first AG brew, all kinds of issues

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jaydog2314

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2012
Messages
739
Reaction score
118
Location
Lockport
My first all grain brew and all kinds of problems started off with equipment issues due to borrowing a friends turkey fryer turn into super low efficiency at about 50 percent. Then I broke my hydrometer while cleaning it before taking my starting gravity and yesterday was Easter so I didn't get the chance to watch my brew to see how is fermenting and by time I came home with the family I was so tired I forgot to check it. I go down first thing this morning and of course I had a blow off so I clean and sanitize a hose real quick got that back in running into sanitizer solution and thankfully it started bubbling right away I'm just hoping all is still ok. I guess the fermcap didn't keep the krausen down enough. There have been other little irritating issues. I'm tying to relax and enjoy a home brew. I'm trying another AG brew tomorrow so I'm hoping to learn from my mistakes and make that batch better. Going to be doing lots of reading on efficiency and i think since the next batch is a bigger beer ill definitely use a blow off hose from the get go. Just wanted to share!
 
I would some more info.
Did you sparge?
Did you fly or batch sparge?
What was grain bed temp?
Did you vorlof?
 
I did for vorlof 2 liters. I was fly sparging, kept about an inch or so of water above the grain bed, the grain bed temperature I checked it twice and read about 148 or so but I also believe my thermometer was running a little bit low because even in my boil it only read about 208. It's a short thermometer not big enough for my 9 gallon pot, one of things I need to upgrade.
 
I did for vorlof 2 liters. I was fly sparging, kept about an inch or so of water above the grain bed, the grain bed temperature I checked it twice and read about 148 or so but I also believe my thermometer was running a little bit low because even in my boil it only read about 208. It's a short thermometer not big enough for my 9 gallon pot, one of things I need to upgrade.

Fly sparge on the first AG! You are brave. I never have good luck with fly sparging so I always batch sparge. Plus when batch sparging you get a chance to break up the grain bed and make sure you knock loose every little bit of sugar that's left. Try a batch sparge on the next one and see if that improves your efficiency. How long was your mash? If your temp really was 148, it usually calls for a longer mash.
 
i just assumed fly sparging would be easier than batch which i why i went that route, i got the flow out of the tun and out of the HLT to match up pretty good...now could I have been draining from the mash tun too fast? would that effect efficiency? i'm using the 10 gallon cooler mash tun method. also when I get to the tail run of draining that mash tun i did NOT tip/tilt it to get anything right off the bottom, should I? i don't have a false bottom(yet) on the mash tun. thanks
 
How long did you fly sparge for? Next time I would give batch sparging a try. Just dump in the sparge water, stir really good vorlauf and drain. I usually split the batch sparge into two, and get around 78-80%. Give it a shot. Also don't get discouraged it takes a few batches to know your equipment pretty good..

What type of manifold do you have in the MT?
 
just the braid supply line right now as far as manifold...and now to make things worse i got a hydrometer to measure by SG since I had broke it Saturday and it's WAY higher, ironically the amount higher is almost the same amount I was low by pre-boil! UGH i feel like all the DME I added now has ruined the batch!

trying to stay calm and understand it takes time, just frustrating!
 
is there any way now that it was been fermenting for 2 days to lower the gravity? I tested a sample I had taken before pitching, stuck in the fridge and then today let it warm up for a few hours and it came is at 1.085 est gravity on beersmith says should have been 1.064.
 
recipe was to clone Lakefront IPA, used from a thread on here:

Grains
12 lbs. 12 oz 2-Row
12oz. - 20L
8oz. - 40L

hops:
1.25 - Columbus - 60 mins
1.00 - Cascade - 5 mins
1.00 - Cascade - 0 mins
Dry Hopping:
1oz each: Cascade, Chinook, Simcoe

Wyeast 1272 used a 2000ml starter

Heated water(4.374 gallons) to 168 per Beersmith directions
15 before that rinse and preheated mash tun using steaming water from the sink, sealed it.
Filled MLT with water mixing grains in as I went, once all grains in, stirred the hell of it.
Checked temp after 30 mins read about 148
Finished 75 mash, vorlaufed 2 liters then tried to match pretty closely the draining from MLT to BK and HLT to MLT water flow rate, for sparging I had a hose from HLT into a stainless steel collander and kept about 1 inch of water above grain bed.
Sparge amount was 4.10 gallons, temp was 170.
BK was pretty full, no sure on exact amount but it looked damn close to prob 7 gallons, beersmith said I should have 6.78 took pre-boil gravity and it was 1.040 Beersmith called for 1.059.
I found a formula on here an b/c of the difference I added 2.8 pounds of DME, stirred in and began boil process and brought pre-boil gravity to 1.058
Post boil broke hydrometer so took a sample and stuck in the fridge, let it warm on counter today about 2.5 hours and it read 1.085 today!
Had a massive blow off some point yesterday, recovered and put a blow off tube on and it started bubbling right away.

My Equipemt:
9 gallons pots for HLT & BK
10 gallon MLT (home depot style), braided hose as manifold

That's my process! Thanks for any advice
 
is there any way now that it was been fermenting for 2 days to lower the gravity? I tested a sample I had taken before pitching, stuck in the fridge and then today let it warm up for a few hours and it came is at 1.085 est gravity on beersmith says should have been 1.064

You can always add water to get high SG down, but I really wouldn't advise it. Not to mention that adding new water adds an opportunity for infection.

Sometimes you just have to let the beer be what it's going to be. It might even be better than you intended!

