The First Brew (2/8/2010)

Well the first brew was surprisingly successful and I got an even better efficiency than expected. The mash went well after a thorough pre-heating and the mash stabilized at a temperature of 151. I didn't measure the temperature at the end of the 45 minute rest, so I am not certain what the total heat loss was, but I imagine it really wasn't that much. The pump worked well and was even able to pump up the 7 feet to the hot liquor tank. After sparging, we were left with 13 gallons in the kettle (1.5 more than expected). After the hour boil, we ended up with 11 gallons total with 10 or so making it into the fermenters. The post boil gravity ended up at 11.5 Plato and a total efficiency of 87%. This may not be typical of all future batches because I tend to get a better efficiency on low gravity beers (likely due to the higher water to total grain ratio). The 70 foot wort chiller worked much better than expected. I was able to cool the entire 11 gallons of wort in the kettle to 58 degrees in 20 minutes. The chiller worked so well, that I actually had to warm my fermenters this morning.

The only hiccup of the day was at the very end. The pump preformed great until the dip tube became clogged with hop mass. I might try to put braided hoses on the dip tube for the next batch to see if that helps.