Did My First All Grain Yesterday!

[Logman]

Did my first all grain yesterday!!! Was soooo much fun, wasn't expecting that. I really enjoy all the pic threads so I figured I'd do one.

Had one minor hiccup, I underestimated the initial water temp, but I adjusted the recipe and boiled a few kettles in the kitchen and brewed about 10 more litres than I had anticipated, worked out OK. Luckily I had 2x15 litre containers so I made 30 litres instead of 20. I plan to do 40 in future.

I used QLD Kev's site a fair bit to get my mill and pump going :icon_cheers: . My girlfriend runs a Golf Pro Shop and a lady who's 'walk along electric buggy' bit the dust gave her the battery and charger - snapped that up to run the mill and it went like a charm! Got one of those bike motors off evil bay.

I bought the rig in the marketplace as a three tier gravity system - turned it into a two tier and changed the HLT to a 2200w element.

Got the extra long probe thermometer from Adelab Scientific - cost 35 plus delivery - 30cm probe. I think cows get poked in the ass with them or something

Here's my grain/fermenting room - got my grain in empty 15 litre FWK's and a couple of 100 litre drums. Got some Craftbrewer Porter in there too :icon_drool2:

It's my last FWK that isn't a dark beer so I'm under pressure to make the Dr Smurto's brew come out well or I'll have to pick up a couple of slabs :huh: It's going into the fermenter today!

 

[TmC]

Wow, thats a nice setup...hold on, just booking some flights to the gold coast h34r:

 

[QldKev]

Welcome to the dark side, we have cookies...

Great to see your setup. Looks like the research has paid off and made the first day easy for you. Also a good neat setup of the gear, should get you many years of fun.

QldKev

 

[raven19]

Great to see your setup.

Its missing a RIMS chamber! B)

Great setup, congrats on the all grain step up Logman.

Love the pump cover too.

 

[A3k]

I can't believe you have such a good setup on your first batch. No wonder you enjoyed it.

Good work mate.

 

[bcp]

It is an impressive set up.

It starts with liking beer. And then you get interested in making beer. And then you get interested in equipment for making beer...

 

[Frag_Dog]

Impressive setup! Rockin a March pump straight off the bat...NICE! :icon_cheers:

My first 'brew stand' consisted of a bunch of milk crates, buckets and dodgy bricks.

 

[Logman]

Thanks guys! I've been planning it for six months drinking FWK's and reading the Forum. It kind of looks like it just appeared but I've been adding bit by bit for some time. It's been hard having it sit in the garage without using it, but I haven't exactly been slumming it beer wise so there was no hurry.

Rockin a March pump straight off the bat...NICE! icon_cheers.gif

The March Pump is so cool, it was awesome the first time that fired up :beerbang:

 

[Logman]

It starts with liking beer. And then you get interested in making beer. And then you get interested in equipment for making beer...

That is so true - putting a brew rig together is a lot of fun. I looked at a Braumeister but there isn't enough noise, lights, hose or moving parts for my liking

 

[Florian]

Funny, I somehow thought you had been all grain brewing for years when you were carting away all those sacks of grain at my last bulk buy.

Very impressive setup, you must have had a very clear idea of what you were doing without ever having tried it before. Quite the opposite way of how a lot of people go about it.

 

[Logman]

Funny, I somehow thought you had been all grain brewing for years when you were carting away all those sacks of grain at my last bulk buy.

Very impressive setup, you must have had a very clear idea of what you were doing without ever having tried it before. Quite the opposite way of how a lot of people go about it.

I did a lot of Partial brewing but stopped around 10 years ago, back then I looked at all-grain but it was a lot less accessible than now. When I found this Forum and went to Craftbrewer I was immediately sold on the idea and started looking for a system. I work at home so it suits me perfectly and having tasted the FWK's there was no danger of me ever losing interest and I'll probably never by a slab again lol. I didn't bother building a system piece by piece, seemed better to get something that would make great beer and spend six months reading posts. Just so happened that a member from here had his system for sale and he more or less just lived down the road.

 

[milob40]

call it what it is.....beer porn!!!! gotta love it...

 

[Logman]

I put one of the cubes into the fermenter yesterday. The colour and smell of the wort was fantastic, fingers crossed..

I have a question too. My mash temperature was significantly lower than what Beermith2 had suggested. It said 73.1 to mash at 66. I was adding about 4.2 kg of grain into 11.5 litres of water. It only came in at around 55 degrees. I later thought of circulating some hot water from the HLT through the MLT using the March Pump to lift the temperature of the Cosmoplast Cooler itself prior to doughing in - do people who have this type of MLT do that?

