First all grain disaster :(

My first all grain batch today was pretty much a disaster. I mashed at 155 for an hour and then sparged. In total, I got about 7 gallons of wort. The problem is, the og reading was 1.035ish so I ended up having to add some dme in there to compensate.

My recipe was a simple hefeweizen I saw on one of the threads here, in total the grain bill was 10 lbs.
I hope this beer still tastes good

prey said:

My first all grain batch today was pretty much a disaster. I mashed at 155 for an hour and then sparged. In total, I got about 7 gallons of wort. The problem is, the og reading was 1.035ish so I ended up having to add some dme in there to compensate.

My recipe was a simple hefeweizen I saw on one of the threads here, in total the grain bill was 10 lbs.
I hope this beer still tastes good

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It is often hard to pull high efficiency out of recipes with a lot of wheat, especially on your first AG brew. Don't get discouraged -- you planned it right! Having some DME for a backup was an excellent plan, and I am sure you are still going to really enjoy that beer!

So that you can improve for your next batch, you should try to go through your process and determine why your efficiency was low. Common problems are related to not mixing your grain and water thoroughly, not stirring before you lauter, not having a decent crush on your grain to start with, etc.

For your next brew, you might also try a really straightforward recipe that does not have wheat or rye or oats. Just stick to a predominantly pale malt recipe, like a mild, a bitter, or a pale ale. Lots of people have tried EdWort's Haus Ale (in the recipe section) with good success. It is a simple and delicious recipe (I recently brewed it with all Amarillo hops and it is excellent!).

If you want some more feedback, just post your recipe and the details of your process. There are lots of people here that are able to help!

And congrats on the first AG brew!

prey said:

My first all grain batch today was pretty much a disaster. I mashed at 155 for an hour and then sparged. In total, I got about 7 gallons of wort. The problem is, the og reading was 1.035ish so I ended up having to add some dme in there to compensate.(

Click to expand...

How did you sparge? Batch? Continuous/fly? What type of false bottom/manifold do you have on the tun? Who did your grain crush; the LHSB? From what I've learned about AG, all of the above are critical to hitting the OG.

Also, are you sure? What was the temperature when you took the reading? Was the reading pre or post boil?

If you boiled down to 5.5g or so you should have ~1.045 OG which would probably be ~60% efficiency. Not bad for your first try with a lot of wheat in the grist. Start reading threads in this (the AG) forum and you'll find lots of ideas for bumping up your efficiency.

Also, if your volume reading was just a little off it can make a big difference on efficiency readings. If you really collected 7.5g and boiled down to 5.5g your OG would be more like 1.048, maybe ~65% efficiency (which is what BYO uses as their standard efficiency for recipes, so it must be pretty average).

Thanks for the tips and encouragement. I woke up today to the smell of the fermentation which was out of this world!
I used batch sparging for this and my mashtun is basically like the rubbermaid MLT with the stainless steel braid hose except it was with a 5 gallon igloo cooler.
The LHBS did the milling for me since I don't have a mill.
When I took the temperature right before I closed the lid, it was at about 156, so I figured probably a 1-2 degree loss wouldn't be much to worry about. One thing that bothers me though is the color of the wort, it's like a tan/greenish color. Is this normal for hefeweizen?
I used hop pellets btw.

Doesn't sound like a disaster to me Im sure it will turn out fine.

Did you take your OG reading pre-boil or after boiling down to 5.5 gal.?

I don't see a problem with a beer that boils to 1045.
It'll give a nice standard session beer.

3 options.

Be happy with that.
Us a little more malt.
Tweek your process to help with the efficiency.

Well what do you know, I come back from the gym today and my room is almost flooded! The damn airlock blew off! I probably lost a gallon from that
I cleaned everything up and put the airlock back in there and it's fermenting pretty vigorously still. Should I worry about an infection?

I wouldn't worry. If it blew off, stuff is coming out, not going in.

I just did a Hefe and it definitely didn't go as planned. I too had lower numbers than I anticipated with my efficiency right around 60%. Mine was also greenish grey when I put it in the primary. It's now a nice yellow-ish color. I also put in a blowoff tube, as many suggest doing with hefe's and it worked like a charm I didn't lose any beer...just a whole lot of bubbling. It's still going a week later.


Dan

mine just finished fermenting, which is kinda weird since it hasn't even been 48 hours. Must have been that crazy fermentation earlier...

The greenish color is typical when you use pellets and don't filter the wort going into the fermenter.

I'd say your beer is going to be great. You've experienced a lot of stuff your first AG brew.

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