I brewed a BIAB last weekend. First off, I know it could have been any one of many things that resulted in a very unexpectedly low OG, especially with my brew day (it was my 3rd of three brews in a row... while one mashed, the other would boil... a little chaotic).
But no matter how crazy a brew day gets, I've never missed OG so dramatically.
So here's what I did, and maybe someone can see a fatal flaw I may have overlooked! It probably has more to do with a problem with how I mashed without me realizing it, but curious if someone can see something I'm missing.
Expected OG: 1.046
Actual OG: 1.034
5 lbs Vienna
5 lbs Rahr Red Wheat
1 lbs Cara-Pils
1.00 oz EKG 60.0 min
1.00 oz EKG 10.0 min
BIAB, 4 gallons of mash water. Mashed for probably over an hour at 140-145, raised it to 155ish. Removed bag, squeezed a bit, rinsed with 2-3 gallons cold sparge water. Boiled for 60, ended up with about 5 to 5.5 gallons.
Could the Rahr Red Wheat be a culprit? I was concerned when purchasing it - seemed like it was wheat malt, but the name was just "red wheat". I'm pretty sure it's malted, but I'm not 100%. When I remove the wheat from the recipe in beersmith, it is pretty close to the OG I got (beersmith estimated 1.029 - and the difference could account for inaccurate volume calcs).
Also, in the past by BIABs i've just used the entire amount of boil water in the mash. I've only separated the amounts for mashing and for sparging once or twice.
Any thoughts appreciated. It's also possible I missed my mash temps, fell too low in parts of the mash (my thermometer does not have a long stem).
Thanks!
But no matter how crazy a brew day gets, I've never missed OG so dramatically.
So here's what I did, and maybe someone can see a fatal flaw I may have overlooked! It probably has more to do with a problem with how I mashed without me realizing it, but curious if someone can see something I'm missing.
Expected OG: 1.046
Actual OG: 1.034
5 lbs Vienna
5 lbs Rahr Red Wheat
1 lbs Cara-Pils
1.00 oz EKG 60.0 min
1.00 oz EKG 10.0 min
BIAB, 4 gallons of mash water. Mashed for probably over an hour at 140-145, raised it to 155ish. Removed bag, squeezed a bit, rinsed with 2-3 gallons cold sparge water. Boiled for 60, ended up with about 5 to 5.5 gallons.
Could the Rahr Red Wheat be a culprit? I was concerned when purchasing it - seemed like it was wheat malt, but the name was just "red wheat". I'm pretty sure it's malted, but I'm not 100%. When I remove the wheat from the recipe in beersmith, it is pretty close to the OG I got (beersmith estimated 1.029 - and the difference could account for inaccurate volume calcs).
Also, in the past by BIABs i've just used the entire amount of boil water in the mash. I've only separated the amounts for mashing and for sparging once or twice.
Any thoughts appreciated. It's also possible I missed my mash temps, fell too low in parts of the mash (my thermometer does not have a long stem).
Thanks!