I Learned A Lot Today

Oy.

My big bear brew went fairly well, all things considered. I even hit my mash temperature dead on. The problem: I was trying to use 15 lbs of grain for a 5 gallon batch. Any experience all grain brewer will see the folly in this, especially if they've tried it. I only have a 7.5 gallon boil pot. End result: I missed my FG by about 15%. That's a lot, folks.

I should have realized what I was doing, and I ran into the same issue that AG barley wine brewers run into. They can boil for several hours; I don't have the patience for that. End result: The next time I do this recipe I will be using extract.

I'm still going to ferment this batch, as there's more firsts I'm working with here. I'm going to milk this experience for all it's worth. If the beer sucks, so be it. If it doesn't, all the better. Either way, I learned a great deal.