Hi there, after several years of making wine at home, I’m going to give all grain brewing. I will be using the Grainfather system and hot liquor tank. The last few days I have been reading as much as possible, but I do have a few questions. My first attempt at all grain brewing will be a 5 gallon Dogfish 90 clone recipe. There are a variety of hops in pellets and whole hop form. A total of 17lbs of Malt from the combination of Munich and Pale two-row. Below are the recipe directions. Thanks in advance.
“90 minute IPA clone is created with a single infusion mash at 150F for 60 minutes.” Boil for 90 minutes adding hops in .2 ounce additions every 5 minutes for the duration of the boil.
So, first I need to get the steps right and hopefully my terminology isn’t to far off.
The initial water for mash in at 1.25 qts water/ lb of malt. so, 1.25x17/4= 5.3 gallons of water.
that water will be heated to 150F and then malts are mixed in for 60 minutes at the 150F temp. with the recirculating pump on.
2. After 60 minutes, 170F sparge water will be added to the malt bed. I’m not sure how much will be needed, but I’m guessing adding what was lost to evaporation and absorption to get back to 5 Gallons??? Once sparge is complete and grains removed the pump will continue recirculation.
recirculate and bring to boil for 90 minutes. Hops will be added during this boil period. Would I be continuously adding sparge water throughout the 90 minutes to maintain the 5 gallon level???
After 90 minutes, the beer will go through the counterflow until the temperature of the wort is down to 72F and fermented at that same temperature.
Probably enough questions for now. I’m aware that irish moss or clarifying tabs can be added at some point.
Yeah, that happens. The yeast strain/brand/variety might help us give a better recommendation for this particular beer. Some British strains might actually be better suited at ~72F, whereas most “clean” yeast strains are better suited to the mid-60s.
Nope, not much. For that beer, I think the general advice would be to make a yeast starter or use multiple packs of 1.056. And I think you’d get better results with it if you fermented in the mid 60s.
It should be a fairly high gravity beer so the more you can pitch the better. If you don’t already have the yeast then you might opt for 2 sachets of dry US-05 (which is the twin-sister to 1056) as a simpler way of getting a decent pitch, especially on a first brew. Otherwise, some kind of starter would be helpful in ensuring this beer ferments “according to plan” and with good success.
Also looking for a single shop online or at local retailers for whole hops with little luck. Seems like there are always one or two ingredients missing. Finding whole hops is a problem.
That’s a nice place to start, or you could go up to ~2qt/lb if you wanted or it suited your brewing process better. Lots of opinion on this. I’ve used everywhere from 1-3.2 qt/lb, and am closer to the latter lately (~3.0).
I only ask because nearly every brewer will tell you they are both “Chico” - have we been misled all these years? BTW, I agree that there are differences, but not enough to recommend a starter versus dry-pitched sachet to a new beer brewer.
Just to clarify my earlier “twin sister of 1056” statement: Assuming they are both the Chico strain, it’s like have identical triplets (WY1056, WLP001, US-05) who were all raised in different households by different parents. They are definitely going to have differences but the genetics still play a major role that causes many similarities.
Although they all had the same original source, their characteristics have diverged over the years. At EB, we did a test of 1056 vs. 001. https://www.experimentalbrew.com/experiments/writeups/writeup-yeast-comparison-same-strain-wyeast-1056-wlp001 Most people preferred the 1056, finding it a bit cleaner and drier. You can extrapolate from Marshall’s experiment about 001 and 05 being different that all 3 have differences from each other. Personally, I taste so much peach/apricot from 05 that I don’t use it any more.
okay, going back to how much strike water to start with for mash in…1.25x17 divided by 4 is 5.3 gallons of water. However, you are suggesting to add an addition 1.5 gallons at mash in to account for evaporation once boiling. So, it sounds as though I only need a little water in hot liquor tank for sparging??? The dogfish clone recipe suggests OG 1.086 and FG 1.016
Okay, this pretty much jives with what I know, and I am pretty much in agreement with the taste differences. I also get some extra fruitiness (peach at times) from US05 as compared to 1056, and for me it excludes it’s use except when I’m in a jam, BUT it’s a dead-simple method of fuss-free yeast pitching and still a great resource for folks. I also find US-05 to be quite a bit more powdery than 1056. Thanks for expounding.
In your example, the 5.3 gallons is your strike water of which you’ll probably get ~3.2 back out of the grain (assuming you don’t squeeze the grainbed) into your BK, and that’s with no evaporation.
Let’s say you want 5 gallons of wort in your fermenter and don’t have any system losses (this excludes evaporation). If you will boil off 1.5 gallons of water in 90 minutes then you need 5 gallons + 1.5 gallons for a total of 6.5 gallons preboil wort. You can see above that you only have 3.2 from the mash so you basically need to sparge with 3.3 gallons to get your proper 6.5 preboil volume (3.2 first runnings + 3.3 sparge runnings = 6.5 preboil wort volume). So, you will need 3.3 gallons of water in your HLT for sparging.
Again, this is fairly simplified and doesn’t account for any extra losses in your process/system, but hopefully paints the picture well enough. If you planned on leaving behind break material in your BK then that would be a loss you would need to add to the original water amount. If you used hoses/pumps/tubes/etc that has a loss quantity then that would be another amount you’d need to add to the original water amount.
Keep hitting us back with questions because the more clear this is when you’re brewing the easier your day will flow. I hope this helps!
So, I will be adding the 17lbs of grain to 5.3 gallons of water during mash in for 60 minutes. Then adding 1.5gal of sparge water over the grainbed to be at 6.5 gallons preboil. Assuming a gallon per hour (90 minute boil) is lost to evap, I should have about 5 gallons of wort for chilling and transfer to the fermenter. This sound correct? Kinda lost me at the 3.2 first running and 3.3 sparge running.
I don’t want to rain on your parade, and PLEASE keep in mind I have no idea your level of experience, especially BC you said you have made wine. BUT, I would say a dogfish head 90 minute IPA might not exactly be the best beer to learn how to brew an all grain beer on.
Veteran all grain brewers can have difficulty with big beers, both with hitting numbers on the mash and with making sure fermentation goes well.
You are going to have a LOT going on with your first AG beer that will be new and different to you. A massive beer with hop additions every two minutes is a beast of a brew day for anyone, let alone a new AG brewer.
If you are going to go for it, I would recommend having a veteran brewer help you out, if you know anyone. Also PLAN ahead and make sure you are 100% set up and know every step before you start, you will not want to feel rushed once things get going.
Again I don’t want to talk you out of this, I just want you to make a beer you will love and HAVE FUN, so you stick with this awesome hobby! Maybe I can ask a few questions so we can all steer you in the right direction?
What equipment are you brewing on?
How long have you been brewing wine?
Is this in fact your first beer?
Do you know anyone who could maybe help with your first AG brew day?
Are you 100% set on making this specific beer?