BNVince
Well-Known Member
I did EdWort's Hause Ale for my first AG Saturday. I'm pretty happy with the results. A few things got screwed up but I believe I know why.
First off, I hit my mash temp spot on. Beginners luck maybe?
When I mashed out I missed big time. Apparently the thermometer that came with the turkey fryer is way off. I was suppose to hit 168F for the mashout but it only went to 154F. Could this effect efficiency?
Sparging and vorlaufing went well. I was shooting for 6.5 gallons for a boil and got a little less. I was off by maybe a quart which is good with me.
The next problem was the hotbreak.
I got a pretty bad boil over even though I was hitting it with the spray bottle. I think I need to keep a closer eye on the burner itself when the hotbreak starts to form.
I was shooting for 5.5 gallons in the fermenter but I ended up with 5 even. I think this is a combination of the boilover, higher evaporation rate then expected, and starting with a little less then 6.5 gallons as originally intended.
But my biggest disappointment was missing my OG. I got a reading of 1.050 for 5 gallons as opposed to my calculated 1.052 for 5.5 gallons. According to BeerSmith, this puts me at around 66% efficiency. I'm curious if missing the mash temp would be a major factor in this.
Anyway, she's in the basement bubbling away as we speak. All in all I'm pretty happy with how it went.
Thanks to everybody here for helping me out. You guys rock.
First off, I hit my mash temp spot on. Beginners luck maybe?
When I mashed out I missed big time. Apparently the thermometer that came with the turkey fryer is way off. I was suppose to hit 168F for the mashout but it only went to 154F. Could this effect efficiency?
Sparging and vorlaufing went well. I was shooting for 6.5 gallons for a boil and got a little less. I was off by maybe a quart which is good with me.
The next problem was the hotbreak.
I got a pretty bad boil over even though I was hitting it with the spray bottle. I think I need to keep a closer eye on the burner itself when the hotbreak starts to form.
I was shooting for 5.5 gallons in the fermenter but I ended up with 5 even. I think this is a combination of the boilover, higher evaporation rate then expected, and starting with a little less then 6.5 gallons as originally intended.
But my biggest disappointment was missing my OG. I got a reading of 1.050 for 5 gallons as opposed to my calculated 1.052 for 5.5 gallons. According to BeerSmith, this puts me at around 66% efficiency. I'm curious if missing the mash temp would be a major factor in this.
Anyway, she's in the basement bubbling away as we speak. All in all I'm pretty happy with how it went.
Thanks to everybody here for helping me out. You guys rock.