Questions about The amount of debris in my wort.

Hey all. just finished my 2nd ever batch of AG. Its a wannabe sierra nevada pale ale. My numbers were a little off but all in all i hope a success. Was hoping for an OG of 1.056 but came up with a measured gravity of 1.052. Anyway my main question to you is about whether my MLT is doing its job. On my previous all grain batch i can safely say i did not do a good job of recycling my runnings through the mash tun.

But on this batch i thought i did a thorough job recycling on both my first runnings and on my sparge. I added some pics of the wort i took out when i did my hydrometer readings and after only 30 minutes in the fridge you can see the large amount of grain and debris that had fallen out of this small amount of wort.

So after my long spiel here i was just wondering if you could tell me if after 7 recycles if this is normal or whether my technique or if my MLT may not be up to snuff.

I use a 10 gallon cooler with a 12" piece of hollowed out stainless steel braided plumbing hose. Also my LHBS crushed my grain so perhaps it was too fine? I have pics below. Thanks in advance. Cheers.

Cold break.

From looking at the picture it appears that your grain may not have been crushed fine enough. That would account for the slightly lower extraction which left your OG at 1.052 instead of 1.056 but that is close enough to not really matter. The stuff at the bottom of your carboy looks like it should. Since I BIAB and squeeze all the wort I can from the bag, I get some cloudy wort but when the fermentation is over and I bottle condition, my beers turn out really clear anyway so I wouldn't worry a bit about how yours looks. You probably recirculated more than necessary even.

I have similar break material. When making the switch from extract, the amount of break material was considerably higher. Some of this is also the small pieces of husk that get through. It all comes out in the trub.

Thanks alot for your timely responses. Makes me feel better about how both of my brews which are currently fermenting will come out. Now i know that the numbers are right or close enough all i have to do is worry about them tasting somewhat good. Cheers.

Which HB shop do you use?

Kahler said:

Which HB shop do you use?

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I go to brooklyn homebrew in brooklyn (obviously) bout a 15-20 minute ride for me. Good shop from the very little that i know. Do you know of any others in the boroughs? Or do you purchase through the web?

I get all my grain from the Whole Foods in the Bowery- base malts are $1.24 p/lb, specialty $1.50 p/lb. Milling is free. I've never had any issues with their yeast being dead/non-viable. Yeast is $6.99 per tube (whitelabs) and hops are $1.99 whether it be whole leaf or pellets. The equipment is pricey, but i DIY all my stuff anyway. And they have a great beer selection. Check it out if you havent already.

I'm in Astoria btw. Where you at?

Kahler said:

I get all my grain from the Whole Foods in the Bowery- base malts are $1.24 p/lb, specialty $1.50 p/lb. Milling is free. I've never had any issues with their yeast being dead/non-viable. Yeast is $6.99 per tube (whitelabs) and hops are $1.99 whether it be whole leaf or pellets. The equipment is pricey, but i DIY all my stuff anyway. And they have a great beer selection. Check it out if you havent already.

I'm in Astoria btw. Where you at?

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Thats a good price in comparison to brooklyn. I think they do $2.25 a lb hops in pellet form are slightly cheaper. Depending on style mostly 1.80 an oz. leaf are a little more. Wyeast smack packs are very fresh and they have a big selection on yeast malt and hops. $7 a pack on the yeast. I think ill check out your spot next time i brew. Both of my fermenters are occupied at the moment. Sierra nevada pale ale wannabe and a belgian golden strong ale going at the moment.

Im in Ridgewood right on the brooklyn queens border. Astoria is a cool spot. Very pricey out there though.

I met some German guy who owns a brewpub in Honduras. When we talked about brewing, he told me that all the debris in your wort puts in crap that causes hangovers. He told me to get it clean as possible.

He makes phenomenal beer and I trust him, but I have no idea if it's true. I usually brew socially, get buzzed, and make decent beer that may or may it give a hangover.

Dave37 said:

Thats a good price in comparison to brooklyn. I think they do $2.25 a lb hops in pellet form are slightly cheaper. Depending on style mostly 1.80 an oz. leaf are a little more. Wyeast smack packs are very fresh and they have a big selection on yeast malt and hops. $7 a pack on the yeast. I think ill check out your spot next time i brew. Both of my fermenters are occupied at the moment. Sierra nevada pale ale wannabe and a belgian golden strong ale going at the moment.

Im in Ridgewood right on the brooklyn queens border. Astoria is a cool spot. Very pricey out there though.

