OG too low: All grain, partial boil

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matman89

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Hello all.

I'm a noob brewer; today I tried making the lemon lime hefeweizen recipe. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=255659

My first mistake: the recipe is for a 6 gallon batch, I had a brain fart and read it as 5...

Additionally, I only have a 3 gallon carboy, so I proceeded to weigh out grains assuming I would be converting the recipe weight from 5 gallon to 6 gallon. Basically, I ended up multiplying everything by 60% when it should have been 50%.

I did a partial boil. I actually did this in two pots at once because I didn't have a vessle large enough to contain all of the grain. One was in a steeping bag (it was mostly immersed, but I'm worried that it wasn't immersed enough). the other I just poured into the pot.

One pot was at 150 degrees, the other at around 145 degrees. I poured the hot water from one pot over the grain bed in a strainer on the other part (sparging??) a bunch of times for about 5-10 minutes doing the same thing to the other pot.

I did the boiling of the hops. Afterward, I topped off with cold water, and took a specific gravity: 1.020!! :confused:

FYI, I crushed the grains at the brew store.

Can anyone comment on what I may have done wrong, or what I might do to recover my batch? It's cooling now, but I'm tempted to toss it :(, tastes way too hoppy.
 
I would say your first mistake was reading the recipe as a 5 gallon batch when it was really for a 6 gallon batch when you were actually trying to make a 3 gallon batch. Original Gravity is really low, if that is an accurate reading I would dump it.

I have done the 2 pot thing in the past and it worked, but wasn't as efficient, maybe too much ch water?

Chalk it up as a noob mistake and try again with the right batch size and I bet it will come out great!
 
Your mash temperature was pretty low. I'd guess having too much grain in the pot in combination with low mash temp probably led to the bad efficiency. If you are brewing 3 gallon all grain recipes, I'd really look into finding a cheap 5 gal pot. It'll make your life way easier.

If you want to try and save it, you could get some LME but it's going to really be a shot in the dark at that point. My suggestion would be to let it go a couple weeks, taste it and see if it could possibly be a very light end of summer drink. If it tastes bad, then dump it.
 
When you mash/sparge, you need to use an infusion calculator to account for the lower temperature of the grains. If you want a mash temp of 150, that usually means your water should be around 160.

1.020 is very, very low. Have you added yeast yet? Best thing to do is add more extract to get it up to 1.040 and boil it briefly.
 
Add more malt. There are several calculators out there which will help you determine the right amount. You need about 1 lb 6.5 oz of DME.
 
Thank you all for your feedback! It has made me discover a lot of variables that I didn't realize I haven't been taking into account.

Recipe? You may have goofed on the amount of grain...

My Recipe: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=255659

Your mash temperature was pretty low. I'd guess having too much grain in the pot in combination with low mash temp probably led to the bad efficiency. If you are brewing 3 gallon all grain recipes, I'd really look into finding a cheap 5 gal pot. It'll make your life way easier.

If you want to try and save it, you could get some LME but it's going to really be a shot in the dark at that point. My suggestion would be to let it go a couple weeks, taste it and see if it could possibly be a very light end of summer drink. If it tastes bad, then dump it.

As a brewing noob, there's still a lot of new things I'm learning about the brewing process, lol. When we talk about efficiency, does this refer to the amount of sugars extracted from the grain?

Also, is there a way to calculate the % efficiency, and should I always be aiming for efficiency close to 100%?

When you mash/sparge, you need to use an infusion calculator to account for the lower temperature of the grains. If you want a mash temp of 150, that usually means your water should be around 160.

1.020 is very, very low. Have you added yeast yet? Best thing to do is add more extract to get it up to 1.040 and boil it briefly.

I added the yeast a little while after I made this post, last night. The recipe calls for a temperature of 158 degrees F. I was too paranoid that I would get it too hot, however, because I have heard that tannins will make the beer taste sour if it gets too hot in the mash. So I kept it a little lower, playing it cautious.

It seems that I am not following best practice for mashing. What I have been doing thus far is monitoring the temperature and making microadjustments on my stove top if it gets too hot or cold. However, perhaps a better approach would be for me to use the infusion calculator, determine the temperature I need to get the water to before I add the grain to obtain my final target temperature for the mash. Turn off the stovetop, and put a lid over my pot?

Thanks again for your replies, and please forgive my numerous questions! lol
 
It seems that I am not following best practice for mashing. What I have been doing thus far is monitoring the temperature and making microadjustments on my stove top if it gets too hot or cold. However, perhaps a better approach would be for me to use the infusion calculator, determine the temperature I need to get the water to before I add the grain to obtain my final target temperature for the mash. Turn off the stovetop, and put a lid over my pot?

