2nd all grain batch - need advice again :D

Brewing a wheat beer, converted my extract recipe to to all grain, see this thread for more info on the recipe: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/wheat-extract-all-grain-187589/

The question I have is my OG seems a bit low. I have 6 gallons of Wort, and I am at an OG of 1.032, where BeerSmith predicted 1.056. There is still 1Lbs of honey to be added to this recipe which should bring me up a little but I don't think it will get me to 1.056. I have some wheat extract left over from the last time I brewed this, but I am not sure how much I should add to get me OG up?

Suggestions?

Playing with beersmith, if I am doing this right, it looks like I would need 2 lbs of extract.

If I remove the honey from the recipe it drops the estimated OG by .006 points. I then had an estimated OG of 1.050, so I subracted 1.032 from that, which gave me a difference of 1.018. I then added Extract until the estimated gravity was up .018 points to 1.068. I then added back my honey to the recipe which shot it up another 006 points, but if I am doing this right, 2 pounds of wheat extract should get me to where I need to be right?

Is 1.056 the predicted pre or post boil gravity?

That's the "Original Gravity Estimate" which I believe is post boil?

or could I be right on the money and my boil off will bring me up closer to 1.056, 2 pounds seems like a lot of extract. If honey brings me up 006 points, that would put me closer to 1.38, would boil off really bring me up to 1.056?

I'm not familiar with Beer Smith. So, someone else may be able to tell you. I've seen post boil gravity referred to as both OG and SG (Starting Gravity). I have also seen OG used before to refer to a pre-boil gravity.

Well I would assume that is post because it only gives me 1 original gravity estimate and that's the same estimate whether I'm doing extract or all grain recipes.

If that were the post boil gravity, would I be good or should I be adding some DME to the mix?

I guess to further clarify, are you saying you have six gallons of boiled wort sitting in front of you at 1.032?

No, the wort hasn't boiled yet. It just came out of the mash and is sitting in the BK ready to boil. I took a gravity reading(preboil) and it's at 1.032.

I think you're a little off on pre-boil gravity but not far. Your boil will bring you closer to the 1.056, which I would assume is post-boil.

shecky said:

I think you're a little off on pre-boil gravity but not far. Your boil will bring you closer to the 1.056, which I would assume is post-boil.

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Right, if you haven't boiled yet, or added the honey, then 1.032 may be pretty close to where you should be right now. I think you're fine.

You will end up with 20% less volume which I'm guessing will equal about 20% more gravity even without the honey.

I brewed a Hefe last week and the target was 1.055 OG in beersmith. However the PREBOIL SG was 1.045. I undershoot due to bad crush and hit 1.034 so I corrected with what I had left of DME (1.039) and boiled 30 mins more. Still ended up under the target but at least its in the style range

Ok, that's what I was hoping to hear

What has me worried is my last batch(first AG), the first runnings from the mash had an gravity of 1.076, the second runnings were 1.051, and I never got a measurement of the combined mixture(new AG brewer mistake), and my OG post boil right before pitching the yeast was 1.058. BeerSmith had predicted 1.051.

The first runnings from this batch came out at 1.036, and after mixing in the 2nd it was down 1.027, and I did a 3rd on this one since I missclaculated my voulmes with was 1.022. All 3 combined to 1.032. However the runnings of this batch were much closer in gravity than my last batch, so that might be throwing me off too, plus there was no honey in that recipe either.

Kicking myself for not getting the preboil reading for the last one.

After talking that out here, I think you're right, I might be a little low but I'm hoping this will get close after the boil.

Ok, just double checked the gravity in my sample. It's reading 1.035 as the temp has dropped down to 68 degrees, and with the temp correction gave me a gravity of 1.035. That first reading was around 90 degrees, and I think I remember being told hot samples tend to be off a bit.

Anyway, got my burner going and am waiting for it to boil now and we'll see how it turns out! thank you for all the advice and keeping me from freaking out too much!

And I'll be sure to share the post boil gravity too just in case any other newbs out there run into this

There is a calculator in beersmith that will tell you how long you have to boil to reach a target gravity. However you need to know your boil-off rate.

Arrgghhh....was starting the boil, just ran out of propane. Fortunatley I thought this was going to happen last brew day so I bought another tank then...time to go dig that guy out.

Yalpe said:

There is a calculator in beersmith that will tell you how long you have to boil to reach a target gravity. However you need to know your boil-off rate.

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DOH!!!!!....I didn't even realize that. I usually boil off 1 gallon per hour, and according to that it would give me an OG of 1.042 without the honey. So like everyone said, I'll be close, probably a little low, but atleast within range.

Thanks again everyone!!!!

You could boil more (don't forgot to delay hop additions!). That's what I did and I sacrificed 1.5L of beer for better taste

Well without boiling more I'd only be 0.003 points off my target assuming a 0.006 bump in gravity that BeerSmith says my 1Lbs of honey will do. That's not too far off, for for my 2nd batch of AG I think that's pretty darn close.

update: I just realized this recipe called for a 75 min boil I would normally add the extract and honey and boil for 15 min, then add hops and finish the 60 min. So I just added the honey(no extract anymore ) boiled for 15 min and brewed as usual. Hopefully that extra 15 will get me a wee bit closer.

Got the chiller setup and ready to go, will pull a sample as soon as it's in the fermneter

Well I hit 1.052 when it was all said and done. Which after running it all through BeerSmith gives me an efficiency of 54%

Not sure what happened here, my first batch I hit 70% efficiency dead on, but that wasn't a wheat beer. I milled the grains at the LHBS at the same setting I used for the previous AG batch, but I am now wondering if maybe I should have used a different setting for the wheat? Also, my target mash was 152F, but I wound up hitting 150F and it held at exactly 150F for the whole 60 minutes without dropping at all. Or could my low efficiency have been caused by low mash temps?

Edit: Oh, and I only got about 4 to 4.5 gallons out of it when it was all said and done. Think I need to adjust my boil off rates for brewing in the summer, I boiled off way less when I started, but that was also in December and it wasn't 90F outside.

I had pretty much the same brew day experience (this was my second batch BTW). I had my grains crushed at the LHBS too. They told me that wheat was harder to crush as they are smaller and harder than most. Their mill was set to crush regular grain and the result was quite disappointing (I only noticed once I got home, won't do that mistake twice!). BS gives me 56% efficiency. My final volume is around 4.5gal.

56% includes 150g of DME though, so its probably closer to 50%

Its been fermenting for 7 days now and smells quite good, I can't wait to taste it!

So can you tell me what wheat should be crushed at? The mill at my LHBS is a DIY setup, and I can adjust the dial to set the size. I apparently got it just right for my first batch, set to .018(or .18, or maybe 1.018, I just know they recommended 18 for my first brew and I can find it when I look at the dial). So I just went ahead and used it on that setting for both the 2-Row and the wheat. I can adjust it differently myself, but I can't find any guides for what setting to use for different types of grains.