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I've been wanting to go to Broklyn brew shop, just never made it there. And knowing that they are more expensive just keeps me going to the Bowery. The brew shop at Bowery opens at 8am, i go around opening and theres nobody there, makes for a very pleasant 'recipe construction' time.

I have an IPA, Smoked Stout, and Winter Warmer going now. Once i get them kegged/bottled i'll be throwing another batch or two together...wife is having a baby next month so brewing will slow waaaay down.

Wife and I love Astoria. We lucked out with our apt, rent isnt too bad.

Kahler said:

I've been wanting to go to Broklyn brew shop, just never made it there. And knowing that they are more expensive just keeps me going to the Bowery. The brew shop at Bowery opens at 8am, i go around opening and theres nobody there, makes for a very pleasant 'recipe construction' time.

I have an IPA, Smoked Stout, and Winter Warmer going now. Once i get them kegged/bottled i'll be throwing another batch or two together...wife is having a baby next month so brewing will slow waaaay down.

Wife and I love Astoria. We lucked out with our apt, rent isnt too bad.

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Ill definitely check out that spot. Brooklyn opens at 12pm so itll be nice to get in and out early in the morning.

Congrats on the new addition to the family.

But my condolences on less brewing time for you.

Astoria is great. Tons of great places to eat and hang out. My girlfriend and I frequent a little joint on ditmars called fatty's great food nice beer selection as well. If you dont know about it id recommend giving it a shot.

I buy my base malt online, but get all of my specialty grain, yeast and hops from WF Bowery. I usually stop in a couple times a week to browse the beer selection. Went in last week for some yeast and they were totally out of everything homebrew related and removing a lot of "useless" stuff from the shelves. I asked what was going on and was told that they fired the guy who was ordering the homebrew stuff because he was slacking. They assured me that by the end of this week they should be stocked up again and that they plan to maintain it better.

BeerCyclist said:

I buy my base malt online, but get all of my specialty grain, yeast and hops from WF Bowery. I usually stop in a couple times a week to browse the beer selection. Went in last week for some yeast and they were totally out of everything homebrew related and removing a lot of "useless" stuff from the shelves. I asked what was going on and was told that they fired the guy who was ordering the homebrew stuff because he was slacking. They assured me that by the end of this week they should be stocked up again and that they plan to maintain it better.

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It will probably be about 3 weeks before i free up some room in my fermenters so ill be giving this place a shot when i do. Do you work in manhattan? Train in? I see youre from CT. How long have you been doing AG i am new to brewing in general (1 partial mash 2 all grain batches) but its been great so far. Still trying to get my system down so once i do i plan to be cranking out batches. Hopefully their selection should be ready by then.

Dave37 said:

Ill definitely check out that spot. Brooklyn opens at 12pm so itll be nice to get in and out early in the morning.

Congrats on the new addition to the family.

But my condolences on less brewing time for you.

Astoria is great. Tons of great places to eat and hang out. My girlfriend and I frequent a little joint on ditmars called fatty's great food nice beer selection as well. If you dont know about it id recommend giving it a shot.

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Thanks man, we're pretty excited...and scared.
Wife and i have an understanding, she gets time for herself when we can fit it in, and i get time to brew when we can fit it in. I guess the hard part will be fitting all that in. i'm hoping to have the current three kegged/bottled and another 2-3 batches in orimary before baby comes.

Fattys is good! havent been there in a while though. A new beer and cheese place just opened on broadway between 34th and 35th. nice rotating keg list (8), they fill growlers, and a ton of bottles to choose from. they just opened but the guy said they will ramp up selection when possible. check it out if you are able.

BeerCyclist said:

I buy my base malt online, but get all of my specialty grain, yeast and hops from WF Bowery. I usually stop in a couple times a week to browse the beer selection. Went in last week for some yeast and they were totally out of everything homebrew related and removing a lot of "useless" stuff from the shelves. I asked what was going on and was told that they fired the guy who was ordering the homebrew stuff because he was slacking. They assured me that by the end of this week they should be stocked up again and that they plan to maintain it better.

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Very good to know.

Dave37 said:

It will probably be about 3 weeks before i free up some room in my fermenters so ill be giving this place a shot when i do. Do you work in manhattan? Train in? I see youre from CT. How long have you been doing AG i am new to brewing in general (1 partial mash 2 all grain batches) but its been great so far. Still trying to get my system down so once i do i plan to be cranking out batches. Hopefully their selection should be ready by then.

