Batch #4 - Ale - all-grain

With my new mash/lauter tun in hand, I'm ready to try an all-grain batch. I wasn't planning to buy ingredients when I went to the store, but after learning how easy it would be, I decided to pick up some grain. I really had no idea what I was going to brew and had no recipe. I knew that I needed roughly 2 lbs of grain for every gallon of beer. With that in mind, I sifted through 50 varieties of grain. In the end, here is my grain bill -

4.5 lbs Marris Otter malt
4.5 lbs Gambrinus pale malt
1 lb Extra Special British malt
1 lb Medium Crystal malt (40L)

I got an extra pound because I figured that my extraction rate (i.e., my efficiency in extracting fermentable sugar from the grain when mashing) would be low. You can compensate for low extraction rates by using more grain.

My grain selections were on the pale side (I think), so I decided to go with a pale ale again. I picked up 2oz of Chinook hops, 2oz of Cascade hops, 4 oz of Amarillo hops and liquid yeast (California ale). I also used 10 gallons of bottled spring water.

THE MASH

First step, heat up 6 gallons of water to 160. Then I poured the water into the mash tun and added the 11 lbs of crushed grain. I debated whether to mix the water into the grain or the grain into the water, for unknown reasons, I went with the latter option. I was trying to hit a temperature of 152.

After stirring a few times, the temperature stabilized at 152. I then let it sit for 60 minutes, stirring and monitoring the temp every 15 minutes. I only lost about 1 degree over the hour.

In the meantime, I was heating up the sparge water to 170 (about 3 gallons).

After the 60 minutes, I recirculated a few times and then drained into the brewpot. Then I started pouring in the sparge water at the back end of the cooler. I let that sit for 15 minutes, then drained. Not sure if I did this correctly. My sparge drained real fast (less than 5 min). Afterwards, I read that sparging could take up to an hour. Oh well, I drained until I hit 6.5 gallons in the brewpot.

Next I took a gravity reading - 1.032 at 142 degrees. I haven't done the math yet - but I think that was pretty low. Definitely lower than I wanted.

Next I boiled the wort until it hit the hotbreak (i.e., after the foam subsides). Here is my hopping schedule:

60 min 1.5 oz Chinook (12.6 aau)
30 min .5 oz Chinook
5 min 1 oz Amarillo
knockout 1 oz Amarillo

Also added 1/2 tsp Irish Moss with the first hops.

After the boil - I cooled it to 80 (it took about 20 min). The spec grav was 1.040. How did it get lower? Also, I only got about 4.5 gallons into the fermenter - then, in a panic, I topped off with 1/2 gallon of unsterilized tap water from an unsterilized pitcher. Probably not a good idea.

Mash/Lauter Tun

I finally got around to brewing another batch. Basically, I've been trying to figure out the best way to switch to all grain. I decided on converting a cooler into a mash/lauter tun. I went to the brew shop hoping to get some advice and find some parts.

The basic concept of the mash/lauter tun is to "mash" the grains in hot water for an hour. After mashing the grain in the mash tun, you drain (or lauter) the wort into the brewpot. Commercial breweries do this with a separate mash tun and lauter tun. With a modified cooler, you can do both.

I was prepared to spend about $50 on a cooler and $50 on the modifications. Luckily, the guy at the brewshop showed me an easy way to do the modification for $1.50.

I bought a 58 gallon Coleman rectangular cooler. Then put 3/8" tubing through the drain with a stopcock on the outside - then another length of tubing long enough to get to your kettle. On the inside you take a copper or stainless scouring pad and wrap it around the end of the tube - affixed with a rubberband. This is basically going to keep the grain out of the tube and allow only the wort to drain.

It took about 15 minutes to get the cooler set up. Surprisingly it passed the leak test without a drop. I will probably upgrade this after another batch or two - but for $1.50 - its a cheap way to get started in all grain.

Batch #3 - IPA - update

Its been awhile since the second IPA went into the bottles. Basically, I left it in the primary for a week. Then transferred to the secondary for 2 weeks and dryhopped with 2oz of amarillo. It came out at a final gravity of 1.020 Not quite as low as I wanted - probably should have stayed in the fermenter a bit longer. I bottled with 1/2 cup of sugar.

After a few weeks, I tasted. Its better than Batch #1 - but still has the off flavors.

Of the first three, Batch #2 - the wheat beer - was by far the best.

Next step......all grain.