2nd AG Brew Day, Finding Mistakes & Not Worrying

[suckerpunchltd]

So I did my second AG yesterday (consequently only my second ever brew day) and came in way lower than expected gravity. I'll post up the particulars of the recipe, the process and how I found my mistake along the way.

First I was doing a simple SMaSH recipe based off 2-row and Willamette hops. Mostly this is a "filler" brew to keep some in the pipeline as my next batch will be a longer aging batch and I wanted some home brew to enjoy in between. I also wanted to keep a simple, low cost grain/hop bill.

Here's the recipe from BrewersFriend:

Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
10 lb American - Pale 2-Row 37 1.8 100%
10 lb Total

Hops
Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
1 oz Willamette Pellet 6 Boil 60 min 23.3
0.75 oz Willamette Pellet 6 Boil 30 min 13.43
0.5 oz Willamette Pellet 6 Boil 5 min 2.32

Mash Guidelines
Amount Description Type Temp Time
12 qt Single Infusion Mash Infusion 154 F 60 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.2 qt/lb

Yeast
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05

The numbers to try for:

Method: All Grain
Style: American Pale Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Boil Gravity: 1.037 (recipe based estimate)
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
Original Gravity: 1.050 Final Gravity: 1.010 ABV (standard): 5.34% IBU (tinseth): 39.05 SRM (mosher): 5.68


I used a 1.2qt:1lb grain ratio, which meant I needed 12qt strike water. No problem, heated the strike water to about 180, added to MLT and stirred and let it settle in, once it hit just below 170 I began my grain addition and added the 10lb crushed 2-row. Good so far, after about 10 minutes temp reading stabilized right about 153-154. Which was my target on this recipe.

Now, I began heating my sparge water. I do a pseudo fly sparge using colander and pouring water through to keep about 1-2" on top of the grain bed. Worked the first time, why not the second time, right? So I heat my 28 quarts of sparge water, as I'm targeting just over 7 gallons pre-boil so I end up closer to 5.5 gallons into the primary (my first batch I ended under 5 gallons into the primary and was off on target volumes). You see what I did there? Yeah, more on that later. (hint it's a volume issue again)

Finished sparging and took a SG sample and began to boil. After the sample cooled I took a reading of 1.032, a little low for what BF recipe said it should be at 1.037. You see what happened there? (hint it's a volume issue)

Boiled for about 60 minutes using the hop addition schedule as in the recipe and chilled the wort to about 68+/- degrees with my immersion chiller and proceeded to pull a sample for OG testing. Put into the primary by dumping and aerated it by rocking/shaking for a few minutes and pitched the Safale S-04 yeast. I ended with 6 gallons instead of the 5.5 gallons estimated. Oops. (hint it's a volume issue)

In moving the primary I bumped the table and the sample was dumped it before getting the OG reading, so I pulled another from the primary after the yeast was pitched - I did check and minus removing a bit of yeast there seems to be no issue in taking the reading at this point (unless I missed it)

The sample came in at 1.034 when I took the reading. What? Yeah, something's off here, only .002 rise after 60 minute boil? Hmmm. Temp on wort was just under 70, so temp correction would only add .001, so that's 1.035, way lower than expected 1.050. Still not sure why I'm only showing a .002 rise in gravity after boil.

Put the fermenter into the basement and went to analyzing what happened.

Well, I over sparged. I used 28 quarts of water instead of 22 quarts. I misread the BF brew day log and it said I needed just over 28 quarts total - 12 in mash plus just over 22 for sparging but on my phone I didn't see the "water requirements" tab and only seen 28 quarts in the brew day log and sparged with 28 quarts giving me about 30-31 quarts to the boil kettle.

So oversparging explains why the SG was only 1.032 pre-boil. Oops. I still would have expected that boiling off well over a gallon (almost 1.5 gallons by my calculations since I sparged w/ 28 quarts - or 7 gallons - I ended with about 7.5 gallons in boil kettle and ended with 6 going into primary) would have given me more than a .002 rise...so on that thoughts? Misread on hydrometer? Temp was about 68 degrees as mentioned so any temp correction would only add about .001. I have calibrated the hydro on water and it hits right at 1.000 when temp is 60. I would expect I should be closer to 1.038-1.042 post boil?

All the same, the yeast are very happy and it is very actively fermenting as of this morning, just over 12 hours after going in the primary. In fact I may need to keep an eye on it and see if I need a blow off tube later today.

I am thinking of adding a sugar solution to bring the SG up - I've been reading and know that it will make for a dry beer (which in this case I'm ok with a dry, light colored ale) and am thinking of adding right after high krausen as that seems the most common time, which should be in about 2-3 days. I don't have any DME to add to maintain body/sweet and closes LHBS is about 50 miles away so that's not really an option to me at this point. I'm mainly looking at boosting the ABV with this to get closer to the recipe idea, though not mandatory and if it would ruin the brew I'll skip and have a nice lower ABV session ale.

