jammer

Recipes 

I just finished my first all grain batch. It was a Fat Tire clone. It went more or less pretty well. I just had a little problem with sparging. When i did this recipe, i adjusted for about an efficiency of 50% because it was my first all grain. When sparging, my last runnings were 1.030. that seems really high to me. like i am losing efficiency when i dont have to. i collected 6.5 gal already.

here is the recipe

10.75 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3 SRM) Grain 58.5 %
2.00 lb Amber Malt (22 SRM) Grain 19.5 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt (9 SRM) Grain 9.8 %
0.50 lb Biscuit Malt (23 SRM) Grain 4.9 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10 SRM) Grain 2.4 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40 SRM) Grain 2.4 %
0.25 lb Special Roast (50 SRM) Grain 2.4 %
0.75 oz Northern Brewer [8.5%] (60 min) Hops 22.8 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [5.5%] (30 min) Hops 7.6 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [5.5%] (15 min) Hops 4.9 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [5.5%] (5 min) Hops 2.0 IBU
American Ale I wyeast 1056

target og 1.058
boil volume 6.5 gal
mash temp 150-152*F
actual og 1.070
actual volume in fermentor 6 gallons.

so, why are the final runnings still having a high og? what can i do to make sure i get more of the sugars to begin with so i dont have to adjust for efficiency so much?

did i leave out any details?

PS, lessons learned:

dont try to brew with a nor'easter outside, there is now 3" or water in my backyard and walking back and forth from my barn has made my feet cold and wet.

Also, dont try to build your motorized grain mill the same day of your first AG brew. you wont have time.

david_42

Recipes 

Your efficiency is over 60%. If your target volume for fermenting was 6 gallons, you should have sparged another gallon or so. Boil volume should be about 20-25% more than the fermenter volume to reach 70% efficiency.

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ajf

Recipes 

What was the temperature of the sparge. Getting the temperature up to about 170 works wonders for efficiency.
Did yout batch or fly sparge?
If you batch sparged, did you give it a good stir after each addition of sparge water?
If you fly sparged, did you raise the temperature of the mash before starting the sparge?
Fly sparging too fast will result in low efficiency.
You can also sparge a little more, and then boil it down.

-a.

jammer

Recipes 

I Batch sparged. I tried to get the temp up to 170, but i think it was closer to 165. Part of the problem was that water is about 200 ft from where i was brewing and i was about a gallon short of sparge water. so the last gallon wasnt anywhere near warm enough.

Should i be stirring after each sparge? (for batch sparging)

ajf

Recipes 

165 is close enough. For each batch of water, you should stir, let it rest for 5 - 10 minutes, recirculate a 1/2g or so till you don't get any grain bits in the runnings, and then drain into the kettle.

Good luck,

-a.