First All-grain....

[Green Iguana]

Just finished my first all grain yesterday....was as follows;

Pale ale ( 20 ltrs)

4kg pilsner malt
0.2kg munich malt
0.1kg crystal (unknown ebc...about 60 i think)
40g goldings at 60 mins
10 g goldings at 0 mins
1/2 tablet irish moss
1 ltr starter English ale yeast WLP002

Few things i noticed...

Turned out a bit darker than i anticipated........

I cut open the girlfriends stainless steel sieve....rolled it into a cylinder and fixed it to the inside of the esky with a s/s clamp..similar to a bazooka...worked a treat...wort ran clear after 4 circulations...no stuck sparge

Could only fit 15 ltrs in the main pot so i had to put the rest into two other stock pots on the stove.....i need one main pot to boil all wort in.....any suggestions...i was thinking of "aquiring" a keg and cutting the top of.....

Ended up with 15 L of 1.056 after the boil....i stuffed up the sparge i think ( used 11 ltrs)......so i just added another 4 ltrs to get 20 ltrs (including the starter) of 1.042...

Took ages to cool down in the water bath....definately need an immersion chiller.

Other than that all went well..not as much work as i thought..

ohh..except i sat on the thermometer and nearly impaled my anus with mercury...
few too many pre mash pints me thinks...geez kegs are good....

My mate took photo's of the whole process step by step..i will post them later in the week in the galleries section if anyone is intrested.....

cheers

 

[AndrewQLD]

Way to go, I bet this will be the best beer you have ever drunk "Poison Arse Pale Ale".
Definatley post the pics but leave out the one where your pulling the thermo out of your butt.

Andrew

 

[Green Iguana]

How do i work out the efficientcy

 

[Green Iguana]

The english ale yaest seems to be less attenuating (63-70)....
What FG should i aim for..... 1.014 ??????

 

[Green Iguana]

With FG of 1.014 i get 3.8 % alcohol...this sounds bad..............

 

[Guest Lurker]

Iggy,

Best way to accurately measure the efficiency is to measure the total volume you have after sparging and before boiling, and measure the gravity of the mixed up stuff before boiling. Either measure the gravity and temperature so you can correct to room temp or cool a sample down in the fridge and then measure.

Then do a search either here or in Grumpys on efficiency calculation, or just post the numbers here and someone will work it out.

Its harder to work out efficiency using your post boil volume because you need to account for losses (stuff left in the boiling pots).

 

[Green Iguana]

OG = 1.042
final volume = 20 ltrs
kgs malt used = 4.3

 

[Guest Lurker]

Rough and ready calc, assume max possible from most grain is 300 pts per kg of grain in 1 litre of water

Then 4.3 kg of grain in 20 l water would give
(300 x 4.3)/20 = 64.5 pts, ie 1.065

You got 42 points, and so 42/65 = about 65% efficiency.

Which isnt bad. When working out the next recipe assume you will get the same and work out the malt amounts accordingly. If you get higher efficiency you can always dilute in the fermenter.

 

[sosman]

ohh..except i sat on the thermometer and nearly impaled my anus with mercury...

My mate took photo's of the whole process step by step

Too much information.

Well done on the first AG. Go buy a bigger pot. I converted a keg but you can also pick up aluminium stock pots (search for 'stock pot' on ahb or something like that).

I found that my stove would keep a rolling boil for 15 litres but when I tried to boil 30 litres it was barely simmering - so then you need to buy a bigger burner.

Once you have a bigger burner, you will find that it probably isn't safe to boil inside. Search the real estate sites for a bigger house or builders for extensions.

 

[wee stu]

G I, I admire you!

Someone has to say it - a three ring, three pot, stove top, girl friend "borrowed" sieve, debut all grain brew is an act of supreme dedication to the powers of the dark side.

Iggy you are a legend!!!

 

[Green Iguana]

people have commented that i must be a strange young man when i tell them about my first mash......

the burners are just from a portable barbie that i scavenged at the tip for $2.....

the brew is down to 1.012 today...smells and tastes awesome....so different to an extract brew....it's like having a coffee made with instant..then having a fresh expresso....

 

[Jethro]

Hey Green Iguana Im pressently supping my first A.G. a pils. Yeah your right its a different ball game in the taste Dept (the hops are the same as extract but man that malt) Imabout to do my 4th this weekend with my (basic) brewery setup, I hop eyou have better self conrol than me and wait till the beer is at its optimum before you scoff it
Cheers Jethro