OK, did my first all grain, Blue Balls Belgian Wit and have some issues I want to throw out and see what everyone says.
First though, and this might explain some issues, I had purchase a brand new digital thermometer, the one with a probe for meat that you can leave in a roast in your oven and the display on the over. Worked great at the beginning! When I was prepping my sparge water, I started to notice that the thermometer was not reading right, in fact, I cracked the lid on the mash (5-gallon gott round cooler) and the temp had gone UP after 60 minutes so I knew something was up. I then went back and checked the sparge water, which I just flamed out, and it had gone up significantly. So I was in trouble at that point and all I could do was assume my sparge temp and mash temp was OK since I had no backup thermo.
So . The results were about 65% efficiency per my BeerSmith software. The beer has the great orange and coriander taste but the color is way light and the beer is thin (do to efficiency I assume), to the point where its crystal clear in the bottle. Tastes OK but could me maltier/thicker I think.
I think my cooler set-up is good. I created my own copper manifold as opposed to a SS braid. I wish I had a pic but I dont. Its basically a 9-inch square manifold with a middle copper pipe for added drainage and I cut the bottom slots every 3/8 inch all the way around. I batch sparged and it drained amazingly but the efficiency is off and the beer was thin and light so I can only think of these as issues:
1. The obvious thermometer issue. If not the thermometer, then one of the following.
2. The batch sparge drained too quickly? Could that be possible? I stirred it real well. Could or should I be holding the mash for 10 minutes to increase efficiency?
3. My set-up needs to be tweaked. It seems others have exceeded 70% efficiency with this same setup.
Lastly, on the efficiency issue. What is the generally accepted efficiency measure everyone uses? Is efficiency the post boil gravity or pre-boil gravity. I spent a great deal of my research and time on getting the system built and what the process of an AG was, not so much on recipe formulation and troubleshooting, which is why I chose a tried and true recipe. So, Im trying now to bumble my way through this to get it better.
I think the recipe I used assumed 75% efficiency and because I did not achieve that, the beer turned out as it did.
As for the brewing itself, it went fine, easier than I thought. But being an extract brewing first, it made it easier.
Im trying to develop a porter recipe but I certainly dont want a thin, weak beer as a result. I obviously replaced the thermometer but other than that, my set-up remains the same.
First though, and this might explain some issues, I had purchase a brand new digital thermometer, the one with a probe for meat that you can leave in a roast in your oven and the display on the over. Worked great at the beginning! When I was prepping my sparge water, I started to notice that the thermometer was not reading right, in fact, I cracked the lid on the mash (5-gallon gott round cooler) and the temp had gone UP after 60 minutes so I knew something was up. I then went back and checked the sparge water, which I just flamed out, and it had gone up significantly. So I was in trouble at that point and all I could do was assume my sparge temp and mash temp was OK since I had no backup thermo.
So . The results were about 65% efficiency per my BeerSmith software. The beer has the great orange and coriander taste but the color is way light and the beer is thin (do to efficiency I assume), to the point where its crystal clear in the bottle. Tastes OK but could me maltier/thicker I think.
I think my cooler set-up is good. I created my own copper manifold as opposed to a SS braid. I wish I had a pic but I dont. Its basically a 9-inch square manifold with a middle copper pipe for added drainage and I cut the bottom slots every 3/8 inch all the way around. I batch sparged and it drained amazingly but the efficiency is off and the beer was thin and light so I can only think of these as issues:
1. The obvious thermometer issue. If not the thermometer, then one of the following.
2. The batch sparge drained too quickly? Could that be possible? I stirred it real well. Could or should I be holding the mash for 10 minutes to increase efficiency?
3. My set-up needs to be tweaked. It seems others have exceeded 70% efficiency with this same setup.
Lastly, on the efficiency issue. What is the generally accepted efficiency measure everyone uses? Is efficiency the post boil gravity or pre-boil gravity. I spent a great deal of my research and time on getting the system built and what the process of an AG was, not so much on recipe formulation and troubleshooting, which is why I chose a tried and true recipe. So, Im trying now to bumble my way through this to get it better.
I think the recipe I used assumed 75% efficiency and because I did not achieve that, the beer turned out as it did.
As for the brewing itself, it went fine, easier than I thought. But being an extract brewing first, it made it easier.
Im trying to develop a porter recipe but I certainly dont want a thin, weak beer as a result. I obviously replaced the thermometer but other than that, my set-up remains the same.
