Thank god for the hotline to the pro's!! B)

 

[warra48]

I did nothing wrong for my first AG, apart from underestimating the amount of water needed.

A 23 litre APA turned into a 15 litre AIPA (didn't adjust the hops!), but it was extra super tasty, and a very encouraging first brew.