First all grain

[robqualls]

I plan on brewing my first all grain batch this coming weekend (actually two batches). What would you suggest i start with? I'll be kegging both of them as well. Also any 1st time tips would be greatly appreciated

 

[Whattawort]

A cream ale or a brown ale is pretty easy and forgiving. Allow yourself at least an hour longer than you initially planned. Also, cleaning as you go can make the end of the night/day so much less painful.

 

[msa8967]

What styles of beer do you enjoy? If you want to see how well your first attempts at all grain go soon so you can try another brew I would pick out a recipe that takes 2-3 weeks in the primary. Biermuncher's Cream of the Crops cream ale is one of my favorite all grain recipes to work with when I show others how to start all grain brewing. There are brewers that do this recipe from grain to glass in 3-4 weeks using kegging.

As for other advice what equipment are you going to use for your first all grain? Will you be using a mashtun, converted cooler or brew in the bag method? Do you plan on batch sparging or fly sparging? Are you planning on using any brewing software (like Beersmith) to help with the calculations?

 

[robqualls]

Well i enjoy pretty much anything. Dark, light, wheat, IPA, DIPA. I'll be using a mash tun that i built this weekend from a 10 gallon round cooler. I plan on batch sparging. I do not have any software yet. although that might change before the week is over. I like the idea of a cream ale and adding some fruit perhaps. Although a brown ale does sound good as well. Part of my problem is that i like too many beers, so deciding is tough But since this is my first time, i thought my usual "go big or go home" beer might be a little too ambitious.

 

[msa8967]

You can get a free 30 day trial period for the online software Beersmith whic I have found has really helped me with the calculations for different batch sizes and developing/testing recipes. You actually get something like 50 days to use the 30 days and you don't have to sign up with a credit card and cancel so you don't get charged later.

Are you going to try doing this on your stove top or by using an outdoor burner?

 

[robqualls]

I'm actually using an electric heating element in my basement. I'll have to download the trial (again) of beersmith. I've downloaded it before, but never did anything with it. Hope it will let me do it again.

 

[msa8967]

One thing I liked about beersmith 1.0 was the ability to rescale any recipe to a different size. Now in BS 2.0 or 2.1 you can choose to do this as a brew in the bag option (which I never heard about when I started going all grain). The nice thing about the BIAB process is that you can scale down many recipes to 2-3 gallons in size so they can be done on a stove top. This might be worth a first try with your heating element to see how quickly it can bring volumes of water to a full boil. Most electric stoves have a very hard time doing a 5 gallon batch (boiling 6-7 gallons of wort) but your heating element might not have this problem. If this intertests you then maybe look into the BIAB thread in this forum or check out youtube. Sometimes smaller batch experience can help trouble shoot larger batches later.

 

[robqualls]

Brew my first all grain today. Used beersmith 2. love the software. I think i did pretty good. i had 80% efficiency which i think is pretty good. I ended up brewing a scottish ale on a whim. Thanks for all your comments and help!

 

[robqualls]

I'm hoping for some guidance. my fermentation has nearly come to a halt less then 48 hours after i put into primary. it was going like crazy for the day and half...now i'm getting 2 bubbles a min. normal? its scottish ale yeast by Wyeast. temp is 69 degrees. pitched a little warm at 79 degrees. no starter ( was told i didn't really need one and that the one packet was good enough). i know the air lock isn't the best way to determine fermentation, but all the other beers i brewed didn't slow down until day 5...just concerned.

 

[BrewerBear]

Don't worry about it.

 

[Whattawort]

I'm hoping for some guidance. my fermentation has nearly come to a halt less then 48 hours after i put into primary. it was going like crazy for the day and half...now i'm getting 2 bubbles a min. normal? its scottish ale yeast by Wyeast. temp is 69 degrees. pitched a little warm at 79 degrees. no starter ( was told i didn't really need one and that the one packet was good enough). i know the air lock isn't the best way to determine fermentation, but all the other beers i brewed didn't slow down until day 5...just concerned.

Leave it alone and chill out for another week. If nothing else, give it 3 more days and take a grav reading. Make your notes and then leave it alone for another 3-4 days and take another grav reading (rinse/repeat for 2 weeks)). I just put my fermenter in its dark little hiding place and literally forget about it (usually 3-4 weeks). At that point, the grav reading is just for note taking. If it hasn't hit the target final grav, then it is what it is. Just make more notes so you have an idea of where you went wrong the next time you brew. Now, all of this is coming from a guy who won't make anything over 1.070. If you have a bigger beer, then you'll probably want to give it a little more time in the fermenter. Just my opinion. RDWHAHB

 

[robqualls]

I'm rather new to brewing. This is only my 5th brew (plus one hard cider). So far each has behaved differently. Since this is my first all grain I guess I'm double nervous that I screwed something. I just need to chill and relax. Thanks for all the help!