left field brewer
Well-Known Member
I brewed my first all grain batch the other day, and everything went pretty well except a few things. At the end of the mash I mashed out adding 3/4qt to raise the temp to 160, but it was a little low. So I cranked up the stove to raise it a couple degrees. Anyways, while getting my sparge water around, I forgot to turn off the heat and the temp got up to 172. I thought that the sparge temps would be too high with my sparge water at 190+ so I cooled with a couple ice cubes in water to 163. After all this, I batch sparged and my first half temps were low(due to a leaky seal in a cooler and the time messing around to cool mash) at about 161+/-, but the temp of the second rinsing was at the appropriate 170. I'm sure I didn't get the best efficiency, but I've done several partials with great success. My recipe had 6lbs. of grain: 3lbs white wheat, 1lb Bonlander, 1lb Pils, 1/2lb flaked adjuncts, 6oz Crystal 10, and 4oz Dextrine. I also added 2lbs of pitted cherries during the last 5 minutes of the boil(previously frozen). My O.G. was 1.038. Does that seem low? I'm not sure if all the sugars would be in solution from the cherries after 5 minutes, or some remains in the fruit(which would make the hydro read low). What are the opinions around here? Thanks for reading the lengthy post.