All-Grain

[Sleepy T]

Just finished my first all-grain batch the other day with my new manifold/cooler system and batch sparge. Was pretty proud of the way it worked out. My first time using this system and my mash temp was a bit low (146F), had to scramble and boil up a half gallon of water to add and it luckily brought up the temp to 149F.

One thing I was a bit confused about was the temp loss I had during this process. Water was added from the pot at 162 and dropped all the way to 146 after I mixed in the grain. Guess I need to adjust? Seemed like alot of loss though. Another thing is the mash volume I lost. I went for a 90 minute mash because I heard it would be more efficient. I lost almost 2 gallons of water (from 5.5 from the mash and sparge). Is that a normal level lost for mashing (grain absor.)? If so, guess i need to just sparge more. Efficiency turned out around 75%. Not too bad for first time IMO.

Any suggestions on these items would be great (mash time, temp. loss, etc.)

 

[757Hokie83]

ive done a few all-grain batches, i know my first go 'round i was a little surprised by how much more involved and time consuming it was. honestly i havent even checked to see how efficient my system is running, lol.

there is a very helpful dvd available from northernbrewer.com that i have (and usually watch before every all-grain batch) goes over basically everything that needs to be covered for all-grain, including calculations to determine exactly how much water you will need for finish off with 5 gallons...i've got it all written down somewhere, ill try to find it tonight and report back

 

[Sleepy T]

ive done a few all-grain batches, i know my first go 'round i was a little surprised by how much more involved and time consuming it was. honestly i havent even checked to see how efficient my system is running, lol.

there is a very helpful dvd available from northernbrewer.com that i have (and usually watch before every all-grain batch) goes over basically everything that needs to be covered for all-grain, including calculations to determine exactly how much water you will need for finish off with 5 gallons...i've got it all written down somewhere, ill try to find it tonight and report back

Cool. I have been using an online calculator where you put in factors in your system which is great. It is much more time consuming but I am hoping it will be worth it. My bro and U are talking about buying the base grain in bulk at some point too, which makes brewing much more cost effective.

 

[757Hokie83]

shit. i forgot to look for the calculations...guessing since you just brewed, you probably wont be at it again for a couple days at least? ill dig it up over the weekend

Stepping Into All-Grain Brewing DVD : Northern Brewer

this is the dvd that i have, $17.99

they have another one for $7.99, but i cant speak to the content of that one, or how valuable it is
Homebrewing 301: Getting Started with All-Grain DVD : Northern Brewer