nervous brewer
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AT
nervous brewer
Usually i'm fairly confident in my ability to do whatever i set my mind to do but the closer i come to my first AG brew the more nervous i get. Probably i'm a little stupid and getting confused at some of the stuff i read, Attenuation what is that? Efficiency? how do i work that out and should i even worry about these things on my first brew? if i don't will i make 5 gallons of dog piss? how long should the sparge last? Am i in over my head or when i do one brew will i learn enough to improve a lot on my second?
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monk
A-tai:
Don't worry, bro. It will be fine. Attenuation is what percentage of the available sugars are eaten up by the yeast. Don't worry about it. Efficiency is how much of the available sugar you convert and extract from the grain when you mash and sparge. Again, don't worry about it now.
I would give you advice on sparging, but there are more accomplished brewers here and plus I do batch sparging so I'm not very familiar with length of time to fly sparge.
All in all, though, it's a simple procedure. Once you do it, you'll realize it's simple. Then you just hone your skills to hit the right temperature, extract more sugar, etc. But for now, just follow the directions. It's not too much different from steeping grains and rinsing them.
You'll do great! Cheers,
Monk
Don't worry, bro. It will be fine. Attenuation is what percentage of the available sugars are eaten up by the yeast. Don't worry about it. Efficiency is how much of the available sugar you convert and extract from the grain when you mash and sparge. Again, don't worry about it now.
I would give you advice on sparging, but there are more accomplished brewers here and plus I do batch sparging so I'm not very familiar with length of time to fly sparge.
All in all, though, it's a simple procedure. Once you do it, you'll realize it's simple. Then you just hone your skills to hit the right temperature, extract more sugar, etc. But for now, just follow the directions. It's not too much different from steeping grains and rinsing them.
You'll do great! Cheers,
Monk
I think you'll do just fine on your first AG brew, most folk are a little hectic and panicky, I know I was, but you'll do ok, don't worry, after all it's a hobby to be enjoyed.
As it's sparging, check it regulary with your hydro and start to think about stopping collection of wort when you get to 1010, remember to chill the wort sample to 20degrees C, and defo stop when you get to 1006
As it's sparging, check it regulary with your hydro and start to think about stopping collection of wort when you get to 1010, remember to chill the wort sample to 20degrees C, and defo stop when you get to 1006
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mysterio
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AT
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mysterio
I actually do not remember that but I don't remember what I had for breakfast either 
The best advice I can give is give any of Wheeler's books a read (Brew your own British real ale at home or brew classic European beers at home). They give a really concise and easy to follow guide to all-grain brewing before the recipes. I started out with Papazian's 'Complete Joy of Homebrewing', and while it's a great book and I made a great first all grain with it, it's not the easiest book to follow for AG.
Just had a quick ebay and these are going like hotcakes! Please Shorten Links (see post in Tap Room)
The best advice I can give is give any of Wheeler's books a read (Brew your own British real ale at home or brew classic European beers at home). They give a really concise and easy to follow guide to all-grain brewing before the recipes. I started out with Papazian's 'Complete Joy of Homebrewing', and while it's a great book and I made a great first all grain with it, it's not the easiest book to follow for AG.
Just had a quick ebay and these are going like hotcakes! Please Shorten Links (see post in Tap Room)
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SteveD
You know when you've cooked rice, and it's sitting in the starchy water? The water's all white with starch. You dump the rice into a sieve in the sink. The white water that runs off is your 'first wort', full of starch. Then, you run the tap onto it, swirling the sieve, and more white starch is flushed out. That's sparging. You continue this until the white water turns clear. Then you know you've flushed out all the starch.
The principle is the same with sparging grain to get the wort, except you eat the rice, but throw away the grain!
and:-
(1)ideally the grain stays in the mash tun, and you have a manifold or false bottom to seperate the wort
(2)the sparge liquor is at a temperature that keeps the mash near, but not over, 77c (monitor the bed, not the HLT/boiler/kette temperature - you don't want to know what that gets to to maintain the bed at 77c).
(3) Sparge slowly and evenly using something that lightly and evenly sprinkles, like a watering can, so you don't disrupt the mash bed.