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Yeah, I train in to Manhattan daily. I did a few extract kits from NB and Midwest last year and switched to AG a couple months ago. My first batch, a simple pale ale, was pretty crappy, but I was just dialing in my equipment/process and likely fermenting at too high a temperature. Since then I've brewed 2 pretty great beers (Hoppiness is an IPA and Reprobate Stout from Jamil's "Brewing Classic Styles") with the aid of a swamp cooler and plenty of help from this forum. I increased my mash efficiency by tightening my crush. In fact I overshot my SG on the batch I currently have fermenting; a near clone of Arrogant Bastard (same malt bill and hop schedule according to CYBI) but thanks to WF being out of supplies, and my impatience, I went with what they had...WLP041 Pacific Ale yeast. I guess I'll have something I can call my own.

I typically chill my wort to as close to 80* as possible, give it a good stir, wait as long as an hour then siphon to my carboy, leaving behind as much trub as I can. I used to just dump it all in, but with AG and a lot of hoppy brews, I find that the trub really reduces headspace in my carboy, leading to a lot of unnecessary blow-off. I don't really worry about clarity; if it tastes good that's all that matters.

Cheers!!

Kahler said:

I've been wanting to go to Broklyn brew shop, just never made it there. And knowing that they are more expensive just keeps me going to the Bowery. The brew shop at Bowery opens at 8am, i go around opening and theres nobody there, makes for a very pleasant 'recipe construction' time.

I have an IPA, Smoked Stout, and Winter Warmer going now. Once i get them kegged/bottled i'll be throwing another batch or two together...wife is having a baby next month so brewing will slow waaaay down.

Wife and I love Astoria. We lucked out with our apt, rent isnt too bad.

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Yeah, congrats man! My son was born in January. Knowing that the brewing would slow down I bought/built my AG equipment and read a lot of books and forums during his first 6 months in order to stay motivated. Needless to say, here I am back at it and my beer's WAY better!

Cheers!!

Your 7 recycles in probably excessive. That material is hot and cold break and will settle out and compact down underneath the yeast. All in all looks good to me.

RmikeVT said:

Your 7 recycles in probably excessive. That material is hot and cold break and will settle out and compact down underneath the yeast. All in all looks good to me.

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Youre probably right. After my first AG batch i noticed a considerable amount of grain and debris so i just naturally assumed i had under recycled. Perhaps over on this one. Third times the charm hopefully and ill find a happy medium.

BeerCyclist said:

Yeah, congrats man! My son was born in January. Knowing that the brewing would slow down I bought/built my AG equipment and read a lot of books and forums during his first 6 months in order to stay motivated. Needless to say, here I am back at it and my beer's WAY better!

Cheers!!

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+1

Congrats to you as well. i am currently in that phase now of learning my equipment ironing out my process and efficiency issues. I went into this whole hobby expecting miserable failure numerous times before my first signs of success but so far it seems i underestimated myself and have been able to be somewhat of a competent homebrewer. Thanks mostly to being meticulous and looking to these forums to heed advice and warnings before making a mistake many others have made and shared before.

Anyway. If i can keep improving slightly with each batch i will be content for many years to come.

Cheers.

Kahler said:

Thanks man, we're pretty excited...and scared.
Wife and i have an understanding, she gets time for herself when we can fit it in, and i get time to brew when we can fit it in. I guess the hard part will be fitting all that in. i'm hoping to have the current three kegged/bottled and another 2-3 batches in orimary before baby comes.

Fattys is good! havent been there in a while though. A new beer and cheese place just opened on broadway between 34th and 35th. nice rotating keg list (8), they fill growlers, and a ton of bottles to choose from. they just opened but the guy said they will ramp up selection when possible. check it out if you are able.

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I can definitely appreciate the whole excited/scared feeling you mentioned. Best of luck!

At least it Sounds like youll be set up with a safe supply of three nice sounding batches of homebrew through the first difficult months with your little one.

I will definitely check out that shop sounds like quite a find.

You are the first person ive come across in the forums from queens. Are they many of us out there?

Dave37 said:

I can definitely appreciate the whole excited/scared feeling you mentioned. Best of luck!

At least it Sounds like youll be set up with a safe supply of three nice sounding batches of homebrew through the first difficult months with your little one.

I will definitely check out that shop sounds like quite a find.

You are the first person ive come across in the forums from queens. Are they many of us out there?

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THanks for the congrats guys. I appreciate it.

There are quite a few queens brewers, dont know how many are on here though.