Did my first AG

[OldBugman]

Hey guys,

Well yesterday I attempted my first all grain, it was fun and interesting.

Using a 25L rectangle cooler with a copper manifold I did the following

4KG of JW ale malt
150g wheat malt
200g Crystal

Heated up 16L of water and added to grain, resulted in 157-155deg F for 60minutes(giving the ocational stir, recirculated and then drained.

heated up 2nd lot of water to 170degf and added to grain stirred let sit for 5minutes and then recirced and drained.

Proceded to do boil as usual, used 1/2 whirfloc tablet 10mins.

When it came time to cool the wort I connected the chiller and ran it. Now this is where I noticed something that has differed. the wort appeared to coagulate with a almost crystal clear colour on top. if I stirred with the spoon the wort would return to it's muddy brown colour.

Upon completion of cool down to 28deg C (boy it was hot yesterday in the sun) I poured it into the fermenter, was unsure if I should have poured it all in or just poured in the clear top layer of liquid. I ended up pouring it all in. and the fermenter was filled up to 18L.


The resulting OG was 1040.

Should I have let the grain soak for longer than 60minutes? Should I have let the 2nd water load sit for longer? Whats thedeal with the serpartion of materials in the wort?

[Ed]

Hey congrats on the first one, sounds like it went pretty smooth.

What you're seeing there is the cold break forming, it's just seperating out. You can keep it all moving and it will still settle if you let it sit before transferring to fermenter. After cooling, I just stick the lid on while I clean and ready the fermenter. It's surprising just how clear it ends up after allowing to settle, the solids just make up a couple of litres in the bottom.

I like to leave most of that debris in the kettle but I don't worry too much if some finds it's way into the fermenter. Of course, those using counterfow chillers will drop just about everything into their fermenters. Some say it doesn't matter, some say it does. What I do is just siphon the wort to the fermenter as I don't have a tap. If I try to pick the fermenter up and pour, that material does suspend again quite easily (as you noticed).

I think your proceedure was good. 60 minutes is long enough, and 5 minutes should be good too (some don't let it sit at all, some let it sit longer). Lots of stirring does help. You hit 54% efficiency which is fine for a first go. It will get better as you go along. Next time, use more water and you'll end up having better efficiency and greater volume to play with. It's just a case of fine tuning each time, but I reckon a good result.

Cheers, Ed

edit: as it all looks good, pay attention to volume and grain crush. You will find there shouldn't be any reason why efficiency won't go up to at least 70% very soon.

[lethaldog]

Did you use any hops?

[OldBugman]

Thanks Ed,

I bought crushed grain as I dont yet have a mill.

Over all it wasnt too bad, did a fair bit of research, but there is nothing like getting stuck in and doing it.

lethal: No, I like my beer like I like my women.. sweet. /jk
Yeah some POR for bittering and some cascade for flavour and aroma, 20g POR @ 60min and 15g cascade at 20,15,10

[lethaldog]

Thanks Ed,

I bought crushed grain as I dont yet have a mill.

Over all it wasnt too bad, did a fair bit of research, but there is nothing like getting stuck in and doing it.

lethal: No, I like my beer like I like my women.. sweet. /jk
Yeah some POR for bittering and some cascade for flavour and aroma, 20g POR @ 60min and 15g cascade at 20,15,10

I have bought a mill but still dont have one

[ACTbrewer]

Good stuff, welcome to the AG club!

[Duane]

well done on your first mate, no looking back now hey
as Ed said, dont worry about efficiencies and trub getting into your fermenter
too much just yet. Just get stuck in and do it. Increase in efficiency will
come as you do more and actually see whats going on.
Your efficiency looks around 60% which is ok for you first go. my first
was 54%

[OldBugman]

one thing I noticed when recircing the cloudy wort. it wasnt very cloudy like I have seen in pictures before.