My First Brew, went AG first shot

[TheDarkChemist]

I went all grain from the get go, figured why muck about when the main thing that attracted me to brewing was the DIY from scratch aspect.

I brewed BM's Centennial Blonde, 5 gallon batch. Here are notes I took, sorry they are long but really appreciate any feedback on my process and things I should have done differently for next batch next weekend.


7lbs 2 row pale malt
8oz Weyermann Vienna (EBC 5-8 / Lovibond 2.3-3.8
12oz Weyermann Carafoam (EBC 3-5 / Lovibond 1.3-2.3)
8oz Weyermann CaraHell (EBC 20-30/Lovibond 9-13)
Cascade AA 7.3% Beta 6.6%
Centennial AA 8.7% Beta 5.0%


Ground all grain on 2 roll monster mill. Gap initially set to .41 but kept losing
gap, final run through was at .45 but was hard to start with the drill.

Appearance (took photos), fair amount of flower, a bit more hull shredding, etc.

Heated HLT water to 172, added 3 gallons of water to the MT, stirred in grain bill over a period of 5 minutes. Temp stabilized at 151.

At 30 minutes temperature had risen to 153
Stirred and temperature dropped to 144.
HLT water was only at 158, added 1 quart, MT now at 147, waiting for water to heat up more.
Added hotter water(~180), stirred, 149 20 mins left

After Mashed for 60 minutes per above notes, Vorlaufed. Noticed large white chunks of grain making it through false bottom. Recirculated Manually trying not to disturb the grain bed. After ~ 3 quarts very little grain noticeable.

Drained to holding bucket.

Added ~ 2 gallons of 169 degree water, stirred. A few minutes later vorlaufed, until little grain noticeable.

Drained to holding bucket.

Poured from holding bucket to freshly emptied BK/HLT (dual purposed). Used funnel and strainer to separate out a small amount of grain that made
it through. Volume is ~ 4.25 gallons. Pulled a sample. Quite sweet, cooled to room temperature during second batch sparge, and measured gravity of 1.050

Added ~ 2 gallons of 170 degree water, stirred, vorlaufed then straight drained through filter to make up enough to reach ~ 6.25 gallons in BK.

Tasted second sparge. not very sweet, but still noticeable.


Started heating BK for boil.

Started boiling.
Hot break started timer
Added .25 ounces of centennial in a hop ball at 55 to go
Put lid on kettle.
Crud collected all over top and over insides. Started dripping down outside of pot.
Added .25 ounces of centennial in ahop ball at 35 to go
More crud buildup (hot break + hop remnants?)
Added .25 ounces of Cascade in a hop ball with 20 to go
Pulled cascade hop ball out at 6 minutes togo, added another .25 ounces, put back in with 5 togo
Boil off at 60 minutes
Down to 5.5 Gallons ~

Collected my gear for plate chiller, hooked up chiller.
Ran water and wort through chiller, into holding bucket... bad siphon.
Put chiller on a chair, fast siphon, 105 degrees
Adjusted rate, over next 10 minutes temps dropped down to 74F.
Siphoned from holding bucket to 6.5 gallon carboy, let it splash around on its way in.
Shook around abit, got abunch of foam.
Pitched nottingham yeast directly in (didn't rehydrate, following one set of instr.)
Shook around alittle more.
Moved to 68 degree room with brew hauler.
Put bung and 3 piece airlock in placed.

Measured OG at 1.044 (was supposed to be 1.040)

Cussed myself out because I forgot to use my siphon filter to get rid of some of the break material as that was most of the reason why I used the holding bucket. Sigh.

Waiting now.

Side Note: I was cleaning and sanitizing like mad the whole time, left fermenter full of starsan solution until I dumped it to fill it with wort.



Any feedback much appreciated, excited to see if this comes out. I did taste the dregs of the wort post boil... sweet, little bitter, but also a somewhat astringent quality, worried I shredded the hulls too much and tried to pull too much out of the grain, but it is definitely young still

 

[bleme]

You will get better efficiency if you do your first sparge with 180F water and let sit at least 10 minutes.

You can use a lid to get to boil, but never boil with the lid on. It keeps DMS from boiling off like it is supposed to.

Why did you pull the Cascade out at 6 minutes?

If you are going to aerate with the shaking method, you need to shake continuously for 5 solid minutes. It is a workout.

 

[TheDarkChemist]

You will get better efficiency if you do your first sparge with 180F water and let sit at least 10 minutes.

You can use a lid to get to boil, but never boil with the lid on. It keeps DMS from boiling off like it is supposed to.

Why did you pull the Cascade out at 6 minutes?

