OK, so I got excited reading the BIAB thread, and there was a sale on turkey fryers before Thanksgiving, so I decided to put down the extract and go for it - drilled a hole in the 30 qt. aluminum kettle, bought a ball valve and a pack of paint strainers, and boom! I'm brewing! My first batch came out of primary last week and is carbing. I wasn't too careful about my measurements, etc., but I thought that my efficiency was over 80%, which seemed unlikely. My second batch (today) I was more careful. I was using 8 lbs of 2-row and a half pound of Caraaroma for some color and body. I started with about 6 gallons of water, and ended up with about 5. I wasn't too careful about the temperature while mashing (probably dropped from 153 down to about 145 an hour later, and then stalled for a while at about 160-165 on the way mashing out at 170.) I squeezed the bag a little but no sparging.
I was shooting for a 1.047 OG based on what I thought was an optimistic 75% efficiency estimate, but after cooling the sample I took at the end of the boil to about 70 degrees it read 1.053, which works out to 85% efficiency. I figure it's more probable that I'm figuring something wrong than that I'm actually seeing 85% efficiency with my slap-dash techniques, but I don't know what it is. I'm trying to make a session beer so I guess I can just add water, but that seems, oh, I don't know - wrong?
I'd like to hit the OG I'm aiming for. Any ideas?
I was shooting for a 1.047 OG based on what I thought was an optimistic 75% efficiency estimate, but after cooling the sample I took at the end of the boil to about 70 degrees it read 1.053, which works out to 85% efficiency. I figure it's more probable that I'm figuring something wrong than that I'm actually seeing 85% efficiency with my slap-dash techniques, but I don't know what it is. I'm trying to make a session beer so I guess I can just add water, but that seems, oh, I don't know - wrong?
I'd like to hit the OG I'm aiming for. Any ideas?