1st PM, didn't hit OG! What went wrong?

Hey all,

We did our first PM last night, following the instructions from the American Clone Brews book. Our one problem was that our grains weren't cracked, we ended up using a rolling pin and elbow grease to crush them. I thought we got them fairly well ground, but I could be wrong.

When it was all said and done, our OG 1.03 when adjusted for temp. We then boiled 3 lbs of light DME and added that to our cooling wort, which brought it up to 1.045 (our target).

Anyone know what went wrong? I'm pretty sure we kept our temp correct while mashing, (153 degrees) for 90 min. Other than the grain cracking problem, everything else went according to the directions.

Thanks guys!

mike

I would not worry to much if this was your first PM. One of the biggest battles to fight is finding out what your systems efficiency is. The crush has very big impact on the efficiency so try it again but have your lhbs crush them or buy them crushed and see. The one thing you should do it take very good notes so you can tweak your system as you go along. When I went to all grain I was down in the 50% range now I am in the 80's every time. You will get there just keep brewing and take notes.

Yeah, it probably had everything to do with your crush. What'd your mash sched look like? Just 90 min at 153? How did you sparge? What was your total pre-boil volume? Do you use pH stabilizer in your water? All these things can have an effect, but the crush is probably 90% of your problem. Get them precrushed next time, or get a Barley Crusher if you plan on doing many more grain brews in the future.

definitely the crush. i have to rolling-pin some of my specialty grains, but all my 2-row I get done by the LHBS. I can't get mine to look as uniformly crushed as the stuff he gives me.
Its one reason I'm trying to figure out a grain mill for my home brewery. buying 2-row in bulk bags is quite thrifty.

When you say you got 1030 was that just with the grain or with the stated amount of extract as well?

You need to post your full recipe and method if you want more help.

When it was all said and done, our OG 1.03 when adjusted for temp. We then boiled 3 lbs of light DME and added that to our cooling wort, which brought it up to 1.045 (our target).

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i really dont understand your post? you hit your target but you didnt hit it?

if your target was 1.045 during a PM then it only make sense you didnt hit your target untill you added the 3lbs of DME.....

blefferd said:

i really dont understand your post? you hit your target but you didnt hit it?

if your target was 1.045 during a PM then it only make sense you didnt hit your target untill you added the 3lbs of DME.....

Click to expand...

good point, I didn't read it that way the first time but you're right...

was it 1.030 with JUST your mashed grains? if so it makes perfect sense...a partial mash gets part of the fermentables from grain and part from extract.

now, if your recipe said you should only need 2lbs of DME to hit 1.045, and it took you 3lbs...then I can see teh reason for asking the question.

in which case we need the WHOLE recipe laid out in detail so we can analyze.

I think he's saying that he HAD to add the 3 lbs. of DME to hit his target because he was so far off.

I'm going to say it's the crush. I'd mill at your LHBS rather than rocking out with a rolling pin.

Even more puzzling: 3 lbs of DME only resulted in a 15 point increase? Should have been closer to 24.

david 42, i was thinking the same thing, iirc doesnt malt extract give you almost 100% effenciey? 3lbs is alot of sugars!

Ok, sorry I didn't reply sooner, but I got a big boy job and I'm a little swamped.

Here it is, in all it's horribleness...

Batch # 47 – Rogue Mocha Porter
Yield : 5 gal

Ingredients: 2 lbs pale malt, 1 lb Munich malt, 8 oz chocolate malt, 8 oz 40 degree L, 3 lbs amber DME, 1 oz Amarillo, 1 oz Centennial, Wyeast London 1028 yeast.

10/6/07 – Steeped malts in 1 ½ gal water at 152 degree for 90 min. Sparge with 2 gal 168 degree water. Added 3 lbs amber DME @ 60 min. Added Amarillo @ 60 min. @ 30 min added Centennial. OG 1.030.

This was where we added another 3 lbs, and it went up to 1.045. I'm thinking you all are right with the cracked grain problem.

try try again i guess

mike