Questions from first all grain brew

[Lomez]

Hi everybody,

This is my first post and I didn’t know where it would fit in best, so I opened this new thread to cover all my questions I have from my first brew.

I have done my first homebrew last week and I noticed a few things, which don’t seem to be right and which I’d like to correct during the next brew day.

The beer I have in the fermenter right now is a Hefeweizen (5 Gal).

Recipe (All Grain): 4.07 lbs Pilsner Malt / 5.17 lbs Wheat Malt / 1 OZ Perle / WYEAST 3068 Weihenstephan (liquid) / Camden tablet

I am using a converted Cooler with False Bottom (11.7 Gal). I have bought it converted already. Now here is already the first issue I ran into. The size. I initially wanted to get one, which is much smaller, about half the size, but I didn’t find anything with a false bottom and I don’t have the tools, space or time right now to build my own false bottom. I read though that many people use the size I have for 5 gallon brews.

Question 1 - Mashing:

After mashing in with 3 gallons strike water, there was no liquid above the grain bed and I realized the tun is too big, but if I would fill it up, then there is no need for sparging anymore. I decided to strike with 4 gallons and reduce the sparging step from 5.5 to 4.5 Gallons instead. Temperature after mashing-in was 66 Celsius.

Is the mash-tun too big? How can I improve? I am currently not planning to do greater brews.

If also someone could fill me in, if the water underneath the false bottom is part of the strike water?

Question 2 - Lautering:

After 60 min rest (with setting things up, it might have been 70 at the end), I started lautering. And here I ran into the next issue. The wort didn’t run clear. I added the vorlauf back on top of the grain bed, but even after a gallon or so, it wouldn’t clear up. The wort had also a very light color, but this has probably to do with the pale malts I used. The wort was sweet in taste as you would expect, so I decided to muscle through and lauter anyway. I lautered roughly 3 gallons or a bit less in about 45 min, the wort stayed the same throughout the whole time.

Next step was the sparging: I decided on batch sparging and added 4.5 gallons of water to the cooler (76 Celsius), stirred everything through and gave it a 15-20 min settling time. Then I lautered for another 60 min until kettle full volume was reached, appr. 6.5 gallons as planned. Coincidentally this was also the end of the lautering process. The wort also didn’t run clear and remained a bit hazy.

I expected a clearer wort, but maybe it’s because of the wheat? Too much powder amongst the grain? Could it be starch? I don’t really believe that. I didn’t make a iodine test though. Any thoughts?

Question 3 - Chilling:

After a vigorous boil, I came to chilling. I had purchased an immersion chiller (which was much smaller in diameter than what I expected). With a faucet adapter I managed to connect it to the kitchen faucet and immerse it into the wort. That worked relatively well, but it leaves a lot of heat pockets, if it’s not moved, but when it’s moved the whole hot break is swirled up. After cooling I transferred the wort with a funnel and a sieve into the carboy fermenter (6.5 gal).

I was thinking that the next time I would move the chiller more while cooling the wort, but at the end give a good twirl to build up a nice cake and then use a siphon for transferring into the carboy. But this means that I would need to leave the wort sitting for about 10 min after cooling at appr. 22 Celsius. I am a bit unsure if it’s a big risk though. The downside would be less aeration, since the transfer through the funnel picks up probably a good amount of oxygen. I could achieve this differently though.

What is your best approach on that (with the equipment I have on hand)?

Question 4 – Fermenting and Bottling:

I used the WYEAST 3068 Weihenstephan, which I bought liquid in a smack pack. I smacked the pack, but of course only one of the nutrient packs broke. I didn’t put the other one, but the fermentation was already in full effect 12 hours later. On the third day it cooled down and after 5 days there was nothing going anymore.

I have 20 Hacker Pschorr Swivel Top Bottles (might not be enough for the whole batch but that’s okay for now), which I am planning to use for secondary fermentation and carbonization. I am unsure though about the right time for the transfer. Initially I thought I would bottle right after the fermentation came to a hault, and then store the bottles in the fridge for a few weeks. Since this might enhance clarification, it might be too cold for carbonization. Some sources say that bottling should occur when fermentation came to a stop and then the bottles should be stored further at room temperature for about 2 weeks. Some sources say that it is beneficial to leave the beer in the fermenter for another week before bottling because the maturation process would go much quicker and off flavours shouldn’t occur within the extra week sitting on the yeast. After bottling though, I would still need about 2 weeks for carbonization. I plan to use saccharose by the way, cooked on the stove and blended with the beer in a bottling bucket.

Any advise on the best bottling time for secondary fermentation would be welcome.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Hi, welcome to HBT!

I make 5-6 gallon batches in a round 10 gallon cooler. I think the size is great for this batch size.

I use a "bazooka tube" instead of a false bottom. It works really well and is inexpensive. (Ignore the stainless steel tube clamped on the side -- that's for recirculation.)

