Didn't hit my number

[Ryhop]

So I tried my first all grain recipe.so the recipe goes
6lbs 2 row
4lbs flaked oates
.5lb white wheat
.5lb honey malt
60 min mash at 148 30 min boil whirlpool at 180 for 20 mins and came in at 1.048 called for 1.058 anyone see where i went wrong?

 

[eric19312]

That is a lot of oats...with a low mash temperature.

I've seen beta glucan rest recommended for mashing with oats above 20% of the grist, this would be a step between 104F and 122F for 30 minutes to break up the gummy part of the oats. You didn't mention your mash being gummy but it was first all grain it might have been sticky and you just thought that was normal...If it was it could take a very long time to get all the sugars out of the grist. I assume you used oat flakes designed for brewing. If you are using oat flakes from grocery store you want to either use the quick oats (1-minute oats) or if you use the traditional 5-minute oats I think it is best to cook them first with some of your mash water.

The low mash temperature should not be a problem but with the grist relying on the enzymes from the 2 row and the wheat (I assume white wheat was malted) you might not have fully converted your starches into sugars in 60 minutes. I didn't see a mention of a starch test, I don't do them either but if I was mashing at 148, even with all malt, I'd either mash longer (90 minutes at least) or add a higher temperature step, something like 160F for 15 minutes after the 148F step to make sure I get full conversion.

Finally the quality of the crush of your grains is typically a question anytime anyone undershoots target gravity. This is highly system dependent, you don't mention if you are BIAB, all-in-one, batch or fly sparging. Whatever you are doing there will be a fineness of crush that will help you reach optimal efficiency. It is easiest to control the quality of your crush if you get your own grain mill and crush it yourself. For BIAB you are looking for a pretty fine crush. For recirculating systems you probably will need something coarser. If you are buying malt crushed you will have some variability that you will probably have to live with.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

came in at 1.048 called for 1.058 anyone see where i went wrong?

There are many high level areas for missing OG including...

• Recipe doesn't align with OG expectation
• Lower realized mash efficiency than expected by the kit/recipe (various reasons including poor lautering or poor conversion)
• Grain weight was incorrectly weighed - so not enough to start
• Too much volume at end of boil (too much preboil volume and/or realized boil rate not per plan)
• Incorrect hydrometer reading - bad measurement (bad hydrometer, stratification if using refractometer, etc)

Do you know your preboil volume and gravity as well as your post boil volume and gravity as is impossible to identify what went wrong without these details? You will be chasing your tail unless you know if the problem is related to the amount of sugar extracted, volume of water remaining, or just an incorrect measurement.

 

[Ryhop]

Gotcha.and yes my biab was very sticky when i drained it. Thanks for the help

 

[Ryhop]

Can i take gravity readings during the mash till i get desired OG?

 

[eric19312]

Can i take gravity readings during the mash till i get desired OG?

yes. read this:
https://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Understanding_Efficiency
you figure out what your gravity will be in the mash tun when you hit 100% conversion and then keep mashing until you get there. I've done it before and you can end up with pretty long mash time waiting for that last bit to get into solution and convert.

edited to add a refractometer makes this a lot easier to do...

 

[VikeMan]

I've done it before and you can end up with pretty long mash time waiting for that last bit to get into solution and convert.

I recently did a mash where the base malt was home malted corn, which I understand has lowish diastatic power at best. Gravity continued to increase for 5-1/2 hours. Every once in a while, someone will post a claim that amylase enzymes are all denatured after about an hour, based on an old, poorly written BYO article. I always knew that was silly, given my own experience and given experiments run by Kai Troester and by Greg Doss. But now I know that, at least under some circumstances, they may be working for over 5 hours.

 

[doug293cz]

Can i take gravity readings during the mash till i get desired OG?

Yes. This is best done with a refractometer, as the sample is much smaller and cools much faster. The maximum SG achievable for the wort in the mash is determined only by the total grain weight, the weighted average grain potential, and the strike water volume. This can be readily calculated, but the easiest thing to do is to just start taking SG readings after about 45 minutes, and then every 15 minutes thereafter, until the SG stops increasing with time. Mash needs to be stirred aggressively before each reading in order to homogenize the wort (to avoid false readings.)

One thing to look out for with refractometer readings, is that very small samples can undergo significant evaporation, which will cause erroneously high SG readings. I like to take about a 1 oz sample, place it in a covered container to cool, then put a few drops of the cooled sample on the refract. Excess sample wort goes back in the mash.

Brew on

 

[Ryhop]

yes. read this:
https://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Understanding_Efficiency
you figure out what your gravity will be in the mash tun when you hit 100% conversion and then keep mashing until you get there. I've done it before and you can end up with pretty long mash time waiting for that last bit to get into solution and convert.

edited to add a refractometer makes this a lot easier to do...

I used kveik ale yeast at 95 degrees ferm temp.this is day 2 and ferm has stopped so i dry hopped. Should I start to drop the temp or keep it there for next three days

 

[Ryhop]

So I used Kveik ale yeast at 95 degrees its been 2 days and fermentation has stopped so I dry hopped should I keep the temp at 95 or start to cool it down for the next 3 days then keg it?

 

[doug293cz]

How do you know fermentation has stopped? Lack of bubbling doesn't mean things have stopped, just slowed down. You should take an SG reading, and take another one in two days. If they are the same, then fermentation is done.

Brew on

 

[Ryhop]

Yes fermentation has slowed.I’ll take a gravity reading over next couple days.just wondered if I need to adjust temperature?