First AG Finished

Mashing
1

I just finished brewing my first AG and I think it went well. I’m not sure how to calculate my efficiency because the recipe didn’t give me a target SG, just a target OG, which I overshot by an entire point. I had a few questions I was wondering if anybody could help me with for next time.

  1. It seems like there is a lot of sediment in the bottom of the fermentor. Is that normal?

  2. I had a hard time getting the wort from the brew pot to the fermentor. I’m used to boiling 3 gallons and adding water at the end. Pouring five gallons into the fermentor wasn’t easy and caused some spillage. What is the best way to do this transfer in the future?

  3. What is the best way to get rid of the used up grains?

Any help would be appreciated.

2

Sediment is normal…especially with a lot of hops. There is plenty of time to settle and clarify your beer.
next time you can rack to the primary fermenter…and then add yeast and oxygenate by shaking/etc.
If you have a compost heap or flower bed the grains are a great compost.

3

How are you cooling your wort. I transfer when I cool.

I am unclear what you think the difference between a starting SG and OG is. I believe the are the same thing

4

SG - specific gravity. The gravity of the liquid at the current (or a set) time. Pre boil, pre fermentation, post fermentation, day 1, day 4, day 5…

OG - original gravity. The gravity pre fermentation.

FG - final gravity. The gravity post fermentation.

5

So Starting SG and OG are the same, right? That is why I was confused.

6

And SG / FG are the same. Depending on the context of the conversation.

You can say:

“My SG before adding the yeast was 1.050”. Or “my OG before adding the yeast was 1.050”.

OR

“My SG at the end of fermentation was 1.015”. Or “my FG was 1.015”

But you can only say “my SG on day 3 was 1.027”. Unless 4 days later it is still 1.027. Then it would be your FG.

Clear as mud? :cheers:

7

[quote=“Nighthawk”]
Clear as mud? :cheers: [/quote]

Yea, I am pretty sure I was not the one Confused :mrgreen:

8

I’ll put it this way. My pre boil gravity was 1.052, my post boil gravity was 1.062.

I coolmy wort with an immerion chiller. I think next time I will have to rack it to transfer it.

9

So you don’t have a kettle with a valve. If not, they are easy to add.

I can see how you could consider SG as pre boil.

10

As a rookie brewer, I get the feeling AG is far in my future. But, I can dream! How did you prepare for your first AG batch? Any certain equipment you recommend? Oh and most important: What kinda beer did ya brew?

11

There is no timeline until you move to AG brewing. I did it after 4 extracts. I have a friend that did it from the start. It is not difficult. It only takes a couple more hours. But apparently I’m an above average brewer because of all the hate mail I receive from my postings. :roll:

http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/ http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/mashtun.html

If you are not doing full boils, that is the 1st step.

12

I thought it was far in my future as well. Then I got bored at work for about a week at work and read the AG section of Palmer’s book and said to hell with it. I picked up a 40 qt aluminum pot on Amazon, made a mash tun out of a 36 qt cooler (found plenty of how to videos online), and bought a burner at the local brew store and just did it. It wasn’t hard, it just took a little more time.

One thing I recommend is getting Amazon Prime. It’s like $80 a year and gives you free two day shipping amongst other things. It’s totally worth it. All of the equipment is cheaper on Amazon then in the local brewshops.

I brewed an Irish Red Ale and so far so good.

Here is another question. When calcutating efficiency do you use pre boil or post boil gravity?