Reaaaaaaaaaally low OG.

So I did my first AG batch today using Deathbrewers stovetop method... It seemed like everything was going well.. I'm making a German Pilsner SMaSH with 12 lbs Pilsner 2-row. Shooting for an OG of 1.058, and somehow... I'm getting 1.025?

At the start of my mash I was at about 155 for 15 minutes, but got it to fall to 150 for most of the remaining 45 minutes. At the very end I was slipping into the high 40's. It was kind of spur of the moment so I didn't do any sort of conversion test, but figured if I was close to my temps I should have been okay. I did top off with a little less than a half gallon of water to hit 5 gallons, but I shook the carboy pretty violently before checking the gravity...

So does anybody have any idea what I did wrong? Mash time was too short? Everything went pretty smooth all day and I was pretty happy with my brewday, until the very end. Thats what I get for attempting to pull off my first SMaSH, first AG, and first lager all in one day! Guess I pitched a 4L starter for nothing

I wouldn't think that mashing at 140^F - 155^F for 60 minutes would cause that kind of efficiency decrease. Did you adequately vorlauf your mash runnings and sparge correctly?

Also, probably not an issue, but was the grain old?

Check your hydrometer calibration. That seems awful low for the amount of grain and the temps you mashed at. Did you measure before, or after the 4L starter?

the stovetop method will result in low effeciency unless you are really anal during the sparging process....What were your sparging procedures?

did you remember to adjust for temp when taking your gravity reading?

How was the crush? That is usually the first place to look when you get low efficiency. Also did you adjust for temps?

Shaking the wort after adding top up water is not going to mix it adequately. You need to stir, preferably from top to bottom.
My guess is you got a gravity reading that was skewed by the top up water.

-a.

So we taught an AG class a couple weeks ago at the shop. After everything's said and done we go and take the OG reading while everyone's watching. 1.012.

I give a concerned look and twirl it again. 1.012. We cannot figure it out. Then I look at the little piece of rolled up paper inside the hydrometer. It had moved all the way to the bottom touching the weight totally skewing the measurement.

So my advice would be to calibrate it. Should read 1.000 in distilled water at your calibration temp, which is probably 60F.

Wow. That's low.

Following DB's AG method, I usually hit 80%+, (once at 70 ).

I agree with everyone else,
grain crush?
hydro calibration?
are you SURE it was well mixed?
temp you took your SG at?
THERMO calibration?? (don't think others suggested this....how do you know you were at 150-155F?)

Check your thermometer, too. I hope things just got a little wonky because of topoff water or something, but the bottom line is that you do not know if you have conversion unless you test for conversion. Man, if nothing else, just taste the wort and see if it's sweet or starchy.

Right now, we are just guessing, but the guys above have a lot of good ideas about your problem might be.

TL

Hey, thanks for all the responses... Here we go:

Grain: Grain was from an unopened bag (50#?... Don't remember exactly how much those big bags hold) at my LHBS that has a pretty good turnover rate, and was crushed about 5 days ago, kept in a airtight bag... And the grains were crushed pretty well, but not terribly fine.. About standard for what I usually do.

Thermo calibration: As far as thermometer calibration goes... I'm using a new probe thermometer, nothing fancy. It seems to be calibrated correct, as it reads 50 degrees while in my keezer that is set to 50 degrees exactly... I suppose I should test it at boiling to make sure its correct at higher temps?

Hydro calibration: I checked my hydrometer with water and it read 1.000.. This is what it should be at, right? I shook vigorously, added the starter, remembered I needed to check gravity, shook again and then checked it.

Hydo temp: I did adjust for the temp, but it was close enough that even a few points off wouldn't make it THAT far off..

Sparging: As far as sparging goes.. I follow through the stovetop AG guide... My mash was 3.75 gallons, so as per Beersmith, to hit 5.75 gallons I sparged with 4 gallons of water at exactly 170 for 15 minutes...

