First All Grain Batch - What went wrong?

I just completed my 1st AG batch (4th homebrew batch) and I completely missed my OG. I started with Northern Brewer's Surly Bender recipe with my new 10 gallon Igloo MLT with Northern Brewer false bottom. The recipe suggests an OG of 1.060 and I ended with 1.046. According to Beer Tools Pro this would suggests a efficiency of 70% given my grain bill.

I planned to batch sparge and used Beer Tools Pro to give me an idea of strike water and infusion temps (mash in and mash out). I missed my mash in temp (153) and ended up adding more water to mash in, 4.5 - 5 gallons instead of 4. I stirred every 15 minutes for 60 minutes and finished with a temp ranging from 148 - 150. My mash out required me to add way more water than planned, 2.5 - 3 gal versus the 2 planned. First running came out at 13 Brix (1.053) instead of the 1.060 with 4 gallons collected. I sparged once and collected 6.5 gallons reading 11.6 Brix. I boiled it down to around 5 gallons and ended with an OG of 1.046. What happened? I've been told my system should easily hit the 70% efficiency mark.

Thanks for your input.

your system might hit 70% but it takes awhile to figure out how to work your system perfectly. the first few brews with mine I got anywhere from 78% to 62% efficiency. but now i have my methods down for my particular equipment and i know what to expect. your beer will be fine and you'll have your system down soon enough.

It can be a variety of culprits. For a start, you might take a closer look at things like your mash pH and your grain-milling method. In any case, you'll probably still have a good beer, it'll just be more of a session style.

Darn, I bought pH strips to check mash pH and i totally forgot to check. I used Ice Mountain Spring Water so i hoped i was starting with a decent water but the composition is not published precisely enough. At least i made beer.

delucr said:

I missed my mash in temp (153) and ended up adding more water to mash in, 4.5 - 5 gallons instead of 4.

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153 was your rest temp? this is fine for now, should have left it...

delucr said:

I stirred every 15 minutes for 60 minutes and finished with a temp ranging from 148 - 150.

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Dont do that. stir for a sec, then close door and walk away. get ready for the boil...

delucr said:

What happened?

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Your a beginner

delucr said:

Thanks for your input.

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i bet the beer is awesome

Nothing wrong with 70%, adjust your grain bill accordingly. There's a great article in Brew Magazine (Nov 2011) about no-sparge mashing and Jamil's 70% efficiency award winner.

delucr said:

The recipe suggests an OG of 1.060 and I ended with 1.046.

I planned to batch sparge and used Beer Tools Pro to give me an idea of strike water and infusion temps (mash in and mash out). I missed my mash in temp (153) and ended up adding more water to mash in, 4.5 - 5 gallons instead of 4. I stirred every 15 minutes for 60 minutes and finished with a temp ranging from 148 - 150. My mash out required me to add way more water than planned, 2.5 - 3 gal versus the 2 planned.

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What happened?

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That might be what happened or at least contributed to it. You diluted it and your post-boil gravity was low. You added 2 gallons more water during your brew than you should have.

RJS, the stir every 15 minutes was from "How to Brew". Do a lot of folks just leave it for the 60 minutes?

Helibrew, the 70% is what I needed to get to 1.060, instead I landed at 1.046, much lower than 70% efficiency.

Weizenwerks, I was curious about the dilution theory. A lot of people throw out the 1.25 qts/lb mash thickness but what would happen if I ended up with 2+ qts/lb thickness? Would you expect a lower OG?

Did I miss your sharing the volume of wort that measured 1.046?

I just brewed my 5th AG beer yesterday and I think I finally fixed my low OG problem. Perhaps this info will help you. They key to my success is patient sparging. Do not open the valve on your mash tun and allow the wort to rush out. A slow trickle is all you need. Simply ease the water in from the top and let it gently wash the sugars, etc down through the tun. This will take you at least thirty minutes. Also, don't stir the mix while sparging and don't let the grain become compacted. Good luck.

delucr said:

Weizenwerks, I was curious about the dilution theory. A lot of people throw out the 1.25 qts/lb mash thickness but what would happen if I ended up with 2+ qts/lb thickness? Would you expect a lower OG?

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Probably. In a thinner mash the enzymes have to do more searching than with a thicker mash, so it's less efficient and more likely to result in a lower gravity.

Absolutely nothing wrong with a 70% efficiency, in fact I would prefer a 70% efficiency over an 80 or 90% that some people claim.

The other posters are spot on. You will learn your system given time and a few brews under your belt and learn to adjust the grain bill.

