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First AG batch!!!!!!!!!
Well, I went for the gold and didn't do too bad. My set-up is pretty samll to say the least and it took me almost 8 hours from start to finish. I will be changing up my mash tun set-up though. From a 5g to 8g. % gallons isn't much room. My sparge stuck a couple times and then lines out and I recirculated for over an hour. I had enough wort after the boil to leave behind a good majority of the break material. When I toped the ale-pail off with water my OG was 1.052 and the kit intructions gave an estimated OG of 1.048. So by my figures I at last have a fair efficiency rating. I skimmed more trub off this morning and the beer seems to be chugging along just fine.
Congrats on moving on.....goodluck!!!
Great to here of your successes. Just remember the most important notes you can take to gain consistancy are your temps at all times. Know exactly what temp your strike water is at before it hits the tun, check what it drops to after in the tun but w/o grain, then your mash temp w/ grain.
As your recipes differ in the future you may want to mash sometimes at 145 and other times at 156, dialing in these temps will make your process smooth for the future.
Did your sparge get stuck because of a too thick mash or your lauter rate? Did you do batch or fly?
It sounds like if you left some wort behind, added top off water and still came above your expected OG then your system did really well. Once you know your consistant efficiency you maybe able to scale down your grain bill slightly to get the same extracted sugar w/ less product and volume. A good slow lautering definately helps, don't cheat yourself.
8 hours may seem like it is long but you will find process overlaps (like getting sparge water prepared while you are waiting for the mash) or (starting your boil during runoff, so once you have got all your runnings you are already near boil) these will certainly save you time. I would say for now if you have the time produce quality beer.
I think it stuck because it wa a rather thick mash. I only used 1qt per pound of grain but sparged with 3.5 gallons. I mashed in my boil kettle just to ensure I maintained a constant temp for the full 90 minutes.
thirsty wrote:
Great to here of your successes. Just remember the most important notes you can take to gain consistancy are your temps at all times. Know exactly what temp your strike water is at before it hits the tun, check what it drops to after in the tun but w/o grain, then your mash temp w/ grain.
I'd add to this to keep note of the ambient tamperatures in your brew area each day.
For me I brew in the garage. In the winter my strike water needs to be considerable higher than then summer for the same recipe and batch size. This is because the grain and the tun are colder and absorb more heat in the winter.
You can overcome some of the thermal loss to the tun by pre-heating the tun with a gallon or two of boiling water... but that takes more time in the brew day. If you have it dialed in that the grain and tun absorb some many degrees of heat base on the ambient temperature you can easily adjust your strike water accordingly each session as needed.
Good point brewchez. I too brew in the garage and winters in N. Utah are very cold and summers very hot. Makes a huge difference in strike temps and seems to make a bit of a difference in the amount I lose to boil off as well. Another key for me is bringing all of my equipment in the night before and cleaning with hot water prior to mashing in. I store my grains inside at an ambient temp of 68 too. All of this makes a huge difference, I cut my strike temp by ten degrees in the winter doing this.
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