My first all grain beer

[scotty]

I only tried making beer once last year. I used liquid extract. Accidently, i poured the sediment from the boil into the fermenter. I dont know if thats why it came out terrible or the fact my buddy was not paying attention to our strict sanitation methods-- i let him pass not wanting to insult him too mant times

This time i will do it alone. I have mash tum--sparge water tank, fermenters and a fair amount of experience with wine and whiskey making.


SOO FOR MY QUESTIONS
I purchased the grains(( for a 5 gallon batch)) at a store in tampa that specializes in grains for brewers. They had a book with diferent beers listed and the grain bill. The sheet also contained instructions. I dont find them detailed enough for an in experienced beer brewer like me
THE BILL
9 lbs. crisp pearl pale ale
8 oz crisp crystal 45
8 oz crisp amber malt

HOPS
1 oz chinook 60 minutes
1 oz challanger 30 minutes
1 oz challanger 5 minutes

sacrification rest 152 deg for 60 minutes
i imagine the sacrification rest is what i would call mashing the grains
the temp is the desired temperature, so i will get the mash tun about 15 degrees hotter before adding the grain.
My mash tun is completely insulated


then after mashing and sparging to get about 5 1/2 gallons , I put a fire under the boiling pot. I have an 8 gallon pot.

Watch carefully so it doesnt boil over and add hops as the above times ask.

Do i use a hops bag????


after the boil, quick cooling and pitching my starter bottle prepared in advance.

I suspect that boiling drove out all the oxygen so i want to aerate with a stone for for about one hour as the temperature is coming down to about 70F(pitching temp as i see it)).


I NEED SOME COACHING PLEASE

 

[BeerAlchemist]

Getting the hop and protein sediment from the boil in the fermenter isn't ideal, but it won't ruin anything either so you probably had something else going on in your first attempt.

Well, if you make whiskey, then you know how to mash so this shouldn't be too hard, its just more important to control temps because you won't have the luxory of distilling to hide mistakes.

Saccarification rest refers to the temperature range during the mash that starches are converted into sugars...but yes, it is the mash. There are other rests such as protein and acid rests; however, your recipe does not call for this, just something for you to be aware of.

Google "strike water calculator" and you will find some good calculators that will dial your mash temp in. It will want to know the grain temp, grain amount, water amount, and a thermal factor (usually they offer a preset factor, such as 3 degrees for insulated mash tuns...this is referring to how much heat will be lost to heating up the mash tun). These are usually pretty accurate. Just note it takes around 5 minutes after adding water for temps to settle so don't worry if they are high/low and start trying to adjust, give it time to balance and then adjust if needed. Just, try to get as accurate as possible with your mash temp as this will highly impact the quality and character of your beer...I keep it to within a degree, but a few degrees +/- and you will be ok.

I use a hop bag for whole hops and if I'm using pellets I just toss them in.

You won't need to aerate for an how, you can just give the carboy a solid 5 minutes of shaking. If you use an air pump and stone make sure to use an in-line filter so you don't innoculate the wort with the local wild bugs in the air. As well, don't start adding air until the wort is under 90 degrees.

One final, make sure to have some pale dry malt extract on hand as it is not uncommon to get bad efficiency (especially if you crushed the grains using a poor quality mill or used the homebrew shops mill). If you have a refractometer, which I highly recommend you get one if you don't, check your gravity with around 10 minutes to go, if you need to bump it up some add the DME.

 

[bob1]

I have never really needed a hop bag. I give it a big stir and let is set for 10 min then use the auto siphon to transfer wort to carboy. Hops will just settle to bottom when the wort is cooled. I use one of the strainers also to help aireate it during filling the carboy. I just see the bag as something else to clean.

 

[scotty]

I'm so gratefull for the information.

A comment on my first failure. The taste was sour indicating a bacterial infection. That wont happen again.

I just ordered some hop bags but my tun has a straining system in it. Plus i was going to use a grain bag.

Any more tips or corrections please

 

[scotty]

After a bit of thought i realised that the hops dont go into the mash tun. I'll get it straight yet. I'm going to google strike water calculator and take some notes

 

[scotty]

Alchemist
could you elaborate on your comment about the brewshops mill-- I am thinking of a mill soon and want an adjustable gear driven model.

 

[BeerAlchemist]

Alchemist
could you elaborate on your comment about the brewshops mill-- I am thinking of a mill soon and want an adjustable gear driven model.

Holy crap, just re-read what I wrote...apparently getting distracted at work and not proof reading makes for some interesting typos.

The greatest challange in homebrewing is being consistent IMO. To achieving this means keeping things, well, consistent, and LHBS's grain mills are used by multiple people and multiple employees so you really don't know if you get the same crush each time you show up or not. This can really impact your mash efficiency which in turn can be highly frustrating. You may also be dealing with a low quality mill or a mill that isn't intended for malt (we have a LHBS that uses a commercial coffee grinder) which can cause excessive husk damage leading to over extraction of tannins.

I use a Monster Mill MM3 with a 1/2 HP electric motor, it has ran flawlessly for years and provides a very consistent crush. If you need a good reason to justify purchasing a crusher, look at the cost between buying your base grain in bulk and /lb.