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Date: 11 Nov 2006 08:30:04
From: Stoutman
Subject: Suggestions for first all-grain batch.
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I think I'm pretty much ready to start my first AG batch. I love Stouts
and generally darker beers but I do like a good pale ale occasionally. I'm
not into Lagers much either.
Given that, any recommendations on not over-thinking/over-complicating
things and brewing a descently simple AG... or am I already over-thinking
things?
TIA
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Date: 11 Nov 2006 05:30:04
From: alebrewer
Subject: Re: Suggestions for first all-grain batch.
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Stoutman wrote:
> I think I'm pretty much ready to start my first AG batch. I love Stouts
> and generally darker beers but I do like a good pale ale occasionally. I'm
> not into Lagers much either.
>
> Given that, any recommendations on not over-thinking/over-complicating
> things and brewing a descently simple AG... or am I already over-thinking
> things?
>
> TIA
I'd say go for an oatmeal stout!
9 Lbs 2-Row
1 Lb Crystal (60L or greater, I use 120)
1 Lb Quick Oats (I use the whole 20 oz box)
0.5 Lb Chocolate Malt
0.5 Lb Black Patent
I like about 1 oz of 8-10 AA bittering and .5 oz flavor and 0.5 aroma
(Kent Goldings in good).
Check the calibration of your thermometer (boiling water and ice
water). I use a mercury dairy thermometer (I know, heavy metal
poisoning, but I haven't broken it, yet) I picked up at an antique
shop. It is very accurate.
I have my LHBS double crush the grains and I add the oats directly to
the grist prior to dough in.
Dough in to shoot for 150-152 F and stir well (I'll "accept" from 148
to 155). I usually use 170 F strike water and have a gallon of cool
water on hand to lower the temp to my target (If necessary). Stir
well. Stir about every 20 minutes. Did I mention stir well? An hour
of mashing at 150 is good.
I do a 2 batch sparge (drain initial mash and two sparges) to collect
around 7.5 gal. I use a batch sparge because there is a chance of a
stuck sparge (slow run-off) and with a batch sparge, you can stir it up
and re-circulate if it sticks (I've had that happen once in the past
hafl-dozen batches).
Good Luck. It is very rewarding.
ab
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Date: 15 Nov 2006 13:57:11
From: Thomas T. Veldhouse
Subject: Re: Suggestions for first all-grain batch.
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Stoutman <jynnxt@g..nospam..mail.com > wrote:
>
> Given that, any recommendations on not over-thinking/over-complicating
> things and brewing a descently simple AG... or am I already over-thinking
> things?
I think your first all-grain should be a stout, as it is about the most
forgiving of all beers. Use it to work out your procedure and then try a pale
ale or IPA. Don't try anything light [like a golden ale, kolche or any lager]
until you get your procedure down, as these beers will expose your deficits
more [i.e. too much oxygen at the wrong time, less flexible with improper
crush, hopping levels, etc].
Whatever you do ... make sure you measure your mash efficiency so that you can
learn to formulate your beers and target them dead on. Soon, you will be
confident enough to fly without a hydrometer if you really want to [I always
use it ... but many people "wing" it once they are confident with a particular
setup].
--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: D281 77A5 63EE 82C5 5E68 00E4 7868 0ADC 4EFB 39F0
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Date: 15 Nov 2006 21:44:36
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Suggestions for first all-grain batch.
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On Sat, 11 Nov 2006 08:30:04 GMT, <jynnxt@g > wrote:
> I think I'm pretty much ready to start my first AG batch. I love Stouts
> and generally darker beers but I do like a good pale ale occasionally. I'm
> not into Lagers much either.
>
> Given that, any recommendations on not over-thinking/over-complicating
> things and brewing a descently simple AG... or am I already over-thinking
> things?
Dark beers make a good choice for trying something new since they help to
hide any flaws. IMO, it's good to build confidence the first time and
then worry about figuring out what your problems are later. A stout would
make an excellent choice. Also, if you see a recipe calling for anything
more than a single step mash, skip it and find another recipe. Multi-step
mashes are very rarely required anyway, and are especially good to avoid on
your first attempt. Keep things simple and you'll be fine.
John.
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Date: 17 Nov 2006 05:39:43
From: Stoutman
Subject: Re: Suggestions for first all-grain batch.
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John 'Shaggy' Kolesar <spam@shagg.net > wrote in
news:slrneln2rd.89b.spam@weizen.shagg.net:
Thanks for the replies all! :)
I definitely hear you all on the stout and I think that will likely be my
2nd AG (will probably steal that recipe Alebrewer posted) since I have a
stout sitting in Secondary right now I decided to take a little bigger
risk and go with a Honey Amber. I have a pretty simple recipe lined up
so I figured I'd go for it.
