First all grain batch - disaster or so so?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

steber

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2011
Messages
314
Reaction score
16
Location
Kingston
Finished my first all grain batch a few minutes ago.. Problem is I ended up with slightly more wort than anticipated.. Probably somewhere closer to 5.75-6 gallons rather than 5 gallons. What can I expect from this batch? Am I to worry that I collected to much wort? No sight glass on the kettle yet, so was eye balling the 5 gallons till i was able to measure it in my carboy. :confused:
 
What where your gravity readings? As long as your close to the expected gravity readings the only thing you have to worry about is the ibu's being slightly off and if you have enough bottles for the extra gallon.
 
What where your gravity readings? As long as your close to the expected gravity readings the only thing you have to worry about is the ibu's being slightly off and if you have enough bottles for the extra gallon.

well post boil gravity readings came in around 1.043... Its a shelter pale ale clone. the anticipated OG is 1.058..

When I measured pre boil, after mash i came in around 1.024 @ 144 degrees.

Still new to all this so not sure where this leaves me.. :(
 
Well it will still be beer just a little thinner and a little less abv then anticipated.
 
well post boil gravity readings came in around 1.043... Its a shelter pale ale clone. the anticipated OG is 1.058..

When I measured pre boil, after mash i came in around 1.024 @ 144 degrees.

Still new to all this so not sure where this leaves me.. :(

Next time, cool the preboil sample to under 90 degrees, and then take the reading and then do the temperature correction. A sample over 100 degrees is worthless, even with the temperature correction tables- they just aren't accurate over 90+ degrees.

Anyway, you'll have less ABV and a bit less hoppiness, and a bit thinner beer. But no worries- it'll still be good!
 
Good to know. I'm guessing there isn't much to do about the abv. Would tossing a few simcoe hops in the fermenter bring things around? Or best to leave it be??
 
If it were me and it has been, I leave it alone. Unless you are tying to enter this into a competition, leave it, drink it and move on

Toy4Rick
 
Is this more to blame do to the fact i collected to much wort or is something else in my process needing work?
 
steber said:
Is this more to blame do to the fact i collected to much wort or is something else in my process needing work?

You collected too much wort and you may have not gotten a great crush so your efficiency is down and your gravity is off but it will still be beer just not quite the beer you might have expected.

AG brewing has a lot going on and a lot of factors go into it. As you brew you will learn more and refine the process and things get better, much better:)

Keep reading these forums and get some books, How to Brew and Brewing better Beer are two I recommend, packed full of everything you need to know about AG brewing!
 
Next time, cool the preboil sample to under 90 degrees, and then take the reading and then do the temperature correction. A sample over 100 degrees is worthless, even with the temperature correction tables- they just aren't accurate over 90+ degrees.

Anyway, you'll have less ABV and a bit less hoppiness, and a bit thinner beer. But no worries- it'll still be good!

Yooper,

What about during a fly sparge? To measure when to stop when runnings hit 1.010. Should I have a small bucket of ice water to cool my wort in my sample?
 
Sorry, did no mean to hijack the thread.

I've run into this often, and it's usually because my process is not refined enough yet: I have trouble hitting my temps, specifically mash out. I may just switch to batch sparging
 
HootHootHoot said:
Sorry, did no mean to hijack the thread.

I've run into this often, and it's usually because my process is not refined enough yet: I have trouble hitting my temps, specifically mash out. I may just switch to batch sparging

During mash out you want the temperature of your water to be at least 168, if not more to be sure you rinse those sugars! If fly sparging it should take at least an hour and be sure you have enough water flowing so the grain bed is just covered in water and you are not getting channeling. And yes, when you hit 1.010 your done:mug:

Be sure your thermometer is accurate and calibrated as well:)
 
I'm doing batch sparge.. Mashed at 155. Fell to 152, brought it back up to 153.. Sparge water came up 170, but ended up around 160 in the bed.. Think that might have caused some of my problem.

Cooler wouldn't hold heat, every time i tried to bring the temp up it just dropped back. Pre warmed the cooler and calculated the strike water based on grain temp. Held at 155 for 25 mins before it stated to drop.
 
During mash out you want the temperature of your water to be at least 168, if not more to be sure you rinse those sugars! If fly sparging it should take at least an hour and be sure you have enough water flowing so the grain bed is just covered in water and you are not getting channeling. And yes, when you hit 1.010 your done:mug:

Be sure your thermometer is accurate and calibrated as well:)

Right, but if a hydrometer reading is done at 168 deg, and anything over 100 isn't accurate in a temperature correction equation, then how do you do your reading to get 1.010?
 
I'm doing batch sparge.. Mashed at 155. Fell to 152, brought it back up to 153.. Sparge water came up 170, but ended up around 160 in the bed.. Think that might have caused some of my problem.

Cooler wouldn't hold heat, every time i tried to bring the temp up it just dropped back. Pre warmed the cooler and calculated the strike water based on grain temp. Held at 155 for 25 mins before it stated to drop.

You're not alone, I'm dealing with this same issue too. I don't know how to controll it except maybe some blankets around the cooler to hold the temps in.

I've had. Big problem getting my mash out temps with boiling water, one time adding all of my sparge water.

I haven't really seemed to fix this yet, unless maybe lowering how much I mash with (maybe 1 or 1.25qt per lb instead of 1.5)
 
Yooper,

What about during a fly sparge? To measure when to stop when runnings hit 1.010. Should I have a small bucket of ice water to cool my wort in my sample?

Right, but if a hydrometer reading is done at 168 deg, and anything over 100 isn't accurate in a temperature correction equation, then how do you do your reading to get 1.010?

Normally, in a regular sized batch you'd have plenty of grain and wouldn't oversparge anyway. You'd just stop when you got to your boil volume, and the runnings wouldn't get as low as 1.010. But in cases where the grainbill is small, most AG brewers use a refractometer to check runnings.
 
Back
Top