I get a constant 78% efficiency from my system, but that's only after a year of brewing on this system 2-4 times a week for a year straight. If I change one piece of equipment in the system I get to re-learn the system and re-discover my actual brew house efficiency. For instance: when I first got the 1100 I did a couple 5 gallon batches on it using the analog SMART. I got 56% efficiency. Once I learned the system and realized it was built for 20 gallon batches my efficiency shot up to 70% which really through off my pale ale. We then upgraded to a digital SMART setup on the sculpture, and efficiency dropped again to 62%. Now after learning the rig once again I'm back at a consistent 70%. The only solution is to brew more often on your equipment and take extensive notes so you can see the exact cause and effect at each stage.

Have fun!

70% is great, so don't worry about it. Also, did you adjust your hydrometer readings for the temperature? It can make quite a difference.

Volume for the 1.046 was a smidge over 5 gallons.

Just for clarity, I did not come anywhere close to 70% efficiency, more like mid 50's. From what i've read i'd have been able to hit that with a $10 double bucket MLT's instead of my false bottom cooler setup.

So, for my next batch, what variables would have biggest impact on hitting my target OG? (mash thickness, pH, stirring, sparge technique)

As far as sparging speed goes, i batch sparged and drained fairly slowly. I didnt have any stuck sparges and even wide open the cooler doesnt appear to drain very fast.

sorry for bad punctuation, typing one handed while holding new born/future assistant brewer. Happy new year!

I am not sure your false bottom is the culprit. The only issue might be if you are restricting the collection point to a single area in the lauter tun. My false bottom works beautifully; it was built by more beer and is standard with any of their sculptures.

As far as dialing in your system, start small with something as simple as the mill. Adjust the crush and see how that effects the efficiency. Also be sure to just make one change at a time to get an accurate idea of what works and what doesn't.

Conditioning and crushing my own grains bumped me up from around 70% to 80%!! I can now hit that # every time. Start saving up for a grain mill you will not regret it.

Northern Brewer crushed my grain for me. Is it safe to assume they did a good job?

I got a gift certificate to MonsterBrew and I was thinking about this grain mill: https://www.security-shopping-cart.com/MB/Prod_CoronaGrainMill.cfm. Does anyone have experience with the Corona Grain Mill?

delucr said:

I just completed my 1st AG batch (4th homebrew batch) and I completely missed my OG. I started with Northern Brewer's Surly Bender recipe with my new 10 gallon Igloo MLT with Northern Brewer false bottom. The recipe suggests an OG of 1.060 and I ended with 1.046. According to Beer Tools Pro this would suggests a efficiency of 70% given my grain bill.

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I don't think you got 70%. If the recipe called for 1.060, that is usually at 75%. That means a 1.046 OG would be 54% efficiency, which sounds more like a bad efficiency.

The crush should be fine, usually good for at least 70% efficiency. If you didn't have sufficient water for sparging then that could be the issue. Stirring a lot when batch sparging (add water, stir the hell out of it, let it settle for a minute or two, drain) will do a lot for efficiency if you are not doing that already. That was my issue with my first AG, I didn't stir and got a 50% efficiency. Stirred the next one like crazy (and had a few gallons of water for sparging) and got up to 70%.

EDIT: Regarding the corona mill: Fro the effort of hand-grinding your own grain, not with a motorized mill, I don't think it is worth it. Get the process down good first. I have had good luck with brew-shop grinds.

delucr said:

RJS, the stir every 15 minutes was from "How to Brew". Do a lot of folks just leave it for the 60 minutes?

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Sorry, didn't see this question...

Well my good man, i havnt read a book about brewing yet, i just do all grain every week...without fail. So, i dont know what everyone else does but there is no need to stir your mash every 15 min. How do i know? because i dont, and i hit whatever numbers i need to for the style. Why? probably because i know my system inside and out and ive studied my crushing and fine tuned it, the whole concern over too many tannins should probably be thrown out, along with a lot of other ideas, you can get away with a pretty fine crush without getting astringent tannins.

You know, im not sure if i trust those tall igloo coolers. There is so little surface area, you probably get half the grain suffocated without much conversion. I dont know for sure because i havnt used them, and i think they are pretty popular, but i like the idea of a square cooler, with more spread out grain.

Also regarding How to Brew, from what I've read on HBT there is some unnecessary info in there.

Tall_Yoti, you're right about 70% being the efficiency required to hit 1.060, I wasn't clear enough in my original post. You might have something about the amount of water for sparging. Because I added more than planned for mash in I didn't have much volume left for sparging.

Look at your crush, then I would check the crush, and lastly I would try a better crush. Good luck you will get it.

Sparging is important as this is where you rinse out the extra sugars to make your mash extraction more efficient. Make sure you use sufficient water for sparging and stir it lots to get all the sugars you can. If necessary you can boil off excess water but you can't recover more sugar from the grain once sparging is done.