So I just brewed my first AG beer on Saturday, an organic Kölsch, and everything went great! :rockin: But I did have a couple questions about things that confused me...
1. COLOR - We used 9lbs Weyerman 2row Pilsner and 8 oz Breiss Munich, which produced a very nice, light yellow wort. We boiled, cooled and added to primary and it was still a nice yellow color. Pitched our yeast starter, and the next day it is a LOT darker! I have it next to a carboy of SNPA clone and it is AS dark as that now! Does wort get darker before it starts to ferment? Will this lighten up significantly after fermentation? I want that yellow color again - not this reddish brown I have now.
2. EFFICIENCY - Since this was our 1st AG, we weren't sure of our efficiency so we used 72% to calculate our recipe. Based on 72% efficiency we were supposed to hit an OG of 1.046. Well our OG was 1.045 (not far off), but when I calculated our efficiency with a few different online calculators, we got around 83% efficiency! How could our gravity be so close, but our efficiency so different????
3. COOLING - How long does it take to bring 6 gal of boiling wort down to 60 degrees with a 25ft copper IC? We ran water through it for over an hour and could only get it to about 70 degrees!!! And it was at 70 for about 20 minutes and wouldn't go down further. Then we transfered into the carboy and put the carboy in a sink with ice water which only brought it down to 64 degrees. Am I doing something wrong? This doesn't seem anymore efficient than an ice bath, and wasted a lot of water too.
Please help!!!!!!
1. COLOR - We used 9lbs Weyerman 2row Pilsner and 8 oz Breiss Munich, which produced a very nice, light yellow wort. We boiled, cooled and added to primary and it was still a nice yellow color. Pitched our yeast starter, and the next day it is a LOT darker! I have it next to a carboy of SNPA clone and it is AS dark as that now! Does wort get darker before it starts to ferment? Will this lighten up significantly after fermentation? I want that yellow color again - not this reddish brown I have now.
2. EFFICIENCY - Since this was our 1st AG, we weren't sure of our efficiency so we used 72% to calculate our recipe. Based on 72% efficiency we were supposed to hit an OG of 1.046. Well our OG was 1.045 (not far off), but when I calculated our efficiency with a few different online calculators, we got around 83% efficiency! How could our gravity be so close, but our efficiency so different????
3. COOLING - How long does it take to bring 6 gal of boiling wort down to 60 degrees with a 25ft copper IC? We ran water through it for over an hour and could only get it to about 70 degrees!!! And it was at 70 for about 20 minutes and wouldn't go down further. Then we transfered into the carboy and put the carboy in a sink with ice water which only brought it down to 64 degrees. Am I doing something wrong? This doesn't seem anymore efficient than an ice bath, and wasted a lot of water too.
Please help!!!!!!