Need Advice Right now

AHS Belgian White Beer

4 lbs 12 oz Bel Pilsner
3 lbs White Wheat
2 lbs Flaked Wheat

Mashed at 150 for 75 mins
Est Preboil gravity 1.049
Measured Preboil gravity 1.020 @ 70F

Hit volume and temps perfectly
Have not emptied mash tun yet should I mash again?
Need advise thank you

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking.

Did you sparge enough to get your target pre-boil volume, and now asking if you can mash again with the same grains?

Looks like you missed your target SG by a bit, but another mash won't fix that. Your conversion is already complete. Which sparge method did you use?

TB

That is correct My preboil gravity was 29 points lower than it should have been.

batch sparge

CBK said:

That is correct My preboil gravity was 29 points lower than it should have been.

Click to expand...

Whats your preboil volume? Whats your batch volume?

preboil volume 25 qts
batch volume 21 qts 30 min boil

Thats a AHS kit with their crush?

That is correct

Well, the way I see it, you have a couple options.

1. Add some extra light malt extract to your boil to make up for lost efficiency

2. Keep sparging and boil a larger volume for longer to boil off the excess water

3. Add some sugar to the boil

I would strongly advise against #3, and would recommend #1 first. If you don't have any DME or LME handy, try #2. It will take longer, but you'll get a little more sugars out of your mash. Careful not to extract too many tanins in doing so.

Another option, if you're OK with it, would be to boil what you've got for longer, and end up with a smaller batch, but at the right gravity. Say from 5 gal to 3 gal.

I'll be back in a few minutes after I crush my grain. (I'm brewing right now too! )

TB

I have about 1/4 lb of extra light dme will try going that route thanks for the advise.

How did you take your pre-boil sample?

Fully mixed wort? Was the sample actually 70* or is that your temp conversion?

A quarter lb of DME is only going to raise your gravity a couple points, but it's better than nothing. I would boil longer and reduce your batch size if gravity is important to you. Belgian wits are supposed to be on the light side, but an inital gravity in the 20's or low 30's is going to be pretty light.

What target ABV are you shooting for?

TB

I stirred well and took sample from drain valve of kettle and cooled to 70F

EDIT: [question answered]

5.44 abv

Ouch, I'm guessing you'll be in the low 3's. I'd boil off some of that water. You'll end up with less beer, but it will be closer to your target ABV.

Good luck my friend!

TB

CBK said:

preboil volume 25 qts
batch volume 21 qts 30 min boil

Click to expand...

I don't understand this. You have 25 quarts of runnings? Or 21 quarts of runnings? I don't get what that means.

How much wort do you have in the kettle right now?

One thing you can do is add a gallon of 160 degree water to your MLT, stir it well and then drain. Check the SG of those runnings (cool it first). If you still have lots of sugar in the MLT, the liquid will have an SG of above 1.020-1.025. Check that, and see if you can get more sugar out of the mash without adding too much water.

If I go with a 60 minute boil instead of a 30 per AHS and add my dme perhaps this would help?

25 qts of runnings
25 qts in the pot

CBK said:

25 qts of runnings
25 qts in the pot

Click to expand...

So, you have 6.25 gallons in the pot with 1.029. That should give you 1.036 at five gallons, if my math is ok.

I'd probably go ahead and do another gallon of sparge, as mentioned in my above post. check the SG of the runnings, and if it's high, you could boil it down (maybe on your stove) and add it to your wort. I'd definitely boil it for at least 90 minutes to get to your boil off (a 30 minute boil won't boil off 1.25 gallons, more than likely), plus a 90 minute boil is recommended anyway when you use pilsner malt. You can boil it for an hour before starting your hopping.

I'd add your DME and boil longer with the lid off the kettle. That will increase your evaporation, but also help drive off some of the DMS from the Pilsner malt.

TiberdimethylsulfidetastesbadBrew

Thank you Yooper will definitly take your advise

This is what I ended up doing. Sparged with 1 gallon 160F water. Cooled to 60F gravity reading 1.030. Added to kettle with my 5oz dme. Now have 7.25 in kettle at 1.020 will boil for 90 minutes and hope for the best. Thanks again for all the replies.

You'll be fine. It was a learning experience, and you'll have a decent beer.

Next step: diagnose the efficiency problem... I'd start with evaluating your sparging techniques.

Cheers my friend!