Brewing with a friend - never again!

My last bunch of batches I have been right on top of everything going on. Temps perfect, timing exact, I'm a robot!!!!

Saturday a friend of mine was over and I was brewing a mini mash and all was going well until . . . . . I had a brain cramp and after my mash I rushed the grain rinsing part of the equation.

When all was done I took a gravity reading and I was TEN too low. WTF? This never happens!!! grrrrrrrr!

So - my question is . . was it the rush job on grain rinsing after the mini mash that caused the drop? I can not think on anything else. The mash water was 153 and constant for 45 minutes.

Did you enjoy any homebrew with your brew buddy while brewing?

EdWort said:

Did you enjoy any homebrew with your brew buddy while brewing?

Click to expand...

Surely you aren't suggesting that a good time effect efficiency!! How does that work into the calculators?

What I don't know I'll obsess over.

Click to expand...

That seems to pretty much cover it. Maybe having someone else in the equation threw your routine out of whack a little. Next time you brew and have a friend over, remember what you did this time and learn from it, don't blame your friend. Besides, tossing back a couple of chilly ones with a buddy while brewing is way better than tossing them back by yourself.

IrregularPulse said:

Surely you aren't suggesting that a good time effect efficiency!! How does that work into the calculators?

Click to expand...

LOL. There is a direct relation to the quality of beer based on quantity consumed during the process as well as where in the process it is consumed.

How big was your mini mash that you are ten points lower than expected from it?

Did you do a full boil or partial? If partial, are you sure you stirred you wort well before taking the sample?

How big was your mini mash that you are ten points lower than expected from it?

Did you do a full boil or partial? If partial, are you sure you stirred you wort well before taking the sample?

Click to expand...

Only 3.7lb of grain.

Partial boil this time - I did not have enough ice for a full boil - I do two, half boils at the same time normally.

I aerated with like normal and I am wondering if that was still the problem as I can not see being THAT far off . . . . . .wait a minute . . . . . . .

. . . . . check this out! This was a AHS Kit for Hammer & Nail Brown. I like to do a kit and then tweak it once I get t5he base flavor.

The recipe is this
.5lb Crystal 60L
.25lb Chocolate Malt
.5 Special Roast
1.75 Pale Malt

4lb Extra Pale LME

put those into Beersmith and it does not come out 1.048 does it??

Grinder12000 said:

put those into Beersmith and it does not come out 1.048 does it??

Click to expand...

Nope, when I did it, it came out with 1.044. If I remove the LME, it comes up with 1.016 which means that is the max gravity you could get from the grains, and 1.028 comes for the LME. If you were ten points low, that would mean you got 1.034 as your OG?

I prefer to brew alone. Having friends over only distracts me, and they mostly just drink my beer and smoke my cigars while keeping me from minding my brewing tasks. It would be different if they were brewers themselves, maybe.

Plus, I normally don't drink while brewing until I get to the post-boil chilling stage, by which time all the critical tasks are done. But if I have friends over, I tend to start drinking right away, and as Ed Wort said, I have found that there is indeed a direct relation to the quality of beer produced based on the quantity of beer consumed during the process.

If you were ten points low, that would mean you got 1.034 as your OG?

Click to expand...

Recipe from AHS says I SHOULD be at 1.048 - I actually was at 1.040. (ok ok I was only 8 low).

Grinder12000 said:

Recipe from AHS says I SHOULD be at 1.048 - I actually was at 1.040. (ok ok I was only 8 low).

Click to expand...

Hmm, that's interesting. Perhaps my beersmith calculation is off. I wasn't questioning the exact points, I was just surprised that a small amount of grain could yield such a big OG swing no matter what your efficiency was. I would say you hit your target dead on and the AHS numbers are off.

I've had success and failure with and without others around. I do find that when I do it alone, I end up with less of a mess, in less time, and that I'm more sober. I do like brewing with my buddy though since we can help each other at critical points, talk about beer, and basicly just have more fun. Still-sometimes I think having company while brewing just ends up being an excuse to drink before noon.

Perhaps my beersmith calculation is off

Click to expand...

no no - I'm not question exact points - being a few off is not a problem since I know I messed up a little - I was surprised to see AHS SO far off. For a beer that is 5.7% ABV to have a clone at 1.048 and THEN have the real calculated OG at 1.043

Mmmm, I wonder what your extract efficiency is. I don't think that you'll get 5 points from the grain, but you may have suffered a decrease in efficiency during your mini mash by not rinsing away ALL the sugars.

flyangler18 - agree 100%. I would expect my efficiency to be botched on this one. I think what I was surprised at is the difference between AHS's 1.048 and Beersmith's 1.043. ( know I know it SOUNDS like I'm railing on AHS again).

But who do you believe. Beersmith of AHS.

All I ask is it tastes good!!

The Tastybrew calc comes up with an OG of 1.044 as well.

Being somewhat new to brewing is OG in a kit something I should just ignore as being "in the ballpark" ?

I was gonna ask a girl to help me brew and maybe bottle. Its all about how you present yourself. For many its an adventure to actually help with the brewing process. Maybe I will do a mega event day - bottle 2 batches, brew another one. While I am bottling one batch and the water is boiling for new batch I have the girl clean up the bottles in the bathroom (she can get all soapy (from starsan foam) ). Then she bottles batch #2 while I steep and we can finish the new batch together.

Well - my friend just likes to drink and not really help at all . . . AND he's not a girl which would make it MUCH more fun!

OK - AHS contacted me (after I contacted them) and they admitted their mini mash recipe was in error. I think I'll have to look at all my kits now to see if I was off or they were off.

ninja................waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Grinder,

"What I don't know I'll obsess over"

Therein lies the problem! Not proud to admit it but here goes...I haven't used a hydrometer in twenty years...OK...I said it, you all can laugh now!

Anyways, try to view and embrace what happened as part of the learning curve. IMO brewing w/ a friend is great, brewing w/ distractions will make you a better and more knowledgable brewer in time.

Brewing should be enjoyed and not performed in a vacuum!

wilserbrewer -I understand completely but I'm a computer programmer - not the way my mind works. I like to know exactly how and why something is happening.

in THIS case I found that the kit was . . . . . . incorrect which I wish I would have known before I brew it.

So in this case I would have been better off in your boat and not knowing.