I converted it myself. The only tools needed are a couple pairs of pliers for tightening the fittings. Using a coil is another option.

I don't currently sparge at all, but if you want to batch sparge, I suggest using half the water for the mash and half for the sparge. For example you used 8.5 gal, so you should use 4.25 for the mash and 4.25 for the sparge.

The water under the false bottom counts.

Just vorlauf enough to reduce the large particles. You won't get cleart wort without a more advanced system (recirculation with a pump).

45 minutes is a very long time to lauter 3 gallons. ... Did it get stuck? Using rice hulls can help it flow faster, or a more coarse crush, or conditioning the grain.

A 10 minute soak in the sparge water is fine.

Again, 60 minutes to lauter the sparge water is a crazy long time. It should be able to lauter in 10-15 minutes tops. I probably lauter ~6 gallons in maybe 5 minutes with my setup and conditioned grain.

You don't need a vigorous boil. A gentle simmer is good.

Agitation/stirring is needed to chill quickly.

Transferring trub/break material into the fermenter isn't best practice, but it's really not a big deal. It won't ruin the beer. At this point I would suggest you don't worry about it. Just chill quickly and then transfer as much of the liquid as possible.

I used the WYEAST 3068 Weihenstephan, which I bought liquid in a smack pack. I smacked the pack, but of course only one of the nutrient packs broke.

I'm not sure what you mean only one broke ... There's only one nutrient/wort packet in all the Wyeast smack packs I've ever used.

I recommend bottling when fermentation completes. Let sit at room temp (70-75°F) until carbonated. If you rouse the yeast one or more times daily, they will carbonate in only a few days. Then you can move them to the fridge when they're fully carbonated.

A "hefeweizen" is hazy from the yeast.

Hope this helps.
Cheers!

 

[Lomez]

Hi RPh_Guy,
thank you for your answers.

I thought about a bazooka screen (thanks for the picture), but preferred the classic approach to lautering. The result probably will be the same.
I could have lautered much quicker, it was not stuck at all and went really well. I didn't want to do it too quick to avoid too many particles sucked into the kettle. The lautering process takes also in a commercial brewery roughly 100 min. I will try to go a bit faster next time. I also hoped that the wort would clear up.

For mashing-in, I am thinking of using the kettle next time and only transfer for lautering to the cooler.

If using this size of cooler, I think it is indeed beneficial to skip the sparging, otherwise it's really only half full, not sure if this really matters, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the grain bed as filter, if there is no wort it could filter.

Apparently there was one nutrient pack, made of two chambers. But this didn't matter. Fermentation went pretty well.

I will bottle then tomorrow as I had initially planned.

Your answeres were helpful, thank you.

 

[kh54s10]

A bazooka tube or in my case a braid from a water heater supply line is another approach to lautering. I don't know why your water did not come over the top of the grain unless you have a very high false bottom.

I do batch sparging because of the time and tediousness of fly sparging.

I use a 10 gallon water cooler mash tun and have never done a full volume mash. If you do your efficiency will suffer and you will need to use more grain to make up the difference.

Not doing a full volume mash is more typical and does not affect the grain bed as a filter, it still works that way.

Bottling time is after fermentation finishes, and a couple days. Take 2 gravity readings at least 36 hours apart to determine that you have final gravity. I usually wait 14 days, sometimes through procrastination - much longer.

No secondary.

Bottle condition for 2-3 weeks at room temperature. I think 3 weeks is really minimum for best flavor.

 

[RPh_Guy]

If you want clear wort going into the kettle, you need to recirculate with a pump, and probably step mash.

If you want clear wort going into the fermenter you need to rapidly chill without too much pumping, let the break material settle for 15-45 minutes, and then transfer wort from above the trub level without any agitation.

For mashing-in, I am thinking of using the kettle next time and only transfer for lautering to the cooler.

Transferring the grain doesn't make sense.

The cooler being half full is perfectly fine.

It sounds like everything went well even though it took a lot longer than needed. To me it seems like you're overthinking it and trying to fix things that aren't broken.

Cheers

 

[Lomez]

If I have time tomorrow, I will measure out the volume underneath the false bottom. Maybe the bottom was not installed as low as it should be. The 11 gal. cooler seems to be a pretty common size, even for smaller brews.

I thought about taking gravity readings, but I was not to sure what the best way would be to get a good sample out of the carboy without screwing something up. The airlock doesn't show any activity anymore and the krausen disappeared completely. I would think that attenuation went as far as it gets.

Does anyone pitch a pinch of the yeast from the fermenter into the bottles with the extra sugar addition or will the remaining yeast be enough for bottle fermenting? I would think that it would be enough though.

 

[Lomez]

It sounds like everything went well even though it took a lot longer than needed. To me it seems like you're overthinking it and trying to fix things that aren't broken.

Overthinking sounds like me.

 

[kh54s10]

There will be plenty of yeast in the beer, you do not need to add any more, unless you experience problems or age in bulk for a very long time - none in this case