Holy Cow man.... this ranger IPA clone is a really IPA IPA.... damn.
OK, so here is my AAR from my first all grain brew attempt.
1. Getting your mash to a specific temperature is far more difficult than I anticipated, specifically keeping the ratio of water to grain at 1qt per lb or so. I found that just by adding the water, I had a 20 degree drop in temperature off of what my water started at. This was way more than I expected. Lesson learned was go hot, then cool rather than go cool then hot.
2. I vorlaufted (I hope that is right spelling) the mash. I bought a 9 dollar drill mounted pump and recirculated the fluid at a very slow GPM. The issue I had was the tubing I used walls did not hold up to the pressure when subjected to the heat of the mash. So, I bought thicker wall tubing for the next batch.
3. Sparging the grain was not to difficult since I made a "rain" fitting thingy on the top of my tun. The water enters a series of copper tubes and sprinkles across the entire tun instead of just dripping in a specific spot.
In general, I just don't know if the juice is worth the squeeze when it comes to all grain versus extract brewing. Since this is such a powerful, hoppy recipe, I really don't know. My recommendation would be for someone to take their favorite extract recipe and do it all grain and then contrast. I did an entirely new beer and category I usually do not brew so I have no frame of reference as to whether it is better than extract or not.
Deuces.....
