Beginners Guide to All Grain
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These steps are meant to be basic beginners guide to your first All Grain brew day. There are a lot of advanced techniques that you can explore as you get experience.
Pictures to be posted at a later date.
1. Settle on a recipe. I recommend something low to mid gravity as a first brew
2. Add up your total grain and multiple by 1.25 quarts that total is then divided by 4 to get to gallons. (example: 10 lbs of grain X 1.25 = 12.5 quarts / 4 = 3.125 gallons)
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3. I usually pre-heat my mash tun with one gallon of water (not boiling) while I am heating my strike water. I use this one gallon for my first batch sparge.
4. When you get to strike temp cut your burner off and add ½ of the strike water and ½ of the grain and mix well. Once completely stirred in add the remainder of the strike water and the remainder of the grain. Stir in very well for a few minutes. Check your temp and you should be within a degree +/- of target temp. If not add a few handfuls of ice to cool ot a quart of boiling water to warm (I keep these on hand at the mash)
5. Set your timer for desired mash time. With about 10 min left in the mash collect your sparge water (2 gallons should be sufficient) start warming the sparge water.
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6. When your mash time is move your mash tun to an elevated surface, open the lid and open the valve. Collect 4 quarts and recycle through the grain bed until the wort runs clear. This will help produce a clearer beer down the road. Once the wort is running clear drain the wort into the boil kettle. While this is going on turn the heat up on the first sparge and heat to 168 degrees.
7. Sparge #1, when the wort is finished draining close the valve and dump your sparge water into the mash tun and mix well with your mash paddle. Set the timer for 10 minutes.
8. While Sparge one is occurring, collect 4 gallons of water for sparge #2 and beginning heating.
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9. When the timer is up for sparge #1 again recirculate a few quarts of wort through the grain bed and then drain the mash tun.
10. Once the wort id finished draining dump Sparge #2 water into the mash tun and again stir in very well with the mash paddle. Set your timer for another 10 minutes.
11. When sparge # 2 is finished again recirculate a few quarts of wort through the grain bed. Drain the mash tun to the required pre boil volume.
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12. Start your boil. Once your wort achieves a rolling boil (NOTE: pay attention to your boil, it always boils over when you get busy doing something else) you can start your hop additions at the required times. If you are doing a 60 min boil and you have hop additions at 60, 30 and 10 min I would set your timer for 30 min, then add your hops. The set the timer for 20 min and add your 10 min addition. At the same time you will want to add your wort chiller this is to sanitize the device (if your using a submersion chiller.) At 5 min you will want to add a whirfloc tablet.
13. When your boil is done shut the burner off. If you had late hop additions or hop additions at flame out you will want to let the wort rest for up to 30 min. I recommend using hop bags to keep the hop particles out of the wort.
FROM HERE ON IT IS IMPORTANT THAT EVERYTHINGTHAT WILL COME IN CONTACT WITH THE BEER BE SANITIZED -
14. When you are ready to chill you want to get your wort to 70 degrees or lower I shoot for sub 65 degrees.
15. Once the wort is chilled I move the boil kettle to a counter top, whirlpool with the mash paddle (don’t forget to sanitize), then let the wort rest for 30 min covered with foil
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16. Once done, dump your yeast into the fermentation vessel and use your auto siphon to transfer the beer to the fermentation vessel (I use a bucket for primary). Notice when you near the bottom all of the trub that has settled. This is the stuff you want to keep out of your fermenter as much as possible. There is still beer to get so I use a sanitized common kitchen strainer to separate trub from wort. This also helps to aerate the wort.
17. Once done, you can seal the lid put the airlock on and tip the fermenter on edge and give a good shake to finish aerating.
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18. I HIGHLY recommend using a blow of tube into a bucket of sanitizer rather than a standard airlock. This will prevent the lid or stopper from being blown out and beer and krausen getting on the ceiling, walls and floors
19. Forget what your LHBS said about transferring your beer to secondary after one week. Instead let it sit for a minimum of two weeks up to 4 weeks for high gravity beers before any transfer to a secondary vessel. This will allow complete fermentation and allow the yeast to finish cleaning up and ultimately make a cleaner and better beer. Honestly, if there is no dry hoping you can skip secondary all together if you want.
20. If you need to dry hop transfer beer to a secondary fermenter and add the hops. Wait the required amount of time (5 to 14 days) and transfer your beer to a bottling bucket or a keg.
Kegging and bottling will be covered in other write ups