If you are going to aerate with the shaking method, you need to shake continuously for 5 solid minutes. It is a workout.

Gotcha, lid off... how much harm did I cause by boiling with the lid on? I would say the lid was off about 15-20 minutes of the time, plus I removed it every 15 minutes or so to clean the gunk that was building up on it off.


I pulled the cascade out for 1 minute because I only had 3 hop balls, and 4 scheduled additions.

I probably didn't aerate enough, but this is a relatively low gravity low abv beer. What are my options if I didn't aerate enough and the yeast doesnt start, aerate again tomorrow and repitch another pack?

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[JohnSand]

The yeast will start, it may take more time. I don't cover during a boil, but some say concerns over DMS are over-stated. Not trying to start a debate, just saying that small errors will not ruin your beer.

 

[Ridire]

That is exactly what I would do if I started over, first brew AG and something like a blonde (not a dark or super hoppy beer).

 

[bleme]

Gotcha, lid off... how much harm did I cause by boiling with the lid on? I would say the lid was off about 15-20 minutes of the time, plus I removed it every 15 minutes or so to clean the gunk that was building up on it off.

I pulled the cascade out for 1 minute because I only had 3 hop balls, and 4 scheduled additions.

I probably didn't aerate enough, but this is a relatively low gravity low abv beer. What are my options if I didn't aerate enough and the yeast doesnt start, aerate again tomorrow and repitch another pack?

Thanks for the feedback!

DMS isn't the end of the world, just a canned corn flavor.

My guess is that poorly aerated yeast will "start" faster as the reproductive stage is shortened. You don't get as many yeast to do the job though so it takes them longer. A yeast more fragile than Nottingham might stall completely.

All in All, you probably made a pretty good beer. If you are like me though, while your friends are raving about your beer, you will be picking it apart. I'm my own worst critic.

 

[TheDarkChemist]

Yeah but that is exciting, to tweak and change, adjust and move forward.

It has been 12 hours and notice some airlock activity.

Been messing around trying to calculate efficiency. Is this right?

7lbs of 37 point malt
.5lb of 35 point malt
.5lb of 36 point malt
.75lb of 35 point malt


((7*37)+(.5*35)+(.5*36)+(.75*35))/5.5 gallons = 58.3

I ended with 44 points, so 44/58.3 = 75.9% efficiency?

 

[TheDarkChemist]

That is exactly what I would do if I started over, first brew AG and something like a blonde (not a dark or super hoppy beer).

I wanted to brew an IPA or a stout, but I figured, basic, cheap recipe, that is light enough that my mistakes will really stand out, and if screw it up, Im only out a$20 lesson

AG really wasnt bad... just a ton of cleaning.

 

[TheDarkChemist]

You don't get as many yeast to do the job though so it takes them longer. A yeast more fragile than Nottingham might stall completely.

It has already started bubbling at 12 hours, I have another packet of notty, should I just over pitch to be safe?

 

[Ridire]

I wanted to brew an IPA or a stout, but I figured, basic, cheap recipe, that is light enough that my mistakes will really stand out, and if screw it up, Im only out a$20 lesson

AG really wasnt bad... just a ton of cleaning.

My first brews:

1. Extract porter. Turned out ok but nothing to brag about.

2. Partial mash, partial boil IPA. Horrid swill I wouldn't feed to my dog.

3. All Grain, full boil blonde. Delicious.

 

[brewkinger]

It all sounds good to me. Blonde ale is great first beer and I enjoy it immensely.

Only bit of advice on future brews, is rig up a blowoff setup. Not an issue in my experience with blondes with nitty, as the ferment is usually not to vigorous.
But I have needed blowoff on every other brew

 

[bleme]

It has already started bubbling at 12 hours, I have another packet of notty, should I just over pitch to be safe?

I wouldn't pitch again. Chances are good that a low ABV Blonde is going to be fine.

Another packets also isn't going to give you that many more cells. Your yeast have already multiplied WAY beyond what you originally pitched.

 

[jmcquesten]

The one thing I noticed in your write up was your procedure for taking the pre-boil gravity for figuring mash efficiency. You said you pulled the sample when volume was at 4.25 gallons, then continued to sparge? That sample should be pulled after you have collected all runnings (first runnings and sparge), and have your total pre-boil volume (6.5ish gal). Notice that the preboil gravity in your case is higher than your post boil starting gravity. The gravity should increase about 10 points during the boil which would put your total preboil gravity closer to 1.034, not 1.050. While that reading is not essential, it will help you make recipe and milling adjustments in the future.
Sounds like everything went well, and I'm sure you'll be happy with the end result. Centennial Blonde is a great beer, but doesn't seem to last very long, so you might want to start another batch.