(4) Try and keep the mash bed floating slightly by not allowing it to drain dry. Do this by making sure the rate of delivery of sparge liquor does not fall below the rate of run off.
(5)Keep the run off slowish. This helps prevent a blocked mash, and gives the sugars time to dissolve in the sparge liquor
(6) Don't create a lake above the mash bed. Try and keep it so you can just see that the liquor comes to the top of the mash bed
(7) If you can monitor PH, you don't want it to go above 5.5 if you can help it. (not the end of the world if it does). The best way to do this is treat your sparge liquor to PH 5.5. Then it can't, can it! You can use lactic acid. If this is a bit too much to take on, don't worry. It's a tweak you can do later once you become more familiar and therefore relaxed with the process.
[8] Important. Don't over-sparge. It can be detrimental to your beer. Stop once you've got enough pre-boil volume OR when the SG of the runnings falls to a minimum of 1006. Don't use any wort under that gravity. Better to stop a bit higher than that if you can. 1008, 1010, etc.
The principle is the same with sparging grain to get the wort, except you eat the rice, but throw away the grain!
and:- (1)ideally the grain stays in the mash tun, and you have a manifold or false bottom to seperate the wort
(2)the sparge liquor is at a temperature that keeps the mash near, but not over, 77c (monitor the bed, not the HLT/boiler/kette temperature - you don't want to know what that gets to to maintain the bed at 77c).
(3) Sparge slowly and evenly using something that lightly and evenly sprinkles, like a watering can, so you don't disrupt the mash bed.
(4) Try and keep the mash bed floating slightly by not allowing it to drain dry. Do this by making sure the rate of delivery of sparge liquor does not fall below the rate of run off.
(5)Keep the run off slowish. This helps prevent a blocked mash, and gives the sugars time to dissolve in the sparge liquor
(6) Don't create a lake above the mash bed. Try and keep it so you can just see that the liquor comes to the top of the mash bed
(7) If you can monitor PH, you don't want it to go above 5.5 if you can help it. (not the end of the world if it does). The best way to do this is treat your sparge liquor to PH 5.5. Then it can't, can it! You can use lactic acid. If this is a bit too much to take on, don't worry. It's a tweak you can do later once you become more familiar and therefore relaxed with the process.
[8] Important. Don't over-sparge. It can be detrimental to your beer. Stop once you've got enough pre-boil volume OR when the SG of the runnings falls to a minimum of 1006. Don't use any wort under that gravity. Better to stop a bit higher than that if you can. 1008, 1010, etc.
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monk
Maybe this is a stupid question, but when you say stop around 1.010-1.006, is that the uncorrected gravity of the wort? Or do you correct the reading for temperature? I assume it's the corrected temp, now that I think of it.Garth wrote: As it's sparging, check it regulary with your hydro and start to think about stopping collection of wort when you get to 1010, remember to chill the wort sample to 20degrees C, and defo stop when you get to 1006
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spearmint-wino
- CBA prizewinner 2007
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^^ words of a true jedi master ^^ 
A-T, I've only done 5 all-grains, and no other method of brewing. Given that you've already steeped grains and are used to using extract then you've got all the 'handling skills' down already. Even though I'm a complete newbie at 5 AG's, thinking back to my first attempt makes me laugh at how incompetent it seemed... yet I still remember drinking the beer I made and thinking 'acceptable for a first attempt, I'll do this, this, this, this different next time'. Enjoy yr day, don't stress too much and think of it as the first step on a long and enjoyable journey
A-T, I've only done 5 all-grains, and no other method of brewing. Given that you've already steeped grains and are used to using extract then you've got all the 'handling skills' down already. Even though I'm a complete newbie at 5 AG's, thinking back to my first attempt makes me laugh at how incompetent it seemed... yet I still remember drinking the beer I made and thinking 'acceptable for a first attempt, I'll do this, this, this, this different next time'. Enjoy yr day, don't stress too much and think of it as the first step on a long and enjoyable journey
drinking: ~ | conditioning: ~ | primary: ~ | Looks like I need to get brewing then...
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SteveD
I still sometimes cock that up after 20 years of brewingDaaB wrote:the most important thing is to always check the taps on your brewing vessels are shut before you start to fill them
Usually water or santitiser ends up on the floor, but last time it was wort! 
