Mashing at lower temperature

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atstech

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I am new to all grain brewing. I brewed my first batch yesterday. The thermometer that came with my brew kettle, come to find out was over by about 25 degrees. So that means my mash temp and sparge temp were both under.

Has anyone ever experienced this similar situation? What can I expect from my beer?
 
Did you take any gravity readings? If you mashed too low (like 130), you won't get full conversion. Your gravity should tell you something about how much conversion you had (it's not perfect, but it's all you potentially have at this point)
 
JLem said:
Did you take any gravity readings? If you mashed too low, you won't get full conversion. Your gravity should tell you something about how much conversion you had (it's not perfect, but it's all you potentially have at this point)
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I did take a reading. Being new I'm still confused on how to read the hydrometer but I think it was 1.044
 
atstech said:
I did take a reading. Being new I'm still confused on how to read the hydrometer but I think it was 1.044
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What was the expected OG?
 
atstech said:
Expected OG is 1.056
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Well, that's a decent difference, but maybe within the range of normal. Assuming the 1.056 was based on a 70% efficiency, you only got 55%. Not terrible, and not as low as I would have thought with a 130 mash temp.

I think you can only let it ferment out and see how it tastes. A lower-than-expected OG is not so bad. Might be out of balance depending on your hop schedule and style. I suppose too you might have a lot of unconverted starch in there... so your FG might also be higher than expected. The unconverted starch is also potential food for bacteria/wild yeast, so make sure you're extra diligent with your sanitation going forward with this beer.
 
JLem said:
Well, that's a decent difference, but maybe within the range of normal. Assuming the 1.056 was based on a 70% efficiency, you only got 55%. Not terrible, and not as low as I would have thought with a 130 mash temp.

I think you can only let it ferment out and see how it tastes. A lower-than-expected OG is not so bad. Might be out of balance depending on your hop schedule and style. I suppose too you might have a lot of unconverted starch in there... so your FG might also be higher than expected. The unconverted starch is also potential food for bacteria/wild yeast, so make sure you're extra diligent with your sanitation going forward with this beer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. So there is still hope. That is what I wanted to hear. So the waiting begins to see how it turns out. Thanks again
 
Well it is drinking time and it turned out pretty good. By that I mean it is certainly drinkable, especially at cold temperature. Ended up being about 5% and a bit sweet. After taste reminds me of fruity pebbles. So not a loss since I really do not know what to compare it to. Happy drinking!
 
atstech said:
Well it is drinking time and it turned out pretty good. By that I mean it is certainly drinkable, especially at cold temperature. Ended up being about 5% and a bit sweet. After taste reminds me of fruity pebbles. So not a loss since I really do not know what to compare it to. Happy drinking!
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glad you got something you're enjoying. Out of curiosity, what was the FG?
 
again I am new but if I read the hydrometer correctly it is at just under 1.010.. That should be about a 4.5% right?
 

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