 

[brewkinger]

The one thing I noticed in your write up was your procedure for taking the pre-boil gravity for figuring mash efficiency. You said you pulled the sample when volume was at 4.25 gallons, then continued to sparge? That sample should be pulled after you have collected all runnings (first runnings and sparge), and have your total pre-boil volume (6.5ish gal). Notice that the preboil gravity in your case is higher than your post boil starting gravity. The gravity should increase about 10 points during the boil which would put your total preboil gravity closer to 1.034, not 1.050. While that reading is not essential, it will help you make recipe and milling adjustments in the future.
Sounds like everything went well, and I'm sure you'll be happy with the end result. Centennial Blonde is a great beer, but doesn't seem to last very long, so you might want to start another batch.

+1 to it not lasting long. Very quick turnaround on those blondes, as I routinely crack into them after a month.
The method to my madness is to open first bottle while I am brewing the next batch.

 

[Nargan]

My first attempt was all-grain, as well. I went with this recipe because I was lazy and it was the first 1-gallon IPA recipe I found. I wasn't paying attention and my mash temp went WAY past what it should be for a while (175). I transferred to my bigger pot which had a diameter far too large for such a small volume and ended up boiling off over half the water. I accidentally splashed some sink water into the wort while chilling it in the ice bath. I also had a brain fart and dry-hopped immediately after pitching the yeast. I'm sure there were other screw-ups I'm forgetting right now.

The end result is thin, watery, has almost soda-like carbonation, no malt to stand up to the overly-bitter hops, and basically tastes like a glass of soap. My girlfriend agrees with this assessment. Soap. We laughed a lot when we first tasted it.

 

[TheDarkChemist]

The one thing I noticed in your write up was your procedure for taking the pre-boil gravity for figuring mash efficiency. You said you pulled the sample when volume was at 4.25 gallons, then continued to sparge? That sample should be pulled after you have collected all runnings (first runnings and sparge), and have your total pre-boil volume (6.5ish gal).

I understand that, because I had to cool it down, I pulled it then just to get an idea of what my gravity was before adding a second weaker batch sparge, curiosity more than anything

Did I mess up pulling the OG after the boil? I figured whatever volume I ended up with after the boil, and gravity after boil was what was important?


If we assume +10 points from boil, then I can calculate my gravity pre boil using some algebra, it would mean my last 2 gallons of runnings were only 1.000 gravity, hrm.

 

[jmcquesten]

I understand that, because I had to cool it down, I pulled it then just to get an idea of what my gravity was before adding a second weaker batch sparge, curiosity more than anything

Did I mess up pulling the OG after the boil? I figured whatever volume I ended up with after the boil, and gravity after boil was what was important?

If we assume +10 points from boil, then I can calculate my gravity pre boil usingO some algebra, it would mean my last 2 gallons of runnings were only 1.000 gravity, hrm.

I don't think the last sparge would be 1.0, but I've never measured my sparge gravity. And, no you didn't mess up reading the OG after boil, that's the one that matters. The 10 points is an estimate, but it seems pretty common for that to be the case, think I read that from Yooper, and have found it to be true since then. I only responded because I just had this conversation with a fellow brewer after he kept saying his preboil gravity was higher than the post boil. It's not possible because when you boil you are concentrating the sugars by boiling off liquid, which makes the gravity go up.

 

[TheDarkChemist]

It has been 3.5 days and the airlock seems to have all but stopped bubbling. The krausen built up and fell leaving the surface of the beer mostly exposed.

Should I start taking gravity readings at 4 days, or siphon it off to a secondary to help it clear up? Planning on bottle carbonating so dont want too few yeasties.


Thanks

 

[brewkinger]

It has been 3.5 days and the airlock seems to have all but stopped bubbling. The krausen built up and fell leaving the surface of the beer mostly exposed.

Should I start taking gravity readings at 4 days, or siphon it off to a secondary to help it clear up? Planning on bottle carbonating so dont want too few yeasties.


Thanks

First of all, bubbling is not a good indicator of fermentation. Having said that, it is not unusual for the initial fermentation period to be through after 3 or 4 days. The fact that the krausen has risen and fallen is a decent indicator that SOMETHING special has indeed happened.