Tell me what you think with this:
7.5# 2-Row Domestic
0.5# Special B
0.25# Biscuit
1# Raspberry Honey added at boil
0.55oz Cascade (7.8%) - 60 min.
0.30oz Cascade (7.8%) - 45 min.
0.30oz Cascade (7.8%) - 15 min.
0.25oz Cascade (7.8%) - 5 min.
Mash all my grains together at 153F. for 60 minutes. Using 1.52 Qts/Lbs
ratio.
My grain should be ~68F and I'm guessing my MT thermal mass (5G. Gott) at
.30 so I'll strike with 12.5Qt@173F
Using White Labs WLP001 California Ale
I'll use some Irish Moss in last 15 min. of boil.
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Date: 17 Nov 2006 09:16:58
From: Denny Conn
Subject: Re: Suggestions for first all-grain batch.
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Stoutman wrote:
> 1# Raspberry Honey added at boil
FWIW, I think you'll be wasting this by adding it to the boil. Between
the boiling and fermentation, you'll lose pretty much all of the both
the raspberry and honey character. You could add it at flameout, or in
the secondary, which is what I prefer to do to keep all the volatile
flavors and aromatics intact as much as possible.
--------- >Denny
--
Life begins at 60...1.060, that is.
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Date: 18 Nov 2006 01:52:55
From: Stoutman
Subject: Re: Suggestions for first all-grain batch.
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Denny Conn <denny.g.conn@ci.eugene.or.us > wrote in
news:455DEE8A.EDB7F3AC@ci.eugene.or.us:
> Stoutman wrote:
>
>> 1# Raspberry Honey added at boil
>
> FWIW, I think you'll be wasting this by adding it to the boil.
> Between the boiling and fermentation, you'll lose pretty much all of
> the both the raspberry and honey character. You could add it at
> flameout, or in the secondary, which is what I prefer to do to keep
> all the volatile flavors and aromatics intact as much as possible.
>
> --------->Denny
> --
> Life begins at 60...1.060, that is.
>
Excellent point! I hadn't thought about that. I think for this batch I'll
try adding it at flame out and then make the same thing again later but add
it at secondary without changing anything else and see what kind of
difference there is.
Thanks for the tip. :)
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Date: 22 Nov 2006 06:05:22
From: Stoutman
Subject: Re: Suggestions for first all-grain batch.
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Stoutman <jynnxt@g..nospam..mail.com > wrote in
news:Xns987EB5D9D81B6jynnxtgmailcom@199.45.49.11:
> Denny Conn <denny.g.conn@ci.eugene.or.us> wrote in
> news:455DEE8A.EDB7F3AC@ci.eugene.or.us:
>
>> Stoutman wrote:
>>
>>> 1# Raspberry Honey added at boil
>>
>> FWIW, I think you'll be wasting this by adding it to the boil.
>> Between the boiling and fermentation, you'll lose pretty much all of
>> the both the raspberry and honey character. You could add it at
>> flameout, or in the secondary, which is what I prefer to do to keep
>> all the volatile flavors and aromatics intact as much as possible.
>>
>> --------->Denny
>> --
>> Life begins at 60...1.060, that is.
>>
>
> Excellent point! I hadn't thought about that. I think for this batch
> I'll try adding it at flame out and then make the same thing again
> later but add it at secondary without changing anything else and see
> what kind of difference there is.
>
> Thanks for the tip. :)
Actually, I think I was a little over optimistic about the efficiency of
my first mash. I'm not sure but I think I was probably in the low 60's.
My OG was 1.045, so I'm going to add that second # of honey in the
secondary so this batch won't be so weak. Yeah, it will definitely
change the beer up quite a bit but it's the holidays, peeps will drink
anything this time of year. ;)
I have another amber that I'm going to pitch on top of this cake this
weekend then next week I'll do the stout on top of that. :)
Fun, fun, I don't know why I didn't go AG a long time ago. SWMBO likes
the fact that it costs me less money and consumes more time to make a
batch of beer.
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Date: 21 Nov 2006 23:16:50
From:
Subject: Re: Suggestions for first all-grain batch.
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Stoutman wrote:
> Stoutman <jynnxt@g..nospam..mail.com> wrote in
> I have another amber that I'm going to pitch on top of this cake this
> weekend then next week I'll do the stout on top of that. :)
Mmmm. Stout.
>
> Fun, fun, I don't know why I didn't go AG a long time ago. SWMBO likes
> the fact that it costs me less money and consumes more time to make a
> batch of beer.
For me it is exactly the opposite. I did all grain a bit over a year
ago and had water issues. My wife was glad when I went back to about
70% of my beers being extract. 2 hours vs. 6 hours was a real plus for
me. I only do all grain when I need a really pale beer, and even then
I might do extract or partial mash for the time savings.
Bryan
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