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Author Topic: First all-grain brewday  (Read 4543 times)

Offline tonyp

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First all-grain brewday
« on: August 18, 2011, 06:16:36 pm »
Made my first all-grain beer today and damn it was fun! I don't why I waited this long to try it.

Everything went pretty smoothly despite using the dennybrew batch-sparge method... I'm kidding denny! In all seriousness thanks for the website, I couldn't have done it so smoothly without it, I even hit my target gravity right on the nose.

I was commisioned by my friends to make a Sierra clone for their wedding since its their favorite beer so I'm thinking about taking the recipe, designing a really nice layout and having it printed, framed and matted to go along with the 2 special 1-Liter bottles with labels to match. This part is a surprise and I hope they love it as much as i did making it.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for all of the great info!

Time for a victory beer! Cheers!

Tonyp
Live from the Jersey Shore!

Phrases for Creatives, #22:
"I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter."

Offline bluesman

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2011, 06:59:54 pm »
Congrats Tony!

Welcome to the obsession.  :)
Ron Price

Offline euge

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2011, 12:04:02 am »
WooHoo!

He's gone and done it now! :o
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

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Offline rjharper

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2011, 12:40:28 pm »
Congrats, welcome to the obsession.  I did a couple of batches for a friend's wedding, and filled a few bombers of each brew.  On their first anniversary I presented them the bottles of their wedding day brew as a surprise.

Offline theDarkSide

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2011, 01:04:30 pm »
I haven't brewed since March ( busy summer, people dying, etc. ) so this weekend is going to feel like my first time doing all grain even though I've done several.

Congrats on your first AG brew session!!
Seacoast Homebrew Club - Portsmouth, NH
AHA Member
Stephen Mayo
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Offline denny

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2011, 01:07:26 pm »
Congrats, Tony!  Glad I didn't screw ya up!
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline tomsawyer

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2011, 03:00:40 pm »
...using the dennybrew batch-sparge method...

Wow people still use that old method?  I think it was developed way back in the twentieth century.
Lennie
Hannibal, MO

Offline tonyp

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #7 on: August 19, 2011, 04:21:30 pm »
thanks everyone, just checked the fermenter and its bubbling away like crazy, it smells fantastic!
Live from the Jersey Shore!

Phrases for Creatives, #22:
"I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter."

Offline denny

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #8 on: August 19, 2011, 04:23:14 pm »
...using the dennybrew batch-sparge method...

Wow people still use that old method?  I think it was developed way back in the twentieth century.

:)....by a guy who's older than dirt!
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline tonyp

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2011, 11:42:14 pm »
I popped open a bottle of this beer today and it is without a doubt the best beer I have ever made. The flavor and bitterness is about as perfect as I could have hoped for and I'm extremely happy with it. If there is one thing that I could improve about it, it would be the mouthfeel. It seems a tad thin/watery to me but I think that's because I missed my target mash temp and not because of the recipe. I totally forgot to pre-heat the mash tun (70qt extreme cooler) so my strike water wasn't as hot as it should've been. but seriously, i'm *trying* to find something wrong with it.

I designed a label for them (which is going to be a surprise) and thought you guys might like to see it:

(this site is bad at posting full-sized images so click the image if you want to see a larger version offsite)



I'd just like to thank denny one more time, on brew day I was carrying around a printout of his site and referred to it constantly. It really made my first all-grain go as smooth as possible. Thanks denny!

Tonyp
Live from the Jersey Shore!

Phrases for Creatives, #22:
"I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter."

Offline euge

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2011, 12:49:05 am »
Congrats! Don't be worried abut the watery mouthfeel. You might end up chasing it.  :D
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline tonyp

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #11 on: September 08, 2011, 01:10:30 am »
BTW Euge, I used the fermentation chamber that I built based off of your design for the first time and it worked great! I filled two plastic 1 gal milk jugs, one half-gal and four 12 oz water bottles and threw them all in the freezer the night before brew day. I swapped out the different sized jugs to control the temp and got pretty good at choosing which size would bring the temp into the right range. It kept the temp within a few degrees surprisingly well!

Thanks again!

Tonyp
Live from the Jersey Shore!

Phrases for Creatives, #22:
"I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter."

Offline denny

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #12 on: September 08, 2011, 09:54:50 am »
Good on ya, Tony!  Nothing to it, huh?
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline tonyp

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #13 on: September 12, 2011, 10:41:19 am »
My beer got rave reviews at the wedding and seeing the bride and groom going back to the cooler continuously all day for "their beer" made it all worthwhile. What a great day!
Live from the Jersey Shore!

Phrases for Creatives, #22:
"I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter."

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: First all-grain brewday
« Reply #14 on: September 12, 2011, 12:05:17 pm »
That's awesome, congratulations!
Tom Schmidlin