1st time results: but some questions...

[rich]

Hey Guys,

I guess I managed to pull the all grain off. I did have some problems maintaining the mash temp, since I was mashing right from my brew pot, and giving periodic blasts of heat, and stirring a lot. For the most part, I maintained the right temp, with the occasional drastic deviation. The OG did come out a lot lower than I wanted, so I had to cheat with some DME to boost it.
One thing though. In the past, I fermented in a bucket, and so was unable to see activity going on. This time, I used a carboy, and the foam (Krausen) has thinned out considerably, but there are no holes in it, whereas with the bucket, whenever I took the top off, only beer would be visible in the middle, with a ring of foam around the outer edge of the bucket and that would be it. Should I wait for the foam to completely dissolve before bottling?
Also, I was curious how slow the wort should be allowed to drain out of the sparge bucket when sparging. I set the spout at just a little more than a trickle. It took probably over an hour. Is this too slow?

Rich

[toneyc]

Note that I am only on my fifth all-grain batch so someone correct me if I'm wrong...

I have also missed my target gravity a couple of times. One thing is, are you recirculating prior to collecting your wort? My LHBS instructructions say to recirculate for 35-45 minutes until the wort becomes clear, then collect the wort at a rate of about 1 gallon per 12 minutes for 6-6.5 gallons. So according to that, one hour to collect wort is not too long. It might be a little on the short side.

:)
Toney.

[rich]

Actually I re-circulated maybe the first cup or two. I didn't realize that it needed to be recirculated so long. Also, since I was making a brown ale, and the color came out so dark, I found it very hard to tell if it was coming out clear. I gotta try a lighter colored beer next to see what I'm supposed to be looking for.
Actually, I bottled the beer yesterday, and took the final gravity, and that too was off mark. I was shooting for 1.016, and got 1.030. The brew is still 4.25% ABV, but I was hoping to get more along the lines of 6%. Guess I have a lot of kinks I need to bang out. But I did taste the uncarbonated beer, and I have to say that it tasted real good. Can't wait to pop open the bottles.

Rich

[BucksBrew]

I'm going to try my first All Grain this weekend.

I'll check the PH of the mash to make sure it's down to about 5.1PH. If not I'll add some gypsum or Lactic Acid, 1tsp/5 gallon.

I'm going to add about a half gallon of 173 degree water to stop the enzyme activity in the mash at the end of the 60 minute mash. Stir it up to even the temp. out.

After I recirculate the wort I'm going to Lauter(collect) the wort.

I'm not sure if I should collect it all or start adding my sparge water in a little at a time.

I'm thinking of collecting all the wort, add the 173 degree water, let it sit 10-15 minutes, recirculate and collect the wort to total 6.5 gallons. I'll adjust the PH down to 5.1 with Lactic acid first.

I thought I read to collect it at about a quart a minute, which is a gallon in 4 minutes. I know you want to rinse the grains slowly to maximize the extraction of fermentables. But I think the addition of new water for the 2nd sparge will work fine.

It seems that there are alot of different ways of doing this.

I want to do this in a way that maximizes my target gravity. I think I'll do it my way and see what happens.

How do you guys do it?

Thanks.

[Jughead]

I tend to do whatever is fast. I don't worry about getting max efficiency if I can save some time. I just add an extra pound of grain to my recipe.

[brewmonkey]

I'm thinking of collecting all the wort, add the 173 degree water, let it sit 10-15 minutes, recirculate and collect the wort to total 6.5 gallons. I'll adjust the PH down to 5.1 with Lactic acid first.

I would make sure that if you do this when you add the liquor back to the tun you stir the bed again as it will set (and it can be very tight) when you collect all the wort.

Only concern I would have with this method of collection is the excess tannins you might leech into the wort. Generally a sparge is conducted while maintaining a decent level (1-2") of liquor on top of the grain bed and watching for the pH to drop or the gravity to drop below the 2P mark. Both of those are decent indications that tannins are being leeched.

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by brewmonkey
I would make sure that if you do this when you add the liquor back to the tun you stir the bed again as it will set (and it can be very tight) when you collect all the wort.

Only concern I would have with this method of collection is the excess tannins you might leech into the wort. Generally a sparge is conducted while maintaining a decent level (1-2") of liquor on top of the grain bed and watching for the pH to drop or the gravity to drop below the 2P mark. Both of those are decent indications that tannins are being leeched.

I agree that stirring up the grain bed is important when doing batch like this. It has the added advantage of increasing grain exposure to the liquor, prevents compaction and channeling.

Just remember if you get good conversion then your extract will be much better as a result. Hit and maintain your temps - hit your pH.

[BucksBrew]

BrewMonkey,

I'll think I'll lauter at 1qt/min. and add sparge water to maintain 1-2 inches above grainbed during the collection of the wort.