Thanks again for your replies, and please forgive my numerous questions! lol

So you are mashing in your boil kettle, then removing the grains? Yes, that is the process I use for my BIAB process. When the mash is up to temperature, I stick the pot in the oven at about 170F to keep it warm.
 
Thanks Aristotelian.

Random question: I've read that topping off with cold water can throw off the hydrometer reading. Perhaps this is the problem?

I just checked on the carboy, it is 12 hours into fermentation and it seems to be producing a healthy amount of bubbles. I wonder if the yeast, by metabolizing the sugars, is mixing the wort well enough that I could take a new specific gravity reading, and if it is over my OG of 1.020, it would prove that my initial reading was off?
 
Thanks Aristotelian.

Random question: I've read that topping off with cold water can throw off the hydrometer reading. Perhaps this is the problem?

I just checked on the carboy, it is 12 hours into fermentation and it seems to be producing a healthy amount of bubbles. I wonder if the yeast, by metabolizing the sugars, is mixing the wort well enough that I could take a new specific gravity reading, and if it is over my OG of 1.020, it would prove that my initial reading was off?

Yes, temperature either way can throw off the hydrometer reading. Might be a point or two in either direction. There are calculators that can help you adjust. Still, that is not going to make a difference of 25 points.
 
Thank you all for your feedback! It has made me discover a lot of variables that I didn't realize I haven't been taking into account.



My Recipe: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=255659



As a brewing noob, there's still a lot of new things I'm learning about the brewing process, lol. When we talk about efficiency, does this refer to the amount of sugars extracted from the grain?

Also, is there a way to calculate the % efficiency, and should I always be aiming for efficiency close to 100%?



I added the yeast a little while after I made this post, last night. The recipe calls for a temperature of 158 degrees F. I was too paranoid that I would get it too hot, however, because I have heard that tannins will make the beer taste sour if it gets too hot in the mash. So I kept it a little lower, playing it cautious.

It seems that I am not following best practice for mashing. What I have been doing thus far is monitoring the temperature and making microadjustments on my stove top if it gets too hot or cold. However, perhaps a better approach would be for me to use the infusion calculator, determine the temperature I need to get the water to before I add the grain to obtain my final target temperature for the mash. Turn off the stovetop, and put a lid over my pot?

Thanks again for your replies, and please forgive my numerous questions! lol

Tannin extraction requires a pH that is too high, not temperature. You could boil the mash without extracting tannins and in fact that is done with a decoction mash.

You are right to forget heating the mash. Calculate the water temperature needed for the mash and stir in the grains, then just walk away. Most of the conversion will be done before the temperature has a chance to drop.

Getting a true hydrometer reading after adding top off water is very difficult. The concentrated wort is so much more dense than water it requires a lot of vigorous stirring to get it properly mixed. You might be better off to take a reading of the wort before topping off and calculate what the dilution will get you.
 
Thanks Aristotelian.

Random question: I've read that topping off with cold water can throw off the hydrometer reading. Perhaps this is the problem?

I just checked on the carboy, it is 12 hours into fermentation and it seems to be producing a healthy amount of bubbles. I wonder if the yeast, by metabolizing the sugars, is mixing the wort well enough that I could take a new specific gravity reading, and if it is over my OG of 1.020, it would prove that my initial reading was off?

If you added topup water and didnt mix thoroughly this can definity give you a faulty gravity reading. Personally I would take another reading now to confirm. If it is considerably higher than 1020, then you found the problem and can relax a bit. The yeast do a fine job of mixing wort in my experience.
 
Tannin extraction won't happen until your into the 170's during the sparge with higher ph water but I wouldn't worry about it in your case at this point.

You can mash decently between 146-158 but the higher the temp the faster the enzymes denature. The mash temp will effect the amount of fermentable sugars in the wort. In a 1.040 og beer it could be up to a full 1% of alcohol difference.

With darker specialty grains it matters much less when comes to temp. Most of the carbs will already be converted already due to the malting process.

As some others suggesteds, get a bigger pot. Anything less than 5g is rough. Most recipies are designed around a 5g batch size so if you think your gonna stick with the hobby forget a 5g and do an 8-10g pot. A big colander to rest your grain bag in is a good idea too. Use your existing pot for sparge water.

Beersmith or beersmith mobile are good for calculating just about anything. As for efficiency you'll probably be around 65% with brew in a bag, perfectly acceptable. Higher with the less amount of grains that actually need to be mashed.

If your oven has a warm setting test it out with a pot of water and a thermometer to double check the temp verse what the oven says. I do this sometimes with specialty grains when I'm splitting a 10g batch. My oven at 155 on its temp dial will keep my mash at roughly 150.
 
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