Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

My second all grain brew

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • My second all grain brew

    Ok this is a new thread related to my first thread https://www.wortsandall.co.za/showth...rain-brew-ever

    So this was my second attempt, again sorry for not asking questions beforehand. But the brew is done so I will share. This one went a lot better.

    My recipe was as follows:
    • 30L water preboil
    • 3kg Pale ale
    • 1kg Vienna
    • 0,3kg Caramunich II
    • 0,2kg Oats
    • 15g Centennial 9,4% @ 60min
    • 25g Casscade 4,8% @ 10min
    • 15g Casscade 4,8% dryhop 3 days later
    • 11,5g SafAle S-04


    So I mashed the grain at 66C for 50min, then brought up the temprature up to 74C in about 15min and left it at 74C for another 10min.

    After mashing I brought it up to boil for a planned 60min, but I forgot to check my loadshedding schedule and the power went off after 40min boil. I left the wort for 2 hours until power came back on, then brought it back to boiling and finished boiling it for 20min. The temperature was about 75C after 2 hours loadshedding. Can someone advise me if this is wrong and what I should have rather done, if this ever happens again. I could also not cool down my wort during loadshedding because I use a submersible wort chiller that works with a pump, so I needed power to cool down my wort as well, which is why I reheated it back up to boil for 20min and then chilled it.

    After the boil-rest-boil-chill was done I had about 19L of wort that I transfered to my fermenter, I was hoping for 23L but 19L is fine. My OG reading was 1.043, which I think gives me a 59-60% brewhouse efficiency.



    Thing I have learned during this brew is as follows:
    1. Check my loadshedding schedule and make sure I have enough time.
    2. Maybe stir my grain while mashing, did not do it this time but I am hoping it will increase my efficiency
    3. I did not sparge my grain when I pulled it out my grain basket to drain. Afterwards noticed how much sugars were still left in the grain, so definitely going to sparge.
    4. Input 60% efficiency and not 85% (which I thumb sucked when guessinng a number) into my brewing software.


    But overall this brew was a success because my wort tasted great, cannot wait for it to be bottled and then poured into my glass.
    I enjoyed the process way more this time.

    Cheers to everyone

  • #2
    Same lesson learnt here, stir the mash mid-mash. I do a single infusion, no sparge mash in a brew-bag and my first brew came up well short of my targeted OG

    Comment


    • #3
      @Zan-Pierre

      Nothing wrong with what you did

      You might have a slightly more bitter (higher IBU) from the 60min hops that stayed in for so long, but it should be fine as I think most of the AA is extracted after the 40min boil in any case.

      Since im a no-chiller, I would have called it the day after that 40min .... add the rest of my hops to the cube and pour my wort in

      ...and yes 85% is a little high ... there is a reason why Beersmith puts most their equipment on 72-75% as a start.

      RDWHAHB
      The Problem With The World Is That Everyone Is A Few Drinks Behind.!

      Comment


      • #4
        1) you are Very lucky the lights went out at 20min and not after your 10 min addition.
        Check the isomiration temp but I thinknits 75. So all the time your wort is above that it's getting more bitter (but only until all the alpha acids are isomerised and this is at about 45min boil time. So your ibu will be as planned.
        2) stir mash as often as possible if you do BIAB. Coz you add way more water then is optimal for the enzymatic conversion. Thus your enzymes need to " travel" more to get to the starch to convert. (This can be a busted myth but that's what I've read and it explains the lower efficiency of BIAB for me so I'm sticking to it for now)
        3) read toxyc's methods he sparges his BIAB and get amazing eff.

        Comment


        • #5
          I run on a GF and stir my mash every 15 minutes. I coldwater sparge now with no hit on efficiency which is on the lowest 80% and that's on a 60min mash and 10min mashout with a 35min boil.

