All Grain Attempt #1

Man this post has been sitting in drafts for a long while.

After trying several passes at the extract brewing process I decided to give all grain a try. After reading, and reading, and reading some more, I decided to forgo adding more brewing vessels (mash tun and lauter tun or a combo mash/lauter tun) and try the brew in a bag method. I knew I would be giving up a few points of efficiency (the % of sugar extracted from the grains) I figured that with enough effort I could eventually work my way up to around 80% efficiency as I have read reports of some people achieving 90% with the brew in a bag. I only did a single protein rest at 155° F for 45 minutes before pulling and squeezing the grain bag.  I tried to do a straight all grain version of the Mac & Jack's African Amber given it popularity so with the help of my local brew store I converted the recipe, bought some grains and gave it ago.

I cannot find my notes on this, and it was before I started using software to keep track of my efforts so I don't have much to go on here, but here is the recipe.

It came out ok, but was no where near as good as the extract version I brewed originally.  I imagine that a few things contributed to this.  I think my first all grain I was 68% efficient so there was probably a lot of unfermentable sugar left in the wort, and I don't think I dry hopped this one like I did the extract version which gave it a less floral nose.  The color was too pale for what I felt it should have been, but otherwise the beer was drinkable and I believe I'm down to only a few bottles left.