Mixing top off water: I pretty much just shook the carboy at a few pretty good angles, making sure to get alot of the beer moving around and such... It seemed like a good mix, but this seems to be the most likely reason for my off reading...?

Taste: The taste of the wort was about the same as usual... Really sweet, really bitter... 35 IBUs..

I went into this having done alot of reading on the forums here and thought I had most of the bases covered... I've done a bunch of PM batches and never had a problem with gravity.... Should have had a conversion test ready, but I guess I failed as far as that goes haha... I pitched my yeast at 68 degrees and then put the carboy into my keezer @ 50 degrees... 9 hours later, there seems to be a pretty good fermentation going on already, but I don't really know if a strong fermentation means anything as far as ABV goes...

switched said:

... I pitched my yeast at 68 degrees and then put the carboy into my keezer @ 150 degrees... 9 hours later, there seems to be a pretty good fermentation going on already, but I don't really know if a strong fermentation means anything as far as ABV goes...

Click to expand...

do you have a direct fire keezer?

Yes, it works wonders for getting that perfect banana flavor, haha.. Whoops. 50º.

switched said:

... My mash was 3.75 quarts, ..

Click to expand...

I'm a bit confused here, so help me out some. What did you mean by your mash was 3.75 quart? Did you have 3.75 quart grist, or 3.75 quart water added to the grist, or a total mash of 3.75 qurats?? THANKS

i ask, because mash-in with 12 lbs of malt takes from 15 to 18 qt water.

Sudbuster said:

I'm a bit confused here, so help me out some. What did you mean by your mash was 3.75 quart? Did you have 3.75 quart grist, or 3.75 quart water added to the grist, or a total mash of 3.75 qurats?? THANKS

i ask, because mash-in with 12 lbs of malt takes from 15 to 18 qt water.

Click to expand...

Willing to bet he meant gallons, since 3.75 gallons to mash in, plus 4 gallons to sparge, minus .15 gallons/lb in absorption should equal close to 5.75 gallons.

Yeah I had a super low (although not quite that low) OG on a batch that was due to a faulty thermometer, resulting in very poor conversion. It didn't seem off, but then when I calibrated it against a known good thermometer, it was off by like 15-20 degrees at mash temps.

Yeeeeea. I was thinking 1.25 quarts water per pound of grain.. So yeah, 3.75 gallons mash... Maybe I should take a gravity reading right now and see where its at? I've never really taken a reading while there was a good amount of activity going on though, don't know if that matters even.

I did check the gravity again... Maybe this hydro is out of whack... So I hold the hydro up, drop it in... Goes to 1.020.... Do it again.. Goes to 1.054... give it a little spin to free it up, drops a couple points, but not down to 1.020.. Repeating this keeps giving me mixed results... The tube is slightly bent from somebody forgetting to cool the wort down before checking gravity... Or maybe I just am no good at reading hydrometers...

Maybe I'll have to wait a while and use the age old way to check ABV.... Drink a whole mess of these one night and see how long it takes me to get drunk!

switched said:

I did check the gravity again... Maybe this hydro is out of whack... So I hold the hydro up, drop it in... Goes to 1.020.... Do it again.. Goes to 1.054... give it a little spin to free it up, drops a couple points, but not down to 1.020.. Repeating this keeps giving me mixed results... The tube is slightly bent from somebody forgetting to cool the wort down before checking gravity... Or maybe I just am no good at reading hydrometers...

Maybe I'll have to wait a while and use the age old way to check ABV.... Drink a whole mess of these one night and see how long it takes me to get drunk!

Click to expand...

I've found that when I very slowly drop my hydrometer into the thief, this helps. A quick drop and waiting for it to float back up seems to result in more bad readings, side stickings, etc...

I fill the thief with enough wort so that I can still hold the stem once it's floating at it's proper reading, then pull out the hydro and slowly put it back to verify. Seems to have helped me.