In any case, I should still have a very simple, drinkable beer so I'm not too worried about it, just trying to find tune the process and avoid making repeat mistakes.

 

[jrcrilly]

The similar pre-boil and post-boil readings are, as you surmise, problematic. Unexpected or unlikely gravity readings are sometimes caused by taking a sample from an imperfectly mixed wort. Your preboil sample might have been from an extra-rich region of wort, or the post-boil from an extra-lean portion.

 

[cjbalough]

Have you tried tweaking your recipe in the program to reflect your true pre and post boil volumes? If so, how does that compare to what you measured?

 

[suckerpunchltd]

Have you tried tweaking your recipe in the program to reflect your true pre and post boil volumes? If so, how does that compare to what you measured?

Indeed I was working on that very thing this morning. By adjusting the numbers to the true pre/post volumes it is very much closer to the to being inline with each other but still off by nearly .010 on the FG. However, that's assuming 75% overall brewhouse efficiency (default for the recipe creator I think) and I may very well be lower than that, which would bring it even closer in line. To be honest, I haven't been to concerned with measuring the efficiency while still getting processes figured out.

 

[TxBigHops]

Do you not have a way to monitor your boil kettle volumes? Had you known pre-boil that your volume was high, you could have simply boiled longer to still hit your projected OG. (assuming you were close on your mash efficiency) I poured one gallon of water at a time into my boil kettle, then marked my stir paddle with a sharpie so I could estimate my kettle volume at any time during the boil.

Also, I'm having trouble making your math work. If you sparged with 28 qts instead of 22 qts, then your boil should have been 6 qts high, not just 3-4 qts high as you report. Again, knowing the volume in your kettle is key.

 

[suckerpunchltd]

Do you not have a way to monitor your boil kettle volumes? Had you known pre-boil that your volume was high, you could have simply boiled longer to still hit your projected OG. (assuming you were close on your mash efficiency) I poured one gallon of water at a time into my boil kettle, then marked my stir paddle with a sharpie so I could estimate my kettle volume at any time during the boil.

Also, I'm having trouble making your math work. If you sparged with 28 qts instead of 22 qts, then your boil should have been 6 qts high, not just 3-4 qts high as you report. Again, knowing the volume in your kettle is key.

That is my project this week (as I have another brew day this coming weekend) is to make a measure stick for my kettle.

As of now I measure all strike/sparge volumes using marked, smaller kettles. But my boil kettle is not marked nor do I have a stick/paddle marked to measure and I know that is part of the issue (all though I didn't realize it might be that much of a difference), which why the discrepancy.

So by guesstimation is how the pre-boil volumes (base BF recipe grain absorption rate assumed, used all sparge water and drained MLT at completion of sparging and guesstimated the final pre-boil volume) and I know i have just a smudge over 6 in primary since it is marked.

Finding mistakes and oversights and improving each time, and I should have known to measure and not guesstimate on the pre-boil, because as you said I could have boiled extra and hit closer, if not spot on, to the target OG and still been fine volume wise.

Lesson added to next brew session

 

[TxBigHops]

That is my project this week (as I have another brew day this coming weekend) is to make a measure stick for my kettle.

As of now I measure all strike/sparge volumes using marked, smaller kettles. But my boil kettle is not marked nor do I have a stick/paddle marked to measure and I know that is part of the issue (all though I didn't realize it might be that much of a difference), which why the discrepancy.

So by guesstimation is how the pre-boil volumes (base BF recipe grain absorption rate assumed, used all sparge water and drained MLT at completion of sparging and guesstimated the final pre-boil volume) and I know i have just a smudge over 6 in primary since it is marked.

Finding mistakes and oversights and improving each time, and I should have known to measure and not guesstimate on the pre-boil, because as you said I could have boiled extra and hit closer, if not spot on, to the target OG and still been fine volume wise.

Lesson added to next brew session

Did you measure and mark the fermentor yourself, or are you trusting pre-existing marks? Reason I ask is, I use a Big Mouth Bubbler, which is sold with markings indented into the plastic. First brew with it I noticed I had more in my bottling bucket than I expected. (good thing!) Got out my trusty one gallon jug (confirmed) and found that the 5 gal marking on the Big Mouth was really 5.5 gal, and the 6 gal marking was 6.5 gal. I never trust pre-marked volume indicators any more.

 

[suckerpunchltd]

Did you measure and mark the fermentor yourself, or are you trusting pre-existing marks? Reason I ask is, I use a Big Mouth Bubbler, which is sold with markings indented into the plastic. First brew with it I noticed I had more in my bottling bucket than I expected. (good thing!) Got out my trusty one gallon jug (confirmed) and found that the 5 gal marking on the Big Mouth was really 5.5 gal, and the 6 gal marking was 6.5 gal. I never trust pre-marked volume indicators any more.

