HELP with all grain brewing!

[Mr_Pear]

Gogogo Denny! http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

 

[sikkingj]

Sorry guys I am basically a newbie on this. I say basically a newbie instead of completely a newbie because I did make a couple brews AG about 17 years ago with my Phil's Lauter Tun. I am ready to get back into AG and I am building a setup with Rubbermaid coolers, which should retain the heat better than the old Phil's buckets.

Here is my challenge, I went to the LHBS to inquire about getting the grain for a batch and they looked at me like I was an idiot. This store has a bunch of employees that are quite condescending when you are not an "expert". They informed me that they could not even begin to give me any guidance since the know nothing about the efficiency of the system. How am I supposed to know the efficiency until I actually sparge?

I know that there is a bit of math involved in this process, but can someone get me a good starting point here that I can build from?

The important thing is that you brewed some beer. Most likely you took you hydrometer reading at a higher temperature. Some of the posts have been very informative, but I want to know how your brew turns out. I've had a few low efficiency brews that turned into easy drinking favorites.

The most important thing is that you are back after a 17 year sojourn.


-John

 

[csboehm]

any recommended link to an article on Batch sparging?

I'll make it real simple. After mash out, stir up the grain, then vorlauf until the runnings are clear. Then open up the spigot and drain the mash tun. Measure the liquid drained, calculate how much more wort you need to reach your goal pre-boil volume, then add that volume of water to the tun. The water should be at 170F (although this is debatable), and wait 10 minutes. Vorlauf again until the runnings are clear, then drain your mash tun once more. Voila! You have successfully batch sparged.

An easy way to measure your wort volume is to get a dowel rod from your local hardware store and saw notches in the rod to mark off each half-gallon. My brew pot was quite convenient in that every 0.75 inches of liquid was a half-gallon.

Good luck!

 

[eric19312]

Im also back after about a 20 year hiatus. Just planning batches 16 and 17 since my return so not that far ahead of OP really.

Have to say that batch sparge and forgoing secondary fermentation are really a big change from what I did before. I've been moving around my nice collection of 5 gallon glass carboys for 20 years and now that I am back into brewing I find they are just not all that useful anymore.

Now I am hearing a lot of discussion about no sparge. Wow what is the world coming to...

 

[GrogNerd]

Im also back after about a 20 year hiatus. Just planning batches 16 and 17 since my return so not that far ahead of OP really.

Have to say that batch sparge and forgoing secondary fermentation are really a big change from what I did before. I've been moving around my nice collection of 5 gallon glass carboys for 20 years and now that I am back into brewing I find they are just not all that useful anymore.

Now I am hearing a lot of discussion about no sparge. Wow what is the world coming to...

still need secondary if you're adding fruit or wood chips.

OR,... BETTER IDEA

start doing 3½ or 4 gallon batches, then POOF! your secondaries are now primaries so GET BREWIN'!

 

[eric19312]

I've got 6+ gal barleywine split between 2 of them right now. Needed to make more than I was going to be comfortable with in my bucket as this will secondary in 5 gal oak barrel. Need to make sure I have full 5 gal plus a few bottles for the angels share when I rack it over.