Now that initial fermentation is "theoretically" over, leave the beer alone for another week to 10 days to allow it to gradually creep down to FG.
The yeasties have worked hard and now they are working to clean up any residual sugars that they missed as well as going around and cleaning up their own waste products and things.
Once it has been in primary for a week or two, check the gravity and then recheck in 2-3 days after that. If the readings are consistent, then bottle away.
Do not worry about there being too few yeasties to carbonate as that is rarely if ever the issue. I have cold crashed and added gelatin to batches and still had plenty of the little critters around to carbonate and bottle condition my beers.

 

[TheDarkChemist]

Well I think I blew the original recipe a bit

Supposed to be 1.039 start 1.008 finish, 4%ABV

Result: 1.044 start 1.002 or 1.001 finish 5.5% + ABV


Is this because I extracted too much sugar? I followed the recipe
in amounts exactly.

I pulled a sample today to taste and get my first FG reading, 1.001-2

Should I wait afew days to pull the next or just assume Im done since I am so far below the FG I was supposed to hit?

 

[brewkinger]

Several things come to mind.
If your hydrometer is not calibrated, then all your numbers could be off.
**Good news is that you have beer, more abv than intended

If not #1, then you got increased efficiency
**Good news is that you have beer, more abv than intended

Depending on the yeast strain used, the lower FG could be from increased attenuation
**Good news is that you have beer, more abv than intended

I would say that it is safe to assume that it is done fermenting and you can bottle or keg it or whatever
**Good news is that you have beer, more abv than intended

 

[TheDarkChemist]

Heh, gotcha.. i know its not important for this batch, but if im ever trying to fine tune to match a recipe I like, I just need to know what to adjust. Maybe Mashing temps + adding boiled water to adjust the OG?

Hydrometer reads tap water at 1.0000, not sure if that means its right for anything above 1.00000

I held off so I will do another gravity reading today, and then bottle tonight mayhaps )

woo beer!

 

[brewkinger]

If it is reading 1.000 in tap water (specifically at around 68 degrees) then it is pretty much accurate.

Checking your gravity again sounds like a good plan, especially if it has been a couple of days since checking it.

 

[brewkinger]

I did think of one more thing that I thought of and perhaps a more knowledgable member can chime in.

The temperature of the mash plays a role in how fermentable your wort ends up being.
If I am correct, the range of mash temps goes from 148 up to 160ish.
The closer you are to the low end of the range, your wort is "dry" and more ferementable giving the increased abv (especially if you have a high attenuation yeast)
The closer to the high end of the range and your wort is sweeter and less fermentable.

So mash temps are worth investigating, I know that I now will be paying closer attention to that range. I usually mash somewhere around 151 to 154 on most of my beers, mostly cuz BeerSmith tells me to.

 

[TheDarkChemist]

Someone in another thread said there could have been an infection... krausen came and went, top looked clean, no visibl growth anywhere, and it tasted fine to me flat and warm, but fine... I dont know if a .006 variance is so impossible that it has to mean an infection,because its a good chance my mash temps were way too low.

 

[brewkinger]

Someone in another thread said there could have been an infection... krausen came and went, top looked clean, no visibl growth anywhere, and it tasted fine to me flat and warm, but fine... I dont know if a .006 variance is so impossible that it has to mean an infection,because its a good chance my mash temps were way too low.

Doubt VERY much that you had an infection. Sounds like you brewed beer to me and probably everyone else that has viewed and posted here.
An infection is kind of hard to not notice. Nasty crap growing on the surface, nasty smells sometimes, nasty sour taste. No infection here.

Mash temps could very well be the culprit. If you do not already have one, get a quality thermometer or two.
I once mashed around 8 degrees too low and that beer had crap effic, but came in about 0.8 abv higher than expected. It tasted like alcohol, but it was good!!

 

[TheDarkChemist]

Bottled 36 hours ago, storing at ~ 75 degrees under some towels, sitting on tile , expecting an explosion if i didnt mix the sugar in equally. The plastic bottles are already firm to hard.

So I need to wait 3 weeks for the carbonation to absorb fully, but if I want to force carb some of these with a homemade carbing setup (regulator, 15lb co2 tank, etc), how long does it take for most of the sugar to get converted, 2-3 days?

 

[brewkinger]

Not sure about that.. but given the small amount of actual sugar per bottle, I would not imagine that it takes very long for the yeast to finish up. The CO2 fills the headspace and then gets forced into the beer via a pressure/temperature/solubility relationship.
I cannot remember what type of beer you brewed, but let them do their thing for a week or 2 (or 3 if you are patient) and then start sampling them. I usually put a 6'er in the fridge after 2 weeks and then start sampling them one per night and take notes to document the progress. If the first one that I open is no good, the experiment ends and I wait another whole week before sampling again.
I have finally gotten my pipeline full enough to allow me to do this.

Enjoy!