More questions about 1st all grain brew

[Shoit]

I'm going to be using the following recipe:

4kg Pale Malt
200g crystal
60g goldings/fuggles full boil
20g goldings/fuggles last 15 mins
20g goldings/fuggles steep.
SO4 yeast

Just a few questions:

1. I'm going to batch sparge - should i use a 2.5l/kg ratio for the water? Also, how much absorption should i allow for hops and evaporation - the calculator suggests 15% for evaporation for a 90min boil. I'm not sure about loss to hops and trub. Do these figures look about right:

Batch Sparge and Boil Volume Calculator

Enter Volume Required In Fermenter ie Brew Length e.g. 23L: 23 L
Percentage Loss During Boil e.g. 15%: 15%
Enter estimated loss to hops and trub eg.3L: 3L
Total Grain Bill e.g. 4 kg: 4.2kg
Enter Dead Space in Mash Tun: 0.5L
Enter Water/Grain Ratio for the Mash in Liters, eg for a 2.5 : 1 ratio, enter 2.5: 2.5L/kg


Wort Required for the Boil: 30.6L
Made up from two equal quantities of: 15.3 liters of wort collected from the mash.
Total Quantity of Water Required For Batch #1: 20 L
Mash Volume: 10.5L
Top Up With: 9.5L
Water Required for Batch #2: 15.3 L

2.What mash temperature should i aim for - does 66 sound about right? Do i need to worry about the temperature of the grain bed or just aim for 66 deg

3. Do i carry out the boil with the lid on?

Thanks in advance

Kev

[yashicamat]

That looks fine, although just check your bitterness for those boil hops. If it's very low AA hops then that should be about right though.

To answer your second question; A mash temp of 66 is fine, you want this to be the temperature of the grain when all the water is mixed in and you're ready to start the timer. If you preheat the mash tun, then adding water at about 72 degrees C should achieve about 66 degrees (at a very rough guess). Add some, check the temperature, then tweak it with either boiling or cold water to correct the temperature. Then bung the lid on, put some coats over it and leave it for the hour (or however long your mash is). I personally stir every half hour, then recheck the temperature. As long as it doesn't lose much more than a few degrees over the mash you'll be fine.

Finally, leave the lid off the boiler once you start the boil. You can leave it on while it brings the liquid up to the boil, but there are nasties which boil off during the boil which you want to escape with the steam, rather than condense then drop back into the wort. Also, if you don't let it boil off your estimated 15% (which will only happen with the lid off) then you'll get a greater quantity of weak wort instead of the correct quantity of planned strength wort.

Hope this helps.

[Horden Hillbilly]

1. I'm going to batch sparge - should i use a 2.5l/kg ratio for the water?

That will be fine. I have used the batch sparge calculater myself & the volumes work fine, nothing to worry about there.



2.What mash temperature should i aim for - does 66 sound about right? Do i need to worry about the temperature of the grain bed or just aim for 66 deg

Heat your mash water to 72c, then add your grains. After stirring your grains into the mash water, take a temp check them, you should be around the 66c mark. It will also pay you to pre-heat your mash tun with a couple of kettle fulls of boiling water. This will prevent rapid temp loss. You could also heat your mash water to 80c, transfer it to your mash tun, let the temp drop to 72c, then add your grains.



3. Do i carry out the boil with the lid on?

No, at the very least you will need to let the boil vent by partially snapping it down to allow the steam to escape, or leave it off all together. There are some "undesirables" in the wort which are driven off with the boil, these must be allowed to escape with the steam from the boil, rather than dropping back into the wort.

Good luck with your 1st ag brew.

[Shoit]

Thanks for the replies - it's reassuring to know i'm on the right lines. It seems that your suggesting that I get the water into the mash tun and then add the water, is that correct?

Also, am i right in thinking that i don't have to sterilize anything pre-boil, it's only after the boil. If i add the immersion chiller to the wort in the last 15 mins when i add the irish moss will this be ok? I presume i need to sterilize the run off tubing and anything that comes into contact with the chilled wort?

Kev

[yashicamat]

Thanks for the replies - it's reassuring to know i'm on the right lines. It seems that your suggesting that I get the water into the mash tun and then add the water, is that correct?

Also, am i right in thinking that i don't have to sterilize anything pre-boil, it's only after the boil. If i add the immersion chiller to the wort in the last 15 mins when i add the irish moss will this be ok? I presume i need to sterilize the run off tubing and anything that comes into contact with the chilled wort?