 

[Clutch]

Holy shit this looks good.
Love the look of the rig and the fact you modded it yourself.

 

[Logman]

There is an original pic. That steel is great if you don't have a welder. Super easy to work with, a spanner and an angle grinder is all you need...

 

[Synthetase]

I put one of the cubes into the fermenter yesterday. The colour and smell of the wort was fantastic, fingers crossed..

I have a question too. My mash temperature was significantly lower than what Beermith2 had suggested. It said 73.1 to mash at 66. I was adding about 4.2 kg of grain into 11.5 litres of water. It only came in at around 55 degrees. I later thought of circulating some hot water from the HLT through the MLT using the March Pump to lift the temperature of the Cosmoplast Cooler itself prior to doughing in - do people who have this type of MLT do that?

I do. I usually put a couple of litres of boiling water into my esky and swirl it around for a couple of minutes before adding the strike water. Alternatively, I think (but I don't use BeerSmith) that you can adjust the heat loss values in BeerSmith so that it takes the temperature loss into account. That way next time, it will tell you to add strike water at a higher temperature and it will even out. AFAIK, It should already be doing this, but clearly, you need to give it a better estimate for your system as the default isn't working.

 

[Logman]

Ok thanks. What about if I were to put water in that is too hot and then get it back to the correct mashing temperature by adding cold water - does this have any adverse affect on the wort? Just wondering how much I can experiment next time to work out what my adjustment should be in Beersmith.

I think (but I don't use BeerSmith) that you can adjust the heat loss values in BeerSmith so that it takes the temperature loss into account.

I have since changed the profile to 'Pot and Cooler (10 gal/37.8L) and the temp is slightly lower! For any Beersmith users, what profile should I use for my setup?

 

[manticle]

Good article here on strike temps which includes a calculator if you scroll down:

http://www.grainandgrape.com.au/articles_o..._StrikeTemp.htm

I find it pretty close to my experience. Systems are all different but I generally calculate about 10 degrees above my intended strike at a grain:water ratio of 1kg per 2.5 L.

I also usually dough in at, or under my intended temp but have an immersion element to bump temp up more exactly (and I step most sacch rests).

One thing that has worked for me is adding some water, some grain etc so you can check the temp and adjust with hot/cold as necessary.

 

[Logman]

Oh wow, thanks manticle, that makes sense to me. Reading that, I was thinking that it might be an idea as an experiment to boil up 12 litres of water in my HLT and get it to around 76 degrees, then transfer it to the MLT and take a temperature reading to calculate the water temperature loss. If I then add the loss figure to the strike temp from that formula I should get a good starting figure to try for my next batch?

 

[Thefatdoghead]

Did my first all grain yesterday!!! Was soooo much fun, wasn't expecting that. I really enjoy all the pic threads so I figured I'd do one.

Had one minor hiccup, I underestimated the initial water temp, but I adjusted the recipe and boiled a few kettles in the kitchen and brewed about 10 more litres than I had anticipated, worked out OK. Luckily I had 2x15 litre containers so I made 30 litres instead of 20. I plan to do 40 in future.

I used QLD Kev's site a fair bit to get my mill and pump going :icon_cheers: . My girlfriend runs a Golf Pro Shop and a lady who's 'walk along electric buggy' bit the dust gave her the battery and charger - snapped that up to run the mill and it went like a charm! Got one of those bike motors off evil bay.

I bought the rig in the marketplace as a three tier gravity system - turned it into a two tier and changed the HLT to a 2200w element.

Got the extra long probe thermometer from Adelab Scientific - cost 35 plus delivery - 30cm probe. I think cows get poked in the ass with them or something

Here's my grain/fermenting room - got my grain in empty 15 litre FWK's and a couple of 100 litre drums. Got some Craftbrewer Porter in there too :icon_drool2:

It's my last FWK that isn't a dark beer so I'm under pressure to make the Dr Smurto's brew come out well or I'll have to pick up a couple of slabs :huh: It's going into the fermenter today!

Mate, where did you get your 100L drums? Congrats on the move to AG. I just did myself and im drinking the first pale ale and it's fantastic. Not sure if i was doing something wrong with the coopers cans but the beer i have just produced...Think ill poor the extract poison down the drain! Nothing against extract maybe i was just doing the simplest method possible and coming out with a satisfactory result but I must admit I do love all grain now.