Turkeyfoot Jr.
Well-Known Member
So I decided to try my first double brew today. In hindsight, given that these were just my 2nd and 3rd PMs EVER perhaps I was being a little too ambitious. The first one is sitting in the fermenter now and the second is mashing so it's going to be a long evening and an even longer day tomorrow at work.
Anyway, to the point of my post. My target OG for the first brew was 1.055. It was a rye ale and the recipe's below. My actual OG was a dismal 1.041. Here's what I think went wrong. My strike water was about 160F and probably should have been more like 162 because after dough-in the temp of the grist was 148F. I decided not to do anything with it at that time and 20 minutes later when I opend my cooler to stir I was shocked to find the temp had dropped to 144F. I quickly heated about 2Q of water to 178F and through it in. This raised the temp to 150F and I left the lid on for the remainder of the mash which was 30 minutes by this point. Would the temp being too low for half the mash have caused a terribly low efficiency which in turn caused a very low OG?
The recipe:
3.5lb. Wheat Malt
2.25lb. Rye Malt
0.25lb. Carafa
2.5lb. Amber DME
0.5lb. Lite DME
1.5oz. Hallertau
Wyeast 3068
As I said above, the grains were mashed for 60 minutes. THe DME was added at the last 15 minutes of the boil.
Let me know if there are any other details you guys need.
Anyway, to the point of my post. My target OG for the first brew was 1.055. It was a rye ale and the recipe's below. My actual OG was a dismal 1.041. Here's what I think went wrong. My strike water was about 160F and probably should have been more like 162 because after dough-in the temp of the grist was 148F. I decided not to do anything with it at that time and 20 minutes later when I opend my cooler to stir I was shocked to find the temp had dropped to 144F. I quickly heated about 2Q of water to 178F and through it in. This raised the temp to 150F and I left the lid on for the remainder of the mash which was 30 minutes by this point. Would the temp being too low for half the mash have caused a terribly low efficiency which in turn caused a very low OG?
The recipe:
3.5lb. Wheat Malt
2.25lb. Rye Malt
0.25lb. Carafa
2.5lb. Amber DME
0.5lb. Lite DME
1.5oz. Hallertau
Wyeast 3068
As I said above, the grains were mashed for 60 minutes. THe DME was added at the last 15 minutes of the boil.
Let me know if there are any other details you guys need.