Iowa Brewers Union

Advancing the art and science of home brewing in central Iowa

First All Grain Brew Feedback

I'm doing my first all grain tomorrow, and looking for some feedback and pointers. Below is the recipe I found on the internet that someone put together using BeerSmith. One of the main questions I have is how much water to use for sparging. I see stats on the internet any where from 4-6 gallons for the amount of grain I'm using (12.5 lbs).

Further below is the schedule I put togther so I don't mess things up too much. Any feedback would be appreciated. I did change some of the measurements from the original recipe after reading doing some research.

Lastly, thanks to Steve Becker and Torrey for the good info on stirring and watching temps.

Thanks,

Zeke

Recipe: Harvest Ale American ESB
Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)
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Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 14.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 33.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 64.00 %
2.00 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 16.00 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 8.00 %
1.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 8.00 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) (First Wort HopHops 18.4 IBU
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 9.1 IBU
1.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
1 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #S-05) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12.50 lb
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Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 3.88 gal of water at 167.8 F 152.0 F

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Heat up 3.5 gallons of water to 163°
Mix all Grain and Strike Water in Mash Tun – Goal is 152°
Let grains sit in Mash Tun for 60 mins.
- Begin heating up 5 gallons of sparge water to 170°
- Sanitize racking equipment and large Carboy
After 60 mins begin rinsing water, up to 20 mins
Drain off water into boil kettle
Begin sparging mash
Gather up to 6.5 gallons of wort
Bring wort to a boil
Boil for 60 mins
- Add 1 oz of hops – 60 mins
- Add 1.5 oz of hops – 15 mins
- Add 1.75 oz of hops – 5 mins
Cool down with wort-chiller
Prime yeast
Rack cooled wort into sanitized carboy
Pitch yeast and seal with air lock
Store in Basement to ferment

Tags: all, grain

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brian Krier on September 16, 2011 at 2:49pm

Somthing i have found useful is to heat the strike water a little high(5-10 degrees), place into the MLT to pre heat the tun, then stir to cool the water down to desired strike temp.

as far as software goes, I have been running Brew Target. Its a free open source project, pretty easy to use.

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Permalink Reply by Zeke Furlong on September 16, 2011 at 3:50pm

Thanks, Brian. I'll give Brew Target a try.

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Permalink Reply by David Bryan on September 16, 2011 at 6:54pm

I would suggest using at least 4 and probably 5 gallons of strike water for 12.5 lbs of grain. I find that 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain gets me my best efficiency. I would then use 4 gallons for sparging and fill your kettle to 6.5 gallons. You will probably lose 1.5 - 2 gallons of water in the mash. Sounds like a fun day, good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Conley on September 17, 2011 at 9:27am

well hopefully im not to late to reply but preheat that mash tun, and welcome to all grain brewing, its not as scary as it seems, hope everything goes well and GL.