Well, I will add another lesson to the brew day, as indeed I am relying on the pre-marked buckets from Homebrew Ohio that I have. The bottling bucket seemed fairly accurate as last batch I had just under 4.5 gallons in it and bottled 45 bottles, which 48 bottles would have been right at 4.5 gallons.

But to be certain, I will be measuring and either validating the existing marks or making new markings for proper measurement.

 

[specharka]

Well, I will add another lesson to the brew day, as indeed I am relying on the pre-marked buckets from Homebrew Ohio that I have. The bottling bucket seemed fairly accurate as last batch I had just under 4.5 gallons in it and bottled 45 bottles, which 48 bottles would have been right at 4.5 gallons.

But to be certain, I will be measuring and either validating the existing marks or making new markings for proper measurement.

A good batch sparge is better than a pseudo fly sparge. That being said, an increase in sparge volume should not account for a loss in efficiency. My guess is that mash conversion was incomplete, possibly due to a coarse grain crush.

Small things like proper volume measurement go a LOOOOOONG way when it comes to brew day. I used to agonize over stupid things like hitting my pre-sparge gravity on terminal runnings, instead of punching the big ticket item: getting the pre-boil volume right. Here's a handy guide for acid etching those markings onto a SS kettle.

The most important thing is not to get discouraged by setbacks. My first all-grain brews came in around 60% efficiency. With a few tweaks and several modest investments, my efficiency gradually improved, and with it, so did my attitude. My last batch hit 92% lauter efficiency.

We brew, we quaff, we brew again.

 

[suckerpunchltd]

A good batch sparge is better than a pseudo fly sparge. That being said, an increase in sparge volume should not account for a loss in efficiency. My guess is that mash conversion was incomplete, possibly due to a coarse grain crush.

Small things like proper volume measurement go a LOOOOOONG way when it comes to brew day. I used to agonize over stupid things like hitting my pre-sparge gravity on terminal runnings, instead of punching the big ticket item: getting the pre-boil volume right. Here's a handy guide for acid etching those markings onto a SS kettle.

The most important thing is not to get discouraged by setbacks. My first all-grain brews came in around 60% efficiency. With a few tweaks and several modest investments, my efficiency gradually improved, and with it, so did my attitude. My last batch hit 92% lauter efficiency.

We brew, we quaff, we brew again.

Oh, to be certain I'm in this for the long haul and not discouraged at all - in fact I'm fascinated by learning more and more each time I come to the forums, each time I brew and just all of it in general.

However, that is another question I had that I had not asked yet, is my LHBS had the mills all setup and I used them as they were "preset" for the crushing, but looking at this grain compared to the pre-milled kit I did on my first batch, these are definitely much coarser and not knowing the difference I did not compensate for this on the mash.

So, since I used the same mill for the grain going in the next batch, should I take a rolling pin and go over them to get a better crush for better conversion?

 

[bacgabe]

A lot of valuable advice given so far. I would add my 2 cents and say don't add the sugar. You already are going to have a very light bodied beer with 100% 2 row. Given that your gravity was lower than anticipated your bittering is going to be higher than estimated. I wouldn't dry the beer out further in the pursuit of a higher abv. It might surprise you as is.

 

[suckerpunchltd]

My guess is that mash conversion was incomplete, possibly due to a coarse grain crush.

Here's the crush on a sample of my grains

 

[specharka]

Yeah, that's a really coarse crush. This is what I get after double crushing...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1447720881.426128.jpg

 

[suckerpunchltd]

Yeah, that's a really coarse crush. This is what I get after double crushing...

That's more what my last batch looked like....guess I can either run back to LHBS, 50 miles away, or just crush manually...winner will probably be manually at this point in time.

On the other hand, it means my smoking of grains for another recipe may actually benefit from the poor crush since I goofed a crushed first, but had read some successes of smoking crushed grain.

 

[suckerpunchltd]

Just as an update, took a sample for a FG reading today, day 5, and it's sitting at 1.010, which is expected final gravity. Still has some clearing to do as it is fairly cloudy yet. BUT! The flavor is outrageous for such a simple recipe and such a light colored beer. Cool, light, crisp and slight fruity from the S-04 and the hops are just perfect IMHO - enough to know they are there and not too much to over power the simple base. Can't wait to bottle this up and drink it in a few weeks.

 

[suckerpunchltd]

Yeah, that's a really coarse crush. This is what I get after double crushing...

View attachment 316474

Just did another batch using the grain crushed the same as this batch (coarse) and I recrushed in food processor as that is what I had...just did a few pulses with each hopper full. I hit pre-boil and exceeded post boil gravities. I boiled a bit long by 15 minutes while dealing with unexpected issue elsewhere and ended with slightly less volume than planned and hence slightly higher OG. Had that not happened I would have hit all targets today.