Weird Hydroreading

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hoppyhoppyhippo

hoppyhoppyhippo

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Someone can guide me here as to what happened. I mashed in at 163 for my mini-mash. I put the Kettle in a warm room in a comforter that before had good yield. According to beer smith my estimated OG would have been 1.085. My read gravity was somewhere between 1.050-1.060. What makes this weird is that the 7 pounds of DME would make it about 1.060. So could I have really screwed up my hydro? Hopefully I'll be getting a cooler to do my mini-mashes into soon so this won't happen again but I'm just curious as to my error.
 
what temp did you take your hydro reading at? You are supposed to cool hydro samples to 60 if you didn't do that you will get unrealiable readings.

Also, if you were just minimashing the specialty grains, they could not have had that big an impact on your fg.
 
That wasn't adjusted but it was like 80 maybe 90 tops, the difference between that and 60 is minimal. I'm starting to wonder if it was the crush. LHBS is usually good, but then again, I usually pick up the order, my brother may have forgotten to ask to get them crushed for BIAB. But I'm still confused why Beersmith just on the DME says I should have been at 1.061 and my brother's reading at about 65 was 1.050.

Next time I'll recheck the crush. I'm leaning towards that being the biggest culprit. I usually mash in a little high because accounting for poor efficiency. If I don't have a cooler system by next time I'm thinking of swithcing to a mash out. I'm at about 50/50 on hitting my target OG.
 
C-Rider said:
To high a mash temp? Usually mash in the 150's
Click to expand...

I misspoke, I should have said my strike water was 163 and my mash temp was 150. This was the highest I mashed in for a light body but I was compensating for the loss I've experienced before.

I think I'd solve many issues by getting a cooler.
 
hoppyhoppyhippo said:
That wasn't adjusted but it was like 80 maybe 90 tops, the difference between that and 60 is minimal. I'm starting to wonder if it was the crush. LHBS is usually good, but then again, I usually pick up the order, my brother may have forgotten to ask to get them crushed for BIAB. But I'm still confused why Beersmith just on the DME says I should have been at 1.061 and my brother's reading at about 65 was 1.050.

Next time I'll recheck the crush. I'm leaning towards that being the biggest culprit. I usually mash in a little high because accounting for poor efficiency. If I don't have a cooler system by next time I'm thinking of swithcing to a mash out. I'm at about 50/50 on hitting my target OG.
Click to expand...

Was there top off water? If so you may have gotten a bad mix of wort and water. Also, if your volumes were not correct your reading will be off as well.
 
Originally Posted by C-Rider View Post
To high a mash temp? Usually mash in the 150's

hoppyhoppyhippo said:
I misspoke, I should have said my strike water was 163 and my mash temp was 150. This was the highest I mashed in for a light body but I was compensating for the loss I've experienced before.

I think I'd solve many issues by getting a cooler.
Click to expand...

That sounds a lot better. Try getting a Refractometer and you don't have to worry about the temp when taking a reading except at bottling time.
 
duboman said:
Was there top off water? If so you may have gotten a bad mix of wort and water. Also, if your volumes were not correct your reading will be off as well.
Click to expand...

I did use top up water, actually a lot more than usual (had a strong 90 minute boil). Maybe that's the case. I hope it is. Otherwise I'm having a major efficiency issue that needs to be addressed. Somehow the heat went too low too fast. Almost impossibly fast.
 
Yes, if you added more top off water than the recipe required and also got a bad mix you diluted your beer, sounds like that was the issue:)
 

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