Goin All Grain

[ucflumberjack]

Hello everyone. I am moving into a house that will have the space for me to do some all-grain brewing so I decided that I'm going to take the plunge. I have been reading and reading and reading about beer for about as long as I've been making mead (1-2 years) and I think I know most of what I need to know before starting but I do have a few questions about everyones experience with decoction mashing.

I know that its not necesary for modern malts efficiency wise, but does anybody notice a flavor difference when decoction mashing? I know that a few of you love to do reductions of the first runnings from the sparge but thats not the same as a decoction mash. Do you think that the flavor contribution would be similar?

Do you have any tips to somebody making the conversion from partial mash/boil to all grain?

 

[GrantLee63]

Good decision on going all-grain UC ..... although I have never done a decoction mash, my suggestion is to start with single infusion mashes, as they work very well with the vast majority of styles that you will be making. I would venture to guess that you would not be able to detect any noticable differences between the beers you make using a single infusion versus a decoction mash.

- GL63

 

[yabodie]

Denny Conn gave a seminar at NHC this year about pragmatic brewing, AKA cheap and easy brewing. He did an experiment on decoction brewing vs single infusion to determine if it was actually worth the additional time and effort. Basically he had the exact same recipe, yeast, etc the only difference was the mashing method. The judges were national BJCP judges and they could not really find the difference between the two batches.

So if you are just starting with all grain, AWESOME, but stick with single infusions until you learn your system. Keep it simple and you should have great beers. Also make a recipe, then make the same one again to see how well you can replicate your brews... Have fun!!

 

[Summersolstice]

It's funny how so many things in life come full circle. I began drinking beer when I was young and moved to distilled spirits in my 30s. A decade later brought me to wine and then mead and now I just started brewing about three months ago. I began with partial mashes and braggots and I'm progressing toward AG Belgians and Scottish beers. After several hundred bottles in the cellar, I figured I could squeeze in a few gallons of beer just for a change of pace.
:cheers:

 

[OOC92]

A few hundred bottles? *drools* You don't have an pictures of this Glass Valhalla do you?

 

[GrantLee63]

Hey UC,

Here is a very basic *and* very good summer brew that I've made a few times, and what a better beer to make than one with HONEY in it as this is GotMead.Com after all !!! This has become a favorite of all the beer drinkers that I associate with, both male and female. Although listed is the Orange Blossom version, I've made it with Wildflower and it is equally as good. These days I use dry yeasts almost exclusively, particularly Fermentis US-05 and S-33 - much cheaper, and I'll be damned if I can tell the difference. Give it a shot!

Orange Blossom Cream Ale
Cream Ale

Type: All Grain
Date: 10/14/2006
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Brewer: GrantLee63
Boil Size: 7.72 gal
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 86.00
Taste Notes: Light, Fruity, Citrusy .... A very nice light Ale that will be put into a regular rotation.

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.00 lb Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) (3.5 SRM) Grain 42.11 %
1.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 15.79 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 10.53 %
1.00 lb Corn - Yellow, Flaked (Briess) (1.3 SRM) Grain 10.53 %
1.00 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (60 min) Hops 15.9 IBU
0.50 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (2 min) Hops 0.7 IBU
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
2.00 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 21.05 %
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.44 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.22 %
Bitterness: 16.6 IBU Calories: 246 cal/pint
Est Color: 4.8 SRM Color: Color


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body Total Grain Weight: 7.50 lb
Sparge Water: 6.52 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Full Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp
90 min Mash In Add 9.38 qt of water at 169.2 F 154.0 F



Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar Volumes of CO2: 2.7
Pressure/Weight: 5.4 oz Carbonation Used: 5.00
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 68.0 F Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 68.0 F

Notes

Made starter with yeast. Added 2.0 pounds of Orange Blossom Honey when wort was ~ 150 F.

- GL63

 

[ucflumberjack]

I work at The Home Depot and their 7.2 cubic foot chest style freezers just went on sale.... That means I can now (probably) afford to get a temp controlled fermentation going and a draft system. That recipe might just have to be the first one on tap. My new room mates will apppreciate it. Ill let yall know how things are progressing.

Im not moving in until the 14th so Ill try to time things so they will arrive close to that time.

 

[Summersolstice]

A few hundred bottles? *drools* You don't have an pictures of this Glass Valhalla do you?

This photo's about six months old and I've bottled a couple of carboys since then. There's also a couple of 120-bottle wine racks in the main room in the basement. This is about 1/3 mead and 2/3 wine. My wife thinks I'm obsessed :

 

[Kee]

This photo's about six months old and I've bottled a couple of carboys since then. There's also a couple of 120-bottle wine racks in the main room in the basement. This is about 1/3 mead and 2/3 wine. My wife thinks I'm obsessed :

Hold on. I'll respond once I finish drooling...

