I'm not a virgin anymore!

[rich]

No, you sick minded perverts, what I meant is that I brewed my first all-grain batch today. I thought I would give a full report of the procedings. First, here's what I brewed, kind of an IPA:

Code: Select all

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 78.4    11.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              America        1.036      2
 12.1     1.70 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt                      1.033      2
  9.3     1.30 lbs. Crystal 60L                   America        1.034     60
  0.2     0.03 lbs. Chocolate Malt                Great Britain  1.034    475

Hops
   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1.00 oz.    Magnum                            Whole   14.00  55.8  60 min.
  1.00 oz.    Magnum                            Whole   14.00  50.0  45 min.
  1.00 oz.    Cascade                           Whole    5.75  11.7  30 min.
  0.50 oz.    Cascade                           Whole    5.75   3.1  15 min.
  0.25 oz.    Cascade                           Whole    5.75   1.0  3 min.

Yeast
-----
White Labs WLP001 California Ale


My target mash temp was 153. Ratio of strike water 1.25qt/lb. Doughed in
4.4 gallons w/ 3/4 tsp of 5.2 at 170 degrees. I hit my mash at 154 degrees and only lost .6 degrees over a one hour mash. I did a two runnings batch sparge. Vorluaf ran clear for the first runnings after 1.5 qts, and had a gravity of 1.090. First running yielded about 2.2 gallons. Second runnings of 4.5 gallons yielded 4.1 gallons of 1.040 wort. Second vorlauf took 2.5 qts to run clear. Pre-boil weighed in at 1.057. Then business as usual for the boil and hop schedule.

OG going into the fermenter was low at 1.063. Base on ProMash that's a 59% efficiency. All and all I was very pleased with the result of my first all grain. I'll never turn back. I've not been this excited about brewing in a while. Of course I still have alot to learn, and many improvements to make. Next step will be to figure out how get my eff up.

For you guys on the verge of going all grain, I say go for it. I was surprised at how easy it really is, yet humbled by how much room there is for improvement.

Thank, for everyones help. I still got a lot of noob questions for ya. I'd like to thank Mom for her support. Thanks to the producer and director, and all the swell folks in wardrobe and makeup. a special thanks goes out to Mary Jo's catering for the awesome ribs. I hope to see you all at next years Oscars....umm...wait...what in the hell am I talking about....oh well.

EDIT: I made a mistake in ProMash. Looks like my efficiency was 73%

[seanhagerty]

Congrats Rich. Welcome to the dark side.....

[Big Chooch]

No turning back now!

[Bugeater]

Congrats! You nailed the efficiency on the first try! For a first all grain, the 59% would not have been totally unexpected. But 73%? That's great!

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[rich]

One thing remains unclear to me. Promash says that efficency "in the kettle" is 59% and "in the fermenter" at 73%. Brewhouse efficiency default is set at 75%.

That being said, the target gravity for this recipe was 1.082. If my actual OG was 1.063, how can that be 73% efficiency? I don't understand how the math works out here.

[hopbumpingbrewer]

Rich,

In order to get the proper percentage of Brewhouse Efficiency you must always get the amount of liquid you have.

For example if your batch volume is 5 gallons, make sure that in your efficiency calculator you have 5 gallons.

BUT & this is a huge BUT. You may have boiled off more than you think or not as much as you thouht. So use the "Boil Off" tool to find exactly how much wort you are actually starting with in the fermentor. Just enter your starting gravity and then your final gravity and it will tell you how much liquid you actually have.

In other words you may not have 5 gallons as you would have liked. My guess is that you have more than you thought.

Go back and find out how much volume you actually have and change the batch volume number. That is how you will find out exactly what your efficiency is.

Your effiency % at preboil will remain the same throughout. Brewhouse efficiency does not change during the boil. The only thing that may change is your "Boil Off" percentage. (Evaporation Rate)

I used to struggle with the same question myself. It took me a few batches to figure it out.

Carlo

[zymurgest]

Your effiency % at preboil will remain the same throughout. Brewhouse efficiency does not change during the boil. The only thing that may change is your "Boil Off" percentage. (Evaporation Rate)

Well said Carlo, many folks don't seem to grasp the simple idea that it's basically a seesaw -- as volume decreases, gravity increases proportionally and vice versa. That's why most all grain texts tell you to multiply your target volume by your target gravity to get the "magic number" of your total extract, which is all that matters. However, I'd rather have 10 gallons of 1.054 beer than 12 gallons of 1.045 beer! Which is why my hydrometer says 1.040 at 13.5 gallons and I have to boil for 120 minutes to get to target volume at 1.75 gal/hour (~13% evaporation rate) which is ok as I'm pretty much a single infusion mash brewer making decoction style brews. That's another good reason that everyone should have a sight glass on their kettles Ttyal, and ilbcnu!

Prost!

Michel

[hopbumpingbrewer]

Michel,

I totally agree about the final gravity target. I got a refracometer and as I get close the end of my boil I start checking my gravity. Sometimes I have to boil longer than expected.

"Better beer does not equal more beer". Hit those target numbers.

I think one of the main thing that homebrewers do wrong is that they are guessing as to what the final gravity will be. If I want 1.066. I am gonna do everything in my power to get it. Boiling a little longer never hurt me and really doesn't add any more IBU's either.

The other factor that many people do not think about is the dilution that happens with a starter. Calculating how much and what the gravity of the starter is does make a difference. So if we think that we have a 1.066 for example, we may really have 1.064 because of the starter.

There sure are a lot of factors to hitting the numbers correctly that's for sure.

Keep well,

Carlo