Kev

You're spot on. Get most of the water into the mash tun first, then add the grain. Check the temperature, correct it as needed with the remaining water needed to get the final volume of water you want for your mash. Anything pre-boil doesn't need sanitising, but anything that is used after the boiler is switched off (run off tubing, paddle to stir the beer while cooling, hydrometer, trial glass for hydro reading etc.) all need to be sanitised properly. Dropping the IC in during the last 15 mins seems to be pretty much standard practice too, so you've got that one right too.

Good luck! Sounds like you've got yourself sorted on this AG lark!

[Shoit]

Fingers crossed - I've had everything set up today to check all the seals are tight and i don't have any leaks! The only problem i have that I can't work round at the moment is measuring the water. Neither my HLT or the boiler have volume markers! Not sure what to do about it?

Kev

[yashicamat]

If your HLT and/or boiler are translucent, then get a large mineral water bottle (5 litre one I used), then using a kitchen jug measure out 5 litres of water into the bottle. Mark the level with a permanent marker, then use that to measure 5 litre graduations into your HLT or boiler by emptying the bottle (filled to the mark) into the HLT/boiler, marking on the graduations as you go up. Obviously you can use smaller graduations if you want to be more precise, but I find 5 litre graduations are more than adequate.

If you're using a more opaque container (like the H&G style boiler), I find that if you shine a torch inside the boiler at the water level, it becomes very easy to see on the outside.

Hope this helps.

[Shoit]

Should i mash for 60mins?

Kev

[yashicamat]

60 minutes is fine mate. Anywhere between 60 minutes and 2 hours seems to be the norm, but on your first AG day you won't want to be spending any more time than necessary as you'll have enough on your plate as it is, so I'd go for 60 minutes. Don't panic if it runs over though because you're sorting out something else. Definately worth making notes of times / temperatures / quantities as you go through the day, when it comes to AG #2 you'll thank yourself for it as you'll have a better idea of the way things work.

[Shoit]

Thanks again for the advice - am I right in thinking that the last hop addition (steep) is added when the boil is stopped and whilst the wort is cooled?

Kev

[yashicamat]

The steep is usually added when the wort is at about 80 degrees C, although I add my steep hops as soon as I turn off the heat and still retain oodles of aroma and flavour. I am slightly more comfortable adding the hops when the wort is still very hot as it is one less thing to risk infection then, even though hops are not very likely to cause infection themselves anyway as they're not a very hospitable environment for bacteria.

[Shoit]

Is it sufficient to steep whilst the cooler is doing its work?

Kev

[yashicamat]

Uhhm, depends how quickly your cooler is working. I tend to steep the hops for 20 minutes when I do that, so in that time my wort would be down to 30 degrees C, at which temperature you're going to get a minimal amount of flavour out of the hops in the short time it's in contact with the wort. If I were you, I'd drop 'em in when you turn the heat off and start cooling 15 minutes later. Should give a nice chunk of aroma that way.

[Shoit]

Sorry for another question - could some one check this and make sure it's all correct?

1. Set up equipment, check all taps off and all washers are tight
2. Weigh out ingredients and hops
3. Heat 35l water to strike temperature – 74 deg
4. When water reaching strike temperature pre heat mash tun with boiling water from kettle.
5. Add 10l water to mash tun, then add grain, add remaining 0.5l water (hot or cold to adjust temperature to 66 deg. If too hot leave lid off until reaches temp.
6. Insulate mash tun and leave for 60mins, then add remaining 9.5l and stir
7. Leave for 10mins
8. Recirculate first runnings till clear (3-4l) using fine mesh plate when re-circulating to prevent channeling.
9. When drained add water for second batch 15.3l and stir, leave for 10 mins then drain (re-circulating as needed)

A couple more questions:
I presume that the reciepe is for a 90min boil?
Do i really need to take a gravity reading after sparging or can I just take one when the wort is cooled. The way I see it, there isn't much i can do about the gravity after the sparge and as I'm batch sparging I won't have control over the gravity of the runnings.?

Then i promise ill leave you alone honest.

Kev

[Parva]

Sounds ok to me but I always do a 90 minute mash. I usually end up at 67c and after an hour give it a stir (at 66c by this time) and leave for another 30 minutes before sparging. When sparging I aim to get the temperature of the mash upto about 75c. Might not quite reach it on the 1st batch sparge but always hit it on the 2nd.