 

[sandman]

:-[ I miss my basement... Waaaahhhh!!!!

It's the only thing I miss about Michigan when it comes down to it.

 

[skunkboy]

Wow, SummerSolstice, where did you find those blue milk crates with the corners on inside that the carboys fit in so nicely?

 

[Summersolstice]

Wow, SummerSolstice, where did you find those blue milk crates with the corners on inside that the carboys fit in so nicely?

The crates are actually water bottle crates. Our local Culligan water dealer isn't using them anymore and I bought four to fit my 5-gallon carboys. I have a bad back and the built in handles really help. That, and the fact that the carboys are completely protected against accidental bumps, made the $6 price hard to pass up.

 

[OOC92]

I have seen paradise, now the gods may take me to Valhalla! Summer that is incredible and mind-boggling, you are NOT obsessed- you are just expansive! I think it is a thousand times better than having a basement full of junk and worthless power-tools!

Yes Sandman, I know what you mean. I live in New Orleans, and we have absolutely no way of having a basement. Infact we dont even bury our dead- we have to put them in tombs!

 

[ucflumberjack]

lol man you people are amazing......

Thats the only thing that would drive me to live in the cold again...... A basement. I wish I had that kind of storage space..... My ambitions are bigger than my living space. one day.....

 

[ucflumberjack]

GL: Im about to order supplies for my first AG batch(your Orange Blossom Cream Ale) and the LHBS is out of Liberty hops, what would you suggest as a substitute?

 

[GrantLee63]

Hallertauer Tradition, Hallertauer, Mt. Hood - based on this chart from BYO:

http://www.byo.com/referenceguide/hops/

Keep in mind that the largest addition (the 1 ounce at 60 minutes) is for bittering, so it probably doesn't really matter much which hop variety you use for that - just keep the AA's around 4 - 4.5%. And to be honest, you can probably skip the aroma addition (the 1/2 ounce at 5 minutes), but then that's just my preference and I'm not much of a hop-head.

Good luck - I know it's not easy to find certain hops these days, but I also know you're going to really like this beer. :icon_thumright:

- GL63

 

[ucflumberjack]

I went with Hallertau. I like hops quiet a bit so Im gonna keep the second addition. I ordered the ingredients for the beer as well as the equipment to finish my draft system and two more kegs!!!!!! Im gonna pick it all up tuesday and brew tuesday or wednesday. I might get more ingredients to do lumberjak ale #3, in which case ill probably do one tuesday and the other on wednesday. Time will tell.....

 

[UDV]

Ignore my drool,

But that is the prettiest set of basement photos I've ever seen.

How would you go about building a rack like that to store bottles in? I'm already running into a problem just having 60 or 70 bottles of wine (both purchased and home brew) kept up. /msg me privately on that, as I'd rather not threadjack this.

 

[ucflumberjack]

Well I brewed the cream ale today. Things went much more smoothely than I thought they would. I brewed the Cream Ale that GL posted. I used wildflower honey and 2# extra pale malt and still came in a little under(1.045ish). My mash temp was a little low which is weird because I thought that would have made the gravity higher? Or is it just going to end up drier? Well either way, one batch down, a million to go...... Tomorrow Im trying a big beer. I think im going to call it Lumberjack Export Ale. Its gonna look like this:

18 lbs. American Pale Ale 2-row
.5 lbs. American Caramel 60°L
.5 lbs. American Caramel 40°L
.25 lbs. English Chocolate Malt
2 lbs. Honey
1 oz. Yakima Magnum (Whole, 14.50 %AA) boiled 60 min.
1 oz. Yakima Magnum (Whole, 14.50 %AA) boiled 30 min.
2 oz. Cascade (Whole, 5.50 %AA) boiled 5 min.

Original Gravity 1.106
Terminal Gravity 1.023
Color 18.94 °SRM
Bitterness 78.7 IBU
Alcohol (%volume) 11.1 %


The honey is really just for gravity reasons. I think I should have gotten more hops, but I'm not worried about it this time around. I'll see how this one tastes and go from there.

 

[GrantLee63]

The lower your mash temps the more fermentable sugars will be converted - it will not affect your OG readings, but will affect your FG readings, ie, the more fermentable sugars you have, the lower your finishing gravity. So to answer your question, yes, your beer will finish drier. With that being said, what was your mash temp? Also, did you, or the HBS crush your grain? Are you batch or fly sparging? Do you know what your pH was? All of these have an influence on efficiency. Speaking of efficiency, do you know what yours was?

BTW, that beer will still be great with your 1.045 OG.

- GL63