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I did it. It tastes pretty good. I had a few snags in the brew (two boil overs, forgot to get Irish moss, no good way to measure hot liquor volumes) but I had a fun day of brewing and learning & the Good Life Pale Ale from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing is underway. I'll post some pictures of my rig later. Lots of information to process to get ready for the next batch. My brew may make it to Hoptoberfest.

There's also a beer bread in the bread machine - can't wait to try that too.

Thanks to everyone who provided advice on the forum so I could get to this point.

Congrats on your first AG.
Something to be proud of for sure. Nothing like drinking something that you made completly and have it tasting so good.

I have a pot for strike water, and what I did was to fill a liter jug and mark on my pot where 15 liters was. Did the same
for my sparge pot. The only thing I really vary is the amount of grain I use.

I carved notches in a plastic spoon at each half gallon mark for my 48 Litre pot

Great job Ben !!!

Can't wait to taste it.

John & Anita

Great to hear, Ben! Hope to taste it at Hoptoberfest.

Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes. It's that excellent. I marked a ss rod as a measuring stick.

So you just keep the HLT at the desired temperature and scoop/pump out the desired volume of liquid to put in the MLT? That's essentially what I tried to do, without a logical way of measuring. Each scoop was 1qt, but remembering which quart I was on hurt my brain.

I use a pump, but gravity works well too.

on your first few batches stay away from the homebrew makes life easier

Nbbeerguy wrote:on your first few batches stay away from the homebrew makes life easier

This is probably batch ~15 or 20. First AG.

mr x wrote:I use a pump, but gravity works well too.

My budget sucks. Some day I'll pick up a pump or two.

I figure the biggest improvements I can make right now for less than $25 are better ability to measure the water (notches), get more experience, use a second pot to as a bit of an HLT during the later stages of the sparge so I can start bringing the wort to a boil, and buy some bags of ice to speed the chilling process (don't want to wait). I could be 100% wrong with promoting these to the top of my list, but if anyone else has tips for free/almost free things to do to improve precision & speed that'd be awesome. I'll post the pictures of my rig in a moment.

Here's my MLT & primary with the grain bag, book, iPad, and matches in front.


IMG_20110827_144416 by the bengineer, on Flickr

The 30QT burner. 32 would've been perfect I think.

IMG_20110827_144410 by the bengineer, on Flickr

Sparging the mash. I need to get a hose so the wort doesn't splash around, but I wasn't allowed to modify the cooler as my parents still use it once or twice each summer. If you look closely the temperature probe is coming up the back left. I also need something to spray the water on with.

IMG_20110827_160729 by the bengineer, on Flickr

I had to do something to keep the grain from clogging the drain, but it had to be removable. This worked surprisingly well.

IMG_20110827_144615 by the bengineer, on Flickr

I didn't calculate my efficiency but I'll look into how to do that later. It sounds like I'll need data from the malt sheet, which I don't have, and perhaps a measurement which I neglected to take.

You shouldn't need the data from the malt sheet if you are using half decent brewing software.

mr x wrote:You shouldn't need the data from the malt sheet if you are using half decent brewing software.

Can you recommend one that is free? Or one to buy when I get paid, which is probably going to be close to thanksgiving? I'd definitely like to figure out my efficiency & see how it improves.

I haven't done any all grain yet myself, but Beersmith seems to be the go-to program. It's $28 to purchase, but you get a 21 day free trial before you buy if you want. ProMash is another program that seems to be popular, it's $25.

Brewtarget is a free open source program similar to beersmith or promash, I'm sure either are fine but I'll let someone more experienced speak up.

benwedge wrote:

mr x wrote:You shouldn't need the data from the malt sheet if you are using half decent brewing software.

Can you recommend one that is free? Or one to buy when I get paid, which is probably going to be close to thanksgiving? I'd definitely like to figure out my efficiency & see how it improves.

Brewtarget is free (on sf.net, iirc) and Nash gave it a pretty decent review. I use it successfully, though I haven't used anything else to compare it to...

derek wrote:

benwedge wrote:

mr x wrote:You shouldn't need the data from the malt sheet if you are using half decent brewing software.

Can you recommend one that is free? Or one to buy when I get paid, which is probably going to be close to thanksgiving? I'd definitely like to figure out my efficiency & see how it improves.

Brewtarget is free (on sf.net, iirc) and Nash gave it a pretty decent review. I use it successfully, though I haven't used anything else to compare it to...

I'll borrow SWMBO's laptop and try that. Free is awesome right now. Always awesome, really.

I use beersmith, and highly recommend it.

I like Beer Alchemy (Mac software). You can get it for your iPad too (BeerAlchemy Touch). I use it on my iphone when brewing and like it a lot. Also, you can install a stainless steel mesh screen manifold in that cooler that is easy to install and remove whenever needed. All parts from Home Depot too. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index. ... a_mash_tun" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

John

A second vote for BeerAlchemy here.

benwedge wrote: I didn't calculate my efficiency but I'll look into how to do that later. It sounds like I'll need data from the malt sheet, which I don't have, and perhaps a measurement which I neglected to take.

Efficiency is a cool metric to track, but I think its more important to be consistent. It helps with recipe formulation - if you're consistently ~ 75% then you have a good idea how much grain you'll need to reach the target OG

akr71 wrote:

benwedge wrote: I didn't calculate my efficiency but I'll look into how to do that later. It sounds like I'll need data from the malt sheet, which I don't have, and perhaps a measurement which I neglected to take.

Efficiency is a cool metric to track, but I think its more important to be consistent. It helps with recipe formulation - if you're consistently ~ 75% then you have a good idea how much grain you'll need to reach the target OG

I definitely agree. A large part of my studies/work is in reducing process variability. Gotta measure the data to improve the process

I see you have what looks like an Ipad good app is

ibrewmaster

free program I use to formulate recipes is

http://www.beertools.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

beertools pro has got a few very good reviews from a few of our club members

Nbbeerguy wrote:I see you have what looks like an Ipad good app is

ibrewmaster

free program I use to formulate recipes is

http://www.beertools.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

beertools pro has got a few very good reviews from a few of our club members

Looks good. I'll check them out when I get home tomorrow.

Just transferred it to the secondary. Everything is looking good so far, except... RIP Saccharometer 0-8.5Brix. You served me well, the one time I removed you from your case. It looks like I hit 3.95% alcohol, and I've yet to plug in the recipe to get the efficiency.

We need a broken hydrometer avatar.