Photopilot
Well-Known Member
I brewed last an AHB Doppelbock on Saturday. I have had the AG kit sitting around for a while maybe 5 months pre-crushed and in the sealed bag. I have been waiting that long to get the courage up to lager.
So I followed my normal routine which usually gets me in the high 70s for efficiency. The predicted OG was supposed to be 1.088. During my initial runoff I had a reading of 20 on my refractometer so I knew I was in trouble. I fly sparge and when I had about 5 gallons in the brew pot I read took a reading and was still getting about 13 brix so I just kept sparging, since I was still getting sugar. I ended up with about 8.5 gallons in the 1.060 range.
I was showing a friend who was an extract brewer my AG setup and techniques. At this point I suggested he go home to finish his own projects as I was in for a long day. I spent a half hour or so cleaning while skimming hot break, took an hour nap on the couch near the kitchen. When the wort was at 7 gallons I added the hops and started my hour boil.
After a very long day I had 5.5 gallons of 1.088 wort in a carboy, so it all worked out perfectly but why was the mash slow to release its sugary goodness?
My guesses:
So I followed my normal routine which usually gets me in the high 70s for efficiency. The predicted OG was supposed to be 1.088. During my initial runoff I had a reading of 20 on my refractometer so I knew I was in trouble. I fly sparge and when I had about 5 gallons in the brew pot I read took a reading and was still getting about 13 brix so I just kept sparging, since I was still getting sugar. I ended up with about 8.5 gallons in the 1.060 range.
I was showing a friend who was an extract brewer my AG setup and techniques. At this point I suggested he go home to finish his own projects as I was in for a long day. I spent a half hour or so cleaning while skimming hot break, took an hour nap on the couch near the kitchen. When the wort was at 7 gallons I added the hops and started my hour boil.
After a very long day I had 5.5 gallons of 1.088 wort in a carboy, so it all worked out perfectly but why was the mash slow to release its sugary goodness?
My guesses:
- Older grain
- Improper sparge temp for smaller batch (5 gallon vs normal 10 gallon)