jamesnsw
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2009
- Messages
- 842
- Reaction score
- 14
I've done 2 AG BIAB brews now, and am thinking I need to do something different. I don't think I am converting very well at all.
The first brew I got 53% efficiency, and the second I got 73%. However, both have an odd taste, kind of like malt o' meal or something. It's really prevalent in the second, which is a lighter session beer- it's more hidden in the first.
Also, fermentation for both stopped above 1.020, even with good temp control and aeration, etc.
They each are hazy- not chill haze, but a permanent haze even when it's warm. No clearing even after awhile in the fridge.
This last point, put together with John Palmer's troubleshooting appendix and these other things, made me think that perhaps I am extracting starch from the grain, not converting it to sugar, and then brewing with that.
Main question: Does my diagnosis make sense? I only have read about the hydrometer finding the sugar content, but wouldn't it also register starch content? So I would end up with a reading of 1.041, think I have 73% efficiency, but 50% of those are unfermentable starches that never converted, for instance.
--
Some things I've thought about/questions you'd probably ask anyways-
The first brew I got 53% efficiency, and the second I got 73%. However, both have an odd taste, kind of like malt o' meal or something. It's really prevalent in the second, which is a lighter session beer- it's more hidden in the first.
Also, fermentation for both stopped above 1.020, even with good temp control and aeration, etc.
They each are hazy- not chill haze, but a permanent haze even when it's warm. No clearing even after awhile in the fridge.
This last point, put together with John Palmer's troubleshooting appendix and these other things, made me think that perhaps I am extracting starch from the grain, not converting it to sugar, and then brewing with that.
Main question: Does my diagnosis make sense? I only have read about the hydrometer finding the sugar content, but wouldn't it also register starch content? So I would end up with a reading of 1.041, think I have 73% efficiency, but 50% of those are unfermentable starches that never converted, for instance.
--
Some things I've thought about/questions you'd probably ask anyways-
- I don't have iodine to test it with, but I'll be picking that up before the next brew day.
- My first mash was at 154° for 60 minutes. Second was at 154° for 90 minutes.
- My thermometer is calibrated at freezing, and is within 1 degree of where boiling should be at my altitude (even pulled out the GPS to get the altitude), so that should be pretty close.
- My mash thickness has been in the 1.5-2 qts/lb range.
- I sparged & mashed out on the second, but not the first.