Surprised myself!

I made my first AG batch last weekend. A simple Amber Ale.. I under-shot my OG a bit.. I ended up with 1.036 (predicted was 1.048) so I added a pound of DME to make up for it. I checked gravity tonight and it's at 1.006 which surprised me. I was expecting a FG of 1.010.. I'm guessing this isn't a bad thing. I tasted the sample, and WOW! It's the best tasting beer I've made! I'm very excited about AG at this point. I'm sure I'll get better efficiency on the next one, because I know I made a few mistakes on the first batch. I've tweaked my process to work out the bugs that gave me such bad efficiency the first time. I can't wait to brew my next AG batch!

Way to go!

passedpawn said:

Way to go!

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Thanks! It's amazing how clean it tastes compared to extract (even with the 1lb of DME I put in)... My next attempt will be a chocolate stout.. Wish me luck!

Congratulations!

Stauffbier said:

Thanks! It's amazing how clean it tastes compared to extract (even with the 1lb of DME I put in)... My next attempt will be a chocolate stout.. Wish me luck!

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Good luck

So, I brewed up my chocolate stout today. If I'm using Fatty Matty brewhouse efficiency calculator correctly then I hit 87% efficiency! I'm feeling pretty excited about that! That seems like a really high number, though. Do any of you get that high of an efficiency??

Stauffbier said:

So, I brewed up my chocolate stout today. If I'm using Fatty Matty brewhouse efficiency calculator correctly then I hit 87% efficiency! I'm feeling pretty excited about that! That seems like a really high number, though. Do any of you get that high of an efficiency??

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I hit 85% on a batch (strong bitter) week before last, according to Hopville Beer Calculus. I entered the grains and saw that the predicted OG was actually lower than mine, so I edited the efficiency up until it matched. Come to think of it, you could doublecheck your numbers the same way - it's a simple, pretty much self explanatory program. I'm a relative newby myself (~ 10 batches), so I was pretty excited. The good thing is that it's an oversized batch - I'll bottle over 6 gallons, more if I decide to top off and settle for a smaller beer (OG was 1.060). Congratulations. Fun s#$t, eh?

BrewMU said:

I hit 85% on a batch (strong bitter) week before last, according to Hopville Beer Calculus. I entered the grains and saw that the predicted OG was actually lower than mine, so I edited the efficiency up until it matched. Come to think of it, you could doublecheck your numbers the same way - it's a simple, pretty much self explanatory program. I'm a relative newby myself (~ 10 batches), so I was pretty excited. The good thing is that it's an oversized batch - I'll bottle over 6 gallons, more if I decide to top off and settle for a smaller beer (OG was 1.060). Congratulations. Fun s#$t, eh?

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Yeah I hit 1.040 for pre-boil and 1.060 for post-boil too! I was expecting 1.054.. It is indeed fun. I think I'll just let this batch ride just like it is. I'm just hoping the high gravity numbers aren't a sign that I extracted a large amount of un-fermentables during my mash. I had to crank the burner back up half way thru the mash and my temp got up to 158 for about 8 mins. I left the lid off and stirred for a few minutes to get it back down to 154.. Only time shall tell I suppose....

First of all - Congratulations !

Nobody mentions that your first all-grain attempt is going to be a train wreck. I know mine was.. A $50 kit that was supposed to be around a 1.070 porter ended up around 1.030 ! It's at that point you quit, or figure out what's wrong and fix it. Congrats on figuring it out !! (the beer was still drinkable and pretty good, but weak) My past 50+ batches have been great !

joeybeer said:

First of all - Congratulations !

Nobody mentions that your first all-grain attempt is going to be a train wreck. I know mine was.. A $50 kit that was supposed to be around a 1.070 porter ended up around 1.030 ! It's at that point you quit, or figure out what's wrong and fix it. Congrats on figuring it out !! (the beer was still drinkable and pretty good, but weak) My past 50+ batches have been great !

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Yeah, my first batch was way too low on gravity and now my second batch was a bit higher than I expected. Hopefully the 3rd try will be closer to expected gravity.. I think my problem this time was using too much strike water (8.4 gal - I'm doing BIAB). I used a calculator, but I think it was too much water. I ended up boiling a little longer than I should have to get closer to 5.25 gal of finished wort. I boiled for about 35 mins until I got to 6.75gal. Then I added my hops and boiled for the 90mins that the recipe called for. I'm pretty sure that's why my OG was too high. Long story short, I need to figure out how to determine the proper strike water amount for BIAB next time..

Stauffbier said:

Yeah I hit 1.040 for pre-boil and 1.060 for post-boil too! I was expecting 1.054.. It is indeed fun. I think I'll just let this batch ride just like it is. I'm just hoping the high gravity numbers aren't a sign that I extracted a large amount of un-fermentables during my mash. I had to crank the burner back up half way thru the mash and my temp got up to 158 for about 8 mins. I left the lid off and stirred for a few minutes to get it back down to 154.. Only time shall tell I suppose....

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Oh, I mis-wrote: my Strong Bitter was OG 1.070. I think you'll be okay if you mashed in beta-amylase range for half an hour before the mishap. You'll know a lot from the FG, but even if it's a little high, just means your beer will be a little lower in ABV with a little more body. I bet it'll still be good. Personally, I screw up so much, I'm kind of like Don Knott's playing a clumsy scientist on an old t.v. show - I'm just hoping to accidentally discover a cure for the common cold, or maybe a new beer style. My philosophy is, if you write it down, note the results and learn from it, it can't be too bad.

BrewMU said:

Oh, I mis-wrote: my Strong Bitter was OG 1.070. I think you'll be okay if you mashed in beta-amylase range for half an hour before the mishap. You'll know a lot from the FG, but even if it's a little high, just means your beer will be a little lower in ABV with a little more body. I bet it'll still be good. Personally, I screw up so much, I'm kind of like Don Knott's playing a clumsy scientist on an old t.v. show - I'm just hoping to accidentally discover a cure for the common cold, or maybe a new beer style. My philosophy is, if you write it down, note the results and learn from it, it can't be too bad.

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I can relate with the "Don Knott's" statement.. I do indeed write down very detailed notes as I go thru the steps of each batch. I even write down the mistakes I make (wheather I know I made a mistake or just think I did), so I'll know if I should or shouldn't repeat something I did in the future. I'm glad I moved to AG, because I can already tell from tasting a gravity sample that it is way better than my extract batches. Thanks again for the advice.