          I'm with Jigsaw and would have called it a day at 40min and dumped the hops in the fermentor at that temp.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by jannieverjaar View Post
            1) you are Very lucky the lights went out at 20min and not after your 10 min addition.
            Check the isomiration temp but I thinknits 75. So all the time your wort is above that it's getting more bitter (but only until all the alpha acids are isomerised and this is at about 45min boil time. So your ibu will be as planned.
            2) stir mash as often as possible if you do BIAB. Coz you add way more water then is optimal for the enzymatic conversion. Thus your enzymes need to " travel" more to get to the starch to convert. (This can be a busted myth but that's what I've read and it explains the lower efficiency of BIAB for me so I'm sticking to it for now)
            3) read toxyc's methods he sparges his BIAB and get amazing eff.
            Definitely a busted myth I would assume, as it's usually the BIAB guys that gets the better efficiency from what I've read on international BIAB forums
            The Problem With The World Is That Everyone Is A Few Drinks Behind.!

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by JIGSAW View Post
              Definitely a busted myth I would assume, as it's usually the BIAB guys that gets the better efficiency from what I've read on international BIAB forums
              defo not a myth on the GF, I bumped up from 75% to 80% by stirring 4 or 5 times in the 70 minute mash. I found that the mash compacts on the bottom plate to such an extent that there's no movement through the grainbed, you end up recirculating the same wort over the same grains when it overflows into the overflow pipe. Yeah sure, I could add a bit more grain and let it run on full auto, but wastage grates me and the satisfaction from hitting numbers as per design (without a workaround) is a pleasurable moment. I could grab another 70min snooze though, just too stupid and pigheaded to do so.

              Dunno about enzymes travelling though...I've made thin mashes before by intentionally overshooting the mash water (just to sparge less) and it made no difference in efficiency
              groenspookasem
              Banned
              Last edited by groenspookasem; 17 July 2020, 15:01.

              Comment


              • #8
                Also a BIAB brewer and stirring makes a decent difference to my efficiency as well. I don't stir as frequently but I stir very well at mash in. Then at 30mins another decent stir and temp adjustment. I normally aim for 75% on recipes and have been able to stop mashing at 45mins a few times when I hit my target.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Was so scared to "touch" anything on my first AG brew.
                  Learning to climb in.
                  Stir away then I shall. Thanks for this.

                  Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    BIAB as well, I do a combination of stirring and "dunking" the bag, kinda like a teabag type thing. Actually think of the bag as a teabag and you are just making a lot of tea. Then again I use a drawstring bag that doesnt cover the whole pot. Managed to get 81% efficiency on the laast batch by doing it that way.
                    There once was a man from Nantucket.
                    Who brewed his beer in a bucket.
                    He put the wort into there,
                    to cut down on the air.
                    Then drank it all up like a muppet.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Made a new batch and this time I stirred every 10min. my efficiency climbed to 74-75%. I did nothing extra other than stirring and had a huge increase in efficiency. Thank you all for your advice. now I can make a lot more beer with the same grain Cheers

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Brewed a Cascade Single Hop last night.
                        Forgot to install the pump filter and only realised the stuff up when the pump jammed up like toddler with a double dose of seasonal flu. But that's another day story.

                        What I took from this thread is to stir. So I did - during the sparge. I made sure every grain well well and truly turned over as many times as possible.

                        What was also interesting is that for the first time I could go full tilt on the mash without any runover into the overflow. The discussion here got me thinking.
                        Before I lowered the top screen, I ensured a very very good stir of the mash.
                        Then I purposely left a gap between the grain and the screen.
                        Not once did it overflow and the pump was at full speed with the ball checkvalve open.

                        There were no channels as previously and I'm happy that the mash was a decent one.

                        Have yet to see if the blocked pump disaster later on will have any negative effects on the brew.

                        Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          ^ Some brewers don't use the top screen at all
                          The Problem With The World Is That Everyone Is A Few Drinks Behind.!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by JIGSAW View Post
                            ^ Some brewers don't use the top screen at all
                            ^This.
                            Most of the guys I have seen on Youtube using all-in-one systems dont use the top screen. They also say not to stir the grains in the lower half because it can cause a stuck mash. Apparently stirring the top half is fine.

                            Comment

                            Working...
                            X