-Rich

PS. If you really really have to get your gravity down, here's how. Presuming a 5-gallon batch, your SG now is (5 * 85 = ) 425 gravity pts. To wind up at 64, you would need to increase your volume to 6.64 gallons (425 / 64). That's a lot of beer, though. It's more than will fit in a corny keg, and requires lots more bottles, if bottling. Diluting your gravity will also dilute all the rest of your ingredients (hops, specialty grains, etc.) by the same amount (about 25%). You might also be shocking your yeast. I really wouldn't bother.
 
Ah I did not realize you needed to adjust the hydrometer reading for temperature I had only ever taken gravity readings when the wort has been cool. So what do I do now since I added all that DMe? is it just going to be a strong batch. Because it's already been in the fermenter for two days just wondering if there's anything to correct the high starting gravity reading now the 1.085
 
Ah I did not realize you needed to adjust the hydrometer reading for temperature I had only ever taken gravity readings when the wort has been cool. So what do I do now since I added all that DMe? is it just going to be a strong batch. Because it's already been in the fermenter for two days just wondering if there's anything to correct the high starting gravity reading now the 1.085

I say leave it. Very little wrong with a high-gravity beer; you might have a stuck fermentation if your yeast poops out, but a repitch of US-05 or similar and you'd likely do fine.

You could dilute with water, but that would give you wimpy-tasting beer of the proper ABV. I've done it, and I don't recommend it.

-Rich
 
Also I'll be sure to read up tonight while at work on repitching and all the ins and outs of that just in case the yeast stops working
 
Also I'll be sure to read up tonight while at work on repitching and all the ins and outs of that just in case the yeast stops working

Since you originally pitched a 2L starter, you're probably good, but research is always a good thing.

-Rich
 
took all the advice and i was able to brew again today and decided to give batch sparging a shot after reading up more on it and i did OK not great, different recipe(Double IPA) this time est. pre-boil gravity was suppose to be 1.075, came in at 1.068, about 65% on efficiency but from what I read batch sparging tends to range 65-75 so I ended up adding some DME to bring up the gravity, only had 1/2 lb at home so I added it an brought it up to 1.070, SG gravity came in a little obviously too, est was 1.085, actual was 1.081, but this brew session was MUCH MUCH smoother, and thanks again Echoloc8 for that calculator to adjust hydrometer readings, you can bet I won't forget to do that again! Also I bought the Banjo Cooker since the borrowed turkey fryer wasn't working great either and the Banjo Cooker is GREAT, worth the $....SO in the end I feel more confident going forward with AG brews, I think I'll stick with batch sparging unless I purchase a false bottom but I think I spent enough $ for now, time to enjoy the brews! Thanks again all for the advice and tips, it helped a TON!!!
 
Fly sparge on the first AG! You are brave. I never have good luck with fly sparging so I always batch sparge. Plus when batch sparging you get a chance to break up the grain bed and make sure you knock loose every little bit of sugar that's left. Try a batch sparge on the next one and see if that improves your efficiency. How long was your mash? If your temp really was 148, it usually calls for a longer mash.

I agree with the longer time for 148F. I did a Belgian Blonde at 148F for 90 minutes and pulled the sweetest wort I have had yet.

My first 3 AG batches I fly sparged and was seeing 83% efficiency on them. I moved to a larger mash tun and went to batch sparging and my first one I only hit about 68% efficiency. I will be duplicating the brew next week armed with better information on my sparge methods and expect to get back to the 80% range.

Mouse :ban::ban:
 
In your opinion, why did you get such a low efficiency?
ha2.jpg

for today's brew i'm not 100% sure...i need to go back over all my notes and numbers but I know I hit my mash temps perfectly and kept them perfectly too. i know i had forgot to get about a pound of my grain crushed at the LHBS so I was forced to crush it myself with a rolling pin this afternoon and while I did an OK job prob not as good of a job as a mill!
 
On bigger beers people tend to get a little lower efficiency. They just compensate by adding a little more grain. For your 2nd all grain batch you did pretty good. I remember when I did mine my eff was low, like 60ish or something. Check your grain from your HBS, some crush pretty good while others tend to lean towards a lower quality crush. You could also raise your sparge temp a little, I usually try to shoot for 185-190 to raise the grain bed near the 165-170's.. Could get some more sugars out easier.
 
took all the advice and i was able to brew again today and decided to give batch sparging a shot after reading up more on it and i did OK not great, different recipe(Double IPA) this time est. pre-boil gravity was suppose to be 1.075, came in at 1.068, about 65% on efficiency but from what I read batch sparging tends to range 65-75 so I ended up adding some DME to bring up the gravity, only had 1/2 lb at home so I added it an brought it up to 1.070, SG gravity came in a little obviously too, est was 1.085, actual was 1.081, but this brew session was MUCH MUCH smoother, and thanks again Echoloc8 for that calculator to adjust hydrometer readings, you can bet I won't forget to do that again! Also I bought the Banjo Cooker since the borrowed turkey fryer wasn't working great either and the Banjo Cooker is GREAT, worth the $....SO in the end I feel more confident going forward with AG brews, I think I'll stick with batch sparging unless I purchase a false bottom but I think I spent enough $ for now, time to enjoy the brews! Thanks again all for the advice and tips, it helped a TON!!!

I just wanna say good for you for making your own recipe for your second AG batch. I did the same thing. I could brew "kits" time and time again, but what would I be learning? I'd rather have a couple OK batches that I "designed" and learn a LOT than brew something I have no concept why certain things went into it.

I work at my LHBS and every time someone comes in an orders a kit, I want to ask them why they don't try to design their own recipes. I understand most people are still just getting the actual brewing down first... I guess we live on the wild side. To each their own. :mug:
 
yeah the thought of brewing a beer I designed was pretty cool, i obviously looked at other recipes and clones to get a feel for what went into them and i figure if it's bad it's bad but I wanted to start somewhere and see what I could come up with...It is an addicting hobby to say the least!
 
Back
Top