Tried my first AG today. I'm using the Apricot Wheat recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. I adjusted the recipe for my brewing equipment:
5lb Wheat Malt
5lb 2-row
8oz crystal
1.2oz Willamette
I hit my mash temp of 154 perfectly, though it took a couple of quarts less water than BeerSmith predicted. I lost less than one degree during the one hour mash. I'm using a 10gallon Rubbermaid cooler with an insulated lid.
When I mashed out, BS recommended 202 degree water, but I was unable to add enough to get the temp up. I added a gallon or so more than BS recommended but was only able to get it up to 164. I left it there for 10 minutes.
I put 172 degree water in the HLT (also Rubbermaid) and undershot my 168F temp by a couple of degrees. I vorlaufed and started draining into my kettle. (I'm using an auto-sparge). I filled the kettle to my 7 gallon point while checking the gravity occasionally with an AG hydrometer to make sure I wasn't under 1.010. The closest I got was 1.020.
Stirred it up and checked the gravity and was spot on my pre-boil gravity (or so I thought). While I was boiling my new refractometer was delivered.
After the boil I had boiled off a little less than I predicted by about 1/4 gallon. I checked the gravity with the refractometer and was surprised to see that it was the same as my preboil gravity (1.040). I double checked it with my regular hydrometer and confirmed it.
I don't know what happened, but I somehow misread the pre-boil gravity.
So, I'm going to have a 4% beer instead of a 5%, but everything seemed like it went fairly well for the first time.
Any suggestions on how I can improve my efficiency? Looks like it was about 52%. I was hoping for more. I'm using a circular 1" braid in the bottom of my 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler.
How much does the drain rate affect efficiency? Could I have been draining too quickly? I didn't time it, but it took about half an hour or a little more to get 7 gallons.
Any other suggestions?
5lb Wheat Malt
5lb 2-row
8oz crystal
1.2oz Willamette
I hit my mash temp of 154 perfectly, though it took a couple of quarts less water than BeerSmith predicted. I lost less than one degree during the one hour mash. I'm using a 10gallon Rubbermaid cooler with an insulated lid.
When I mashed out, BS recommended 202 degree water, but I was unable to add enough to get the temp up. I added a gallon or so more than BS recommended but was only able to get it up to 164. I left it there for 10 minutes.
I put 172 degree water in the HLT (also Rubbermaid) and undershot my 168F temp by a couple of degrees. I vorlaufed and started draining into my kettle. (I'm using an auto-sparge). I filled the kettle to my 7 gallon point while checking the gravity occasionally with an AG hydrometer to make sure I wasn't under 1.010. The closest I got was 1.020.
Stirred it up and checked the gravity and was spot on my pre-boil gravity (or so I thought). While I was boiling my new refractometer was delivered.
After the boil I had boiled off a little less than I predicted by about 1/4 gallon. I checked the gravity with the refractometer and was surprised to see that it was the same as my preboil gravity (1.040). I double checked it with my regular hydrometer and confirmed it.
I don't know what happened, but I somehow misread the pre-boil gravity.
So, I'm going to have a 4% beer instead of a 5%, but everything seemed like it went fairly well for the first time.
Any suggestions on how I can improve my efficiency? Looks like it was about 52%. I was hoping for more. I'm using a circular 1" braid in the bottom of my 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler.
How much does the drain rate affect efficiency? Could I have been draining too quickly? I didn't time it, but it took about half an hour or a little more to get 7 gallons.
Any other suggestions?