Looks like I'll end up with a session Wit

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BierMuncher

...My Junk is Ugly...
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Not sure what I did wrong, but my 5 gallon AG wit came in a whopping 1.036 post boil gravity. Any thoughts on this process?

4.5 Lbs Pale Malt (Crushed by Midwest)
4.5 Lbs Flaked Wheat

Mashed at 153 for 75 minutes and sparged (10 minute soaks) with 170-175 dgree water twice. Recirculated...blah blah blah... to get about 6.5 gallons.

Two things occur to me:
1) I ended with a 60-minute post boil volume of about 5.5 gallons+ (too diluted)?
B) The grain bill is just light?
4) I had a bad day?

I don't mind a session brew like a wit. Good summer time beer. But, is this because of my recipe/volume (things I can adjust) or are you scratching your heads as well?

Thanks.
 
BierMuncher said:
Not sure what I did wrong, but my 5 gallon AG wit came in a whopping 1.036 post boil gravity. Any thoughts on this process?

4.5 Lbs Pale Malt (Crushed by Midwest)
4.5 Lbs Flaked Wheat

Mashed at 153 for 75 minutes and sparged (10 minute soaks) with 170-175 dgree water twice. Recirculated...blah blah blah... to get about 6.5 gallons.

Two things occur to me:
1) I ended with a 60-minute post boil volume of about 5.5 gallons+ (too diluted)?
B) The grain bill is just light?
4) I had a bad day?

I don't mind a session brew like a wit. Good summer time beer. But, is this because of my recipe/volume (things I can adjust) or are you scratching your heads as well?

Thanks.

Do you have any idea what kind of efficiency you got with this one? I would'nt think that half a gallon would dilute it all that much. From what little I know I would say maybe your grain bill could be bumped up a couple pounds, it could be the crush of the grains. How many times have you used Midwest with your recipes? I'm still trying to learn all this stuff so I'm interested in hearing the answers to this.


Dan
 
Willsellout said:
Do you have any idea what kind of efficiency you got with this one? I would'nt think that half a gallon would dilute it all that much. From what little I know I would say maybe your grain bill could be bumped up a couple pounds, it could be the crush of the grains. How many times have you used Midwest with your recipes? I'm still trying to learn all this stuff so I'm interested in hearing the answers to this.
Dan
Now that I'm looking at my carboy. it may be much closer to 6 gallons. This was my first AG order from Midwest bu the ingredients and the crush look spot-on. I doubt it was "them". The targetted OG was 1044. I guess I'll be happy if I can get this thing to finish at ~1008 or 1010. At about 3%, I can pack a couple in my lunch for work...:cross:
 
Toot said:
I would've just added a bit of DME and called it a day.


How often do you AG'ers do this to reach your target OG? I was curious to know, I mean you could just add some DME to some water, boil it and then toss it in to raise the gravity right?


Dan
 
Flaked wheat is not really what you want, the yield is much lower than 'regular' malted wheat.

With this in mind, and if you really have a 6 US gallon carboy, your efficiency was about 66%. This slightly low for a wheat beer, lots of folks get 70% for wheat and 75% for barley beers.
 
Mikey said:
Flaked wheat is not really what you want, the yield is much lower than 'regular' malted wheat.

I agree. Did you mean malted wheat or flaked wheat? Isn't flaked wheat just a speciality grain used in small amounts to add body and head retention? Does it actually add converted sugars? Did the recipe called for 4.5# of flaked wheat?
 
Willsellout said:
How often do you AG'ers do this to reach your target OG? I was curious to know, I mean you could just add some DME to some water, boil it and then toss it in to raise the gravity right?


Dan
Ironically, I usually go over because I always feel like adding some Oats or some 10L crystal for some extra character.

This time I followed the recipe verbatim. Plus I don't think that I want a lot of "mouthfeel" from oats in a Belgian Wit.

For what it's worth, the brew downstairs is churnin and burnin. It started "convulsing" at about 8 hours. Hopefully I'll get enough work out of those yeasties to bring my G down to below 1010.

Hey, I remember when 3.2 beer was all you could buy in Kansas.
:D
 
Willsellout said:
How often do you AG'ers do this to reach your target OG? I was curious to know, I mean you could just add some DME to some water, boil it and then toss it in to raise the gravity right?


Dan


My impression is that it is fairly common. I can't remember what I was reading... I think it was "Designing Great Beers". It said that the vast majority of award-winning homebrews use some amount of DME in the recipe and they almost ALL used at least partial mashing.

The impression I got is that you pretty much NEED partial mashing for great beers, but a little DME won't necessarily have a negative impact on your brew.
 
did you batch sparge? with that much flaked, i'd go with a long slow fly sparge.... ;) also, maybe toss two or three lbs of wheat malt in there instead of flaked.

however, a low gravity wheat beer is a good beer for breakfast. carb the bejaysus out of it, it'll be good!
 
uglygoat said:
did you batch sparge? with that much flaked, i'd go with a long slow fly sparge.... ;) also, maybe toss two or three lbs of wheat malt in there instead of flaked.

however, a low gravity wheat beer is a good beer for breakfast. carb the bejaysus out of it, it'll be good!
Yeah I batch sparged and got up to about 6.5 gallons of preboil.
This morning I looked and there was about a 3 1/2 inch krausen on top (good thing I have a 6 1/2 gallon carboy) and things were still rockin and rollin in there.

Looks like regardless of my ending SG, the yeasties are doing their part to make me a good tasting brew.
 
Wait, your target was 5 gal at 1044, and you have 5.5~6 gal at 1036?

@ 5.5 gallons you would expect a reading 10% lower than the target based on 5 gallons. At 6 gallons, 20%.

So if you have 5.5 gallons and boiled down to 5 gallons then 1.039 would be your gravity.

If you have 6 gallons and boiled down it would be 1.043.

You are pretty close in actuality. I wouldn't sweat it.
 
BierMuncher said:
What was your recipe for your belgian wit that is clearing now?



BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Full Moon
Brewer: Matt
Asst Brewer:
Style: Belgian Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 14.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 38.1 %
4 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 38.1 %
2 lbs Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 19.0 %
0.50 oz Pearle [6.10%] (60 min) Hops 11.1 IBU
0.50 oz Pearle [6.10%] (15 min) Hops 5.5 IBU
0.50 oz Pearle [6.10%] (10 min) Hops 4.0 IBU
0.25 oz Pearle [6.10%] (5 min) Hops 1.1 IBU
0.25 oz Pearle [8.00%] (0 min) Hops -
0.28 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.83 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.83 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
8.0 oz Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 4.8 %


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 12.50 qt of water at 169.6 F 154.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Add 7.00 qt of water at 197.8 F 168.0 F 10 min


It's way too dark but had an awesome flavor when I transfered it to clearing. I'll be kegging it today, horay!
 
Willsellout said:
How often do you AG'ers do this to reach your target OG? I was curious to know, I mean you could just add some DME to some water, boil it and then toss it in to raise the gravity right?


Dan

I did this on my second AG. I was brewing a porter. Sadly, I didn't know that the hydrometer read a lower gravity when the temperature was high so I though I'd only got about 60% efficiency. I took my reading when the temperature was like 140~F. I soon found out I was wrong, and needless tosay, I'm gonna have a porter that's like 7.5% ABV.... not sure what you'd call that.
 
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