rollinred

Recipes 

Second batch of all grain. Basic ale recipe from NB http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/recipe-kits/all-grain-kits/all-grain-ale-kits/chinook-ipa-all-grain-kit.html

OG should be 1.050. From my first all grain batch I expected being slightly over gravity but this was much more than expected.

I ended up at 1.060.

So, the pre-boil gravity was 1.053 (knew I had a problem right here). The NB kit calls for a 152 mash temp. I hit 154 at dough in and due to large cooler size I dropped to 151 at 40 minutes or so. I had a pot of boiling water and added a cup or two. Temp was 153 for remainder of mash.

So I do have some temp variation and losses during the mash. I simply can not see where the difference would be .010.

Any ideas on where this went wrong.

northernlad

Recipes 

You didn't do anything wrong, you had good efficiency. If you really need it to be the exact gravity the kit called for then make the adjustments to volume and add water. Then rejoice in the extra beers you have due to your AG kickassery.

rollinred

Recipes 

I guess I might have to learn how to use some type of brewing software after all. I guess where I must have gone "wrong" is in the fact that I am getting better efficiency than they expect from most?

Is being 1-2 degrees over target temp going to make that much of a difference?

bernerbrau

Recipes 

Your beer will be slightly fuller bodied than if you had mashed at the lower temperature.

rollinred

Recipes 

I understand that part. I was just asking you guys that have done this more if a 1-2 degree difference would be what had me off by such a large amount. .010 a significant gravity difference.

beerkrump

Recipes 

What was your final volume going into the fermenter?

bernerbrau

Recipes 

Your temperature during the conversion rest shouldn't affect efficiency that much, no. A variation of ±0.01 from the predicted gravity is pretty normal. All-grain numbers are much less precise than extract numbers. Most recipes are formulated at 75% efficiency, which tends to be about the average. When you brew a lot of AG beers, eventually you figure out your brewhouse efficiency and scale your recipes accordingly.

Just be happy you didn't wind up with lower efficiency than you expected. Those brew days can suck!

rollinred

Recipes 

Almost exactly 5 gallons, right where I expected it.

malkore

Recipes 

question was already answered....you got better efficiency than the recipe was calculated for. it probably assumes 70%, and you got 75-80% due to good practices.

the 3 degree temp swing only affects fermentablility, not efficiency.

__________________
Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10

rollinred

Recipes 

The temp discrepancy relation to gravity really wasn't answered.

You did answer it so thank you!