UGH! I'm an IDIOT!

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edsrockin

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So I ordered a ruthless rye clone kit from AHB. I was in a rush tonight and did not pay attention.

I went ahead got my water to temp. and added to the (pre-warmed) tun. Put my grains in and noticed it was much more difficult to stir. I thought the husks looked a bit bigger than usual, but, again, was rushed.

Upon checking my order, I realized I screwed up and ordered UNmilled grain. I don't have a mill. The grain is currently mashing in 152* water. I haven't started a boil yet.

What could/should/can I do? I *know* I don't have enough DME to make up for the lack of gravity. The grain is no longer any good right? Did I totally lose this batch?

Thanks.
 
If you can i would drain as well as possible and dry in a very low oven, might change the profile of the beer a little but you would still have beer! But then again you'll have to find a mill.
 
Im sorry but i dont see how to save it. At this point you can keep going just to see what og u get but it wont be a lot
 
what is your gravity reading? You may have the worst efficiency in history at 5%. Not sure what I would do.
 
If I were convinced I had to try to save the batch, I'd probably drain 'em into my boil kettle to save any sugars/enzymes that may have escaped the whole grains, then maybe try smooshing them with a rolling pin. It's not the same as milling dry grain, but if you can get the soft grain innards to squish out from the husks, you'd probably get something not unlike a normal mash.

Of course, that's a lot of work; I would probably very quickly convince myself I didn't need to save the batch after all.
 
chef -- i may try that. i am now at the end of the mashing, so can check gravity and see *how* bad it is. i have nothing to lose as polboy puts it.


savory -i shudder to look at the gravity, but will in a few. it's still in mash phase. but yeah 5% may well be what i get. ya can't fix stoopid can ya? ;j at least i didn't drop in the hops or add the yeast yet. ;j


thanks all!
 
well the first runnings OG reading on my refractometer was 1.012 (the expected FG for the recipe). the expected OG was 1.061. well, at least i didn't waste the hops and yeast. thanks for the replies.

is there anything i could do with the wort? i don't care to experiment now that it's likely screwed anyway.

again, thanks.
 
You could boil it down to 1.035-40 and freez in pet bottles for starters. I do that sometimes with 3rd running, still 1.012 is thin even for that
 
polboy i do not understand. how do i boil it DOWN to 1.035-1.040 when it is only 1.012 to start with? that's a LOT of DME to add isn't it? i don't understand.

cheesehed, i said i was open for experimenting. well i think i will attempt that. 13# is a LOT of processing but may be worth trying.

thanks.
 
geckholm said:
Can you boil and add some dme/lme. ?
as you add it to bring up the gravity, then boil it down the density of the sugar (og) increases as only the water evaporates leaving the sugar behind in less fluid.
 
If you have a food processor or blender I would try running the grains through it to break the husks. Then take the collected wort and heat it to mash temperatures and try again. IMO it would be worth a try rather than just tossing the grains and weak wort.
 
geckholm --- thanks that makes sense.

kh -- that is the plan. stay tuned. gonna be a long night as i am starting (again) at 9 PM. UGH!

thanks all for the feedback. feelin' better than i was 90 minutes ago.
 
well, i think i did poorly with the processor, or i was using the wrong tool for the job (both?). new OG for first runnings is 1.035 (again supposed to be 1.061 post-boil). that's workable though. i can throw some DME at it. it won't "taste" right, but it should be okay.

HA i think i am going to rename it ruthless [c]rye LOL
 
yeah i got a 1.030 OG beer. fuggin' "lite" beer! (insult to injury/salt-in-the-wounds thing -- i didn't have any DME left. DOH!)

how much ya wanna bet i NEVER make *that* mistake again? ;j

again, thank y'all for the input.
 
thanks william. why can't i think like that? would be good idea, except the yeast are already workin' it. i like the way you think though.
 
So you made a "Session" beer. Nothing wrong with that!

You *could* add a bit of sugar to up it some, even if it's already started fermenting. 10-20% of the total grain bill.
 
So you made a "Session" beer. Nothing wrong with that!

You *could* add a bit of sugar to up it some, even if it's already started fermenting. 10-20% of the total grain bill.

I would not recomend adding sugar base on grain bill but rather as a % of fermentables in wort. With high efficiency its not a big difference but in this case 20% if grain bill would be a lot of sugar
 
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