2nd AG, missed gravity. batch size.

Here is my recipe for my 2nd AG,

Dunkelweizen -

OG - 1.047
FG - 1.012
IBU - 16
Color - 15

6-row - 2 lbs
American Wheat - 4 lbs
Carafa III - 4 oz.
Flaked Wheat - 1 lb
German Munich - 2 lbs

Spalt - 1 oz @15
Sterling - .5 oz @ 60

Yeast - WLP300

My OG was 1.051, and was short of the 5 gallon mark, prob. about 4.5.

I think it is all a result of my inexperience with AG. I used 1.25 qts/lb. of grain, but next time will use 1.5. I also had to split batch sparge with 4 gallons of water total to hit 6.5 gallons. I boiled away 2 gallons of water! GAH! Plus im still paranoid striking my grain bed with 182F (to hit 170) water for sparging. That and I forgot to vorlauf and im just all disgruntled.

Any advice?

Your amount of boil off can easily be effected by the conditions outside, how hot, how dry, how humid all will give you different volumes. Another thing that can contribute is if your using hop bags, they hold a lot of wort which I just realized myself. Not vourloffing really doesnt do anything but gives you unclear wort with bits of grain floating around. Dont worry about dumping 182 degree water in for sparging, I use boiling water for my mash out and 185 degree water for my sparges.

you were above your gravity, which is a good thing, IMO. But it's probably a result of too much boil off.

Bummer. You don't necessarily have to up the mash ratio but figure out how much the grain is absorbing in the mash. It took me until the 3rd time to get it correct.

You might back-off a little on the heat during the boil to reduce your loss there, but nothing says you can't top off. If you had added a half gallon to the fermenter, you would be at 1.046. That's about as close to dead-on as you can get.

EamusCatuli said:

I used 1.25 qts/lb. of grain, but next time will use 1.5. I also had to split batch sparge with 4 gallons of water total to hit 6.5 gallons. I boiled away 2 gallons of water! GAH! Plus im still paranoid striking my grain bed with 182F (to hit 170) water for sparging. That and I forgot to vorlauf and im just all disgruntled.

Any advice?

Click to expand...

Stick with 1.25qts/lb but just sparge more. Splitting the sparge into smaller increments only serves to increase efficiency so don't say it like it's a bad thing. No worries with the hot sparge... just don't pour it in and leave it sitting there for 10 minutes without stirring (that's the only way you'd have a problem).

EamusCatuli said:

Plus im still paranoid striking my grain bed with 182F (to hit 170) water for sparging. That and I forgot to vorlauf and im just all disgruntled. Any advice?

Click to expand...

I have to be at 185f plus to get close to 170f on my first sparge. My advice is to write all your steps down before hand and check them off as you go, it may seem over simplifying but, it's easy to miss a step when your thinking about everything at once. GET brewing software, it will remind you to do things, like vourlaufing.

EamusCatuli said:

Here is my recipe for my 2nd AG,

...
OG - 1.047
...
My OG was 1.051, and was short of the 5 gallon mark, prob. about 4.5.

Click to expand...

Sounds like you pretty much nailed your efficiency which is good for a second try. Nice! Took me three batches to get even close. Last batch I did I ended up with about 4.25 gal in the bottles. It wasn't perfect but I'll still be nice and happy when I drink it.

I had problems with runoff volume and boiloff volume my first two batches, so here's what I did: I took a piece of spare PVC pipe I had, and using a marker, put marks every gallon to match the level of my brewpot, and put hashmarks at 6.5-6.75 gallons and 5.25-5.5 gallons. I overestimate how much sparge water I need, and use the guage to determine when I'm done running off. At 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3 through the boil I check the level by dipping in the tube and adjust the intensity of the boil so I will boil off more or less and hit my target range. Since I use a jet-engine-like LP burner for my boils there is no way I could get a consistent boil otherwise, there is too much room for adjustment and variables like wind really impact how much heat gets to the kettle.

Cheers
- Eric

wildwest450 said:

I have to be at 185f plus to get close to 170f on my first sparge.

Click to expand...

:rockin:

Every experinced homebrewer I have talked to (maybe minus those folks with the fancy fully automated recirculating tuns!) heats their sparge water at least 180. I have heard of some batch spargers going up to 190 depending on heat loss in their tun. I use a cooler tun and have found 180-182 works great for me. Last runoff of a triple sparge the grain bed is between 165 and 170 which is right where it should be.

I have automated heating my sparge water using a temp controller and a hotplate. I have to say it was one of the best things I have done since it removes at least half the stress from the lauter process!

- Eric

I heat my sparge water up to 185 degrees and monitor the temp of the run off as it exits my mash tun and I am yet to get wort exiting anywhere near 168. It usually ends up exiting about 160 or so.

I fly sparge and during the last 10 minutes of the mash, I start to raise the temp using an electric heat exchanger. My last brew was at 149, I heated the mash up to about 155 be fore beginning to sparge with 185 degree water, by the end of the sparge my mash was up to about 161 or 162.

Linc

I don't really worry about getting the temp up near 170F on my first infusion. If you go 185+ to get it on the first infusion, odds are it's going to be too hot for the second. I've found that 180ish gets me to 163, then 168 pretty consistently and this has been good for 90% efficiency.

So batch sparge volumes can be estimated more-so to get your total boil volume?

Im using beer smith now, but may go back to beeralchemy, i cant decide which is better....

Two other questions....

I understand that my first batch sparge its okay to go 180-182. But what about on the 2nd sparge? 180-182 should def. be too hot right?

How are you guys measuring efficiency so easily? Isnt it a pretty thorough procedure?

EamusCatuli said:

So batch sparge volumes can be estimated more-so to get your total boil volume?

Im using beer smith now, but may go back to beeralchemy, i cant decide which is better....

Two other questions....

I understand that my first batch sparge its okay to go 180-182. But what about on the 2nd sparge? 180-182 should def. be too hot right?

How are you guys measuring efficiency so easily? Isnt it a pretty thorough procedure?

Click to expand...

You can measure your Eff right on beersmith, your 2nd batch sparge can be the same temp as the first.

Dammit, I meant Qbrew, not beersmith. Gah

qbrew doesn't have an effieciency calculator really. What I do it put in the ingredients and then change the mash effieincy in the calculations until the OG hits what I got.

Yeah that makes sense now, I was wondering what you were doing to figure that out!

Back to the original question. Your O.G. is 1.051 instead of 1.048. Who cares!!!! Add a little water or sparge a little extra water through if you want a lower gravity & less alcohol. Stay focused on the big issue. How does the beer taste? Do you have flaws like contamination? If you don't, you have suceeded & congratulations!!!!

The thread about temperature of sparge water. Same answer. Sparge with a water that result in the outcome you want in your beer. Experiment. Higher temperatures will influence your efficiency & the body in the beer. But who cares. Let your taste buds direct you. It is after all Your Beer.