As a footnote, my 'sparging guide' is what you would ideally do, but as Daab says just do it, and don't worry too much if it doesn't go quite as 'decreed'. Plenty good beers are brewed by far more haphazard methods than that!!
Have fun, that's the important thing.
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AT
no i didn't all i've done is kitsspearmint-wino wrote:^^ words of a true jedi master ^^
A-T, I've only done 5 all-grains, and no other method of brewing. Given that you've already steeped grains and are used to using extract then you've got all the 'handling skills' down already. Even though I'm a complete newbie at 5 AG's, thinking back to my first attempt makes me laugh at how incompetent it seemed... yet I still remember drinking the beer I made and thinking 'acceptable for a first attempt, I'll do this, this, this, this different next time'. Enjoy yr day, don't stress too much and think of it as the first step on a long and enjoyable journey
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AT
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maltman14
If you had seen my first set up you would curl up on the floor and die laughing
The beers were very drinkable and some were fantastic I wish I could repeat a beer called Blast Furnace .Lovely copper coloured red ale 1.058 absolutely wonderful .I picked it up off the kitchen floor because the mash tun collapsed .How do you recreat that.Good memory .Great beer and I mean great ,fantastic.
Just imagine a brew wife 200 years ago no hydrometers no steralisers turning out beer after beer that made her a living .
We talk a load of crap sometimes I wonder if the brew wife ever wondered about hot side aeration ,aerating the wort ,yeast strains etc etc but I'm sure the beer was great .
Brew enjoy it
Kelvin
The beers were very drinkable and some were fantastic I wish I could repeat a beer called Blast Furnace .Lovely copper coloured red ale 1.058 absolutely wonderful .I picked it up off the kitchen floor because the mash tun collapsed .How do you recreat that.Good memory .Great beer and I mean great ,fantastic.
Just imagine a brew wife 200 years ago no hydrometers no steralisers turning out beer after beer that made her a living .
We talk a load of crap sometimes I wonder if the brew wife ever wondered about hot side aeration ,aerating the wort ,yeast strains etc etc but I'm sure the beer was great .
Brew enjoy it
Kelvin
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SteveD
Probably not, but I bet she often wondered why her beer tasted crap sometimes.maltman14 wrote: Just imagine a brew wife 200 years ago no hydrometers no steralisers turning out beer after beer that made her a living .
We talk a load of crap sometimes I wonder if the brew wife ever wondered about hot side aeration ,aerating the wort ,yeast strains etc etc but I'm sure the beer was great .
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Chiltern Brewer
Don't worry and don't get too hung up on the technical bits that aren't necessary... The facts: I've never bothered to measure my mash pH, test for the starch end point, check the temperature corrected gravity of my runnings and guess what - I usually get 75% efficiency and always end up with drinkable beer.
The most important things with the mash is to get a good mix and the temperature right and as constant as you can - make a note of the strike temperature (a digital thermometer is handy) so that you can adjust it for future brews - after a while you'll get a "feel" for what works for your equipment's characteristics.
What SteveD says on sparging is spot on. I find that I can tell from the colour of the runnings (OK can be tricky when you use a high proportion of dark malts) and their taste (level of sweetness) whether it is time to stop. The size of your boiler is the ultimate limiting factor, and IMHO I think this issue of over-sparing is somewhat over played. More likely you'll run out of sparge water or fill your boiler before this happens.
It's such a shame that Wheeler's books are so hard to come by nowadays. It was reading "Home Brewing" that convinced me to become a masher.
The most important things with the mash is to get a good mix and the temperature right and as constant as you can - make a note of the strike temperature (a digital thermometer is handy) so that you can adjust it for future brews - after a while you'll get a "feel" for what works for your equipment's characteristics.
What SteveD says on sparging is spot on. I find that I can tell from the colour of the runnings (OK can be tricky when you use a high proportion of dark malts) and their taste (level of sweetness) whether it is time to stop. The size of your boiler is the ultimate limiting factor, and IMHO I think this issue of over-sparing is somewhat over played. More likely you'll run out of sparge water or fill your boiler before this happens.
It's such a shame that Wheeler's books are so hard to come by nowadays. It was reading "Home Brewing" that convinced me to become a masher.