Efficiency/boil off/water addtition

[jlfindley74]

Last night i brewed a very basic porter recipe. i started with 3 gallons of water, steep my grains at 165 for 20 mins, then brought it to a boil, removed it from the burner, stirred in my DME, started a timer for 60 mins, added my first hop addition (1oz tettnang), at 15 mins left, i added 1 tsp irish moss, then added my second hop addition (1oz hallertau) with 10 left in boil. then i added 1 oz of simcoe with 5 mins left (this was not part of the recipe, i added this hop addition in just for the hell of it because...well i like simcoe and, why not see what a porter with a little hop forward flavor is all about)?

once my 60 mins was up and i killed the flame and chill my wort to 70 degrees, i was at almost exactly 2 gallons of wort. i then transferred the 2 gallons of wort to my primary fermenter, topped off with 3 gallons of 70 degree water to bring my final volume to 5 gallons, pitched my yeast, and capped off the carboy with the airlock. so here is my question: that is the most water ive ever added to my wort. it looked like it really thinned it out. did i loose too much in my boil? how will this affect the final product? or will it? starting with 3 gallons, ending with 2 gallons of wort, then adding another 3 gallons to bring to final volume. is that fairly normal???

 

[runkelia]

You lost 1 gallon in 1 hour to evaporation, which is what you would expect to lose at a minimum.

 

[jlfindley74]

so - adding 3 gallons of water to 2 gallons of wort doesn't affect the end product? the instructions were pretty generic. they basically said :top off with water to reach your 5 gallon mark once your wort boil is done and you chill to 70". it just looked like A LOT of plain ol water and drastically lightened the color of the beer.

 

[unionrdr]

In my experiences, only the water boils off. This leaves you with concentrated wort. Not like LME, but akin to that. So topping off to recipe volume was the "normal" thing to do here. I do it all the time & get OG's higher than the recipe or kit. Although I mostly to PB/PM BIAB or E/SG. I'm basically saying it'll be fine. Did you get an OG with a hydrometer before pitching the yeast?

 

[jlfindley74]

unionrdr - sadly i had a brain failure. i told myself at the beginning of the process, "make sure you get a OG reading this time" and then, after i had pitched the yeast and stowed away my fermenter, i recalled, "damn! i forgot to get an OG reading!!!"
oh well, i don't suppose there's anything i can do about that now...

 

[unionrdr]

Was it a posted recipe or your own? A posted recipe would give OG & FG. You'll be fine regardless. You can still test for a stable FG in a couple weeks though.

 

[jlfindley74]

here is the recipe i used:

http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/recipe/5728c878/

i added the Tettnang at 60 instead of 30. the only other alteration i did was adding 1 oz of simcoe at 5 mins left in boil.

 

[jlfindley74]

well.... i just noticed the recipe says: "Makes 2.5 Gallons @ 75% Efficiency"

i assume that means it should have been a final volume of 2.5 gals and not 5 gallons. so i basically thinned out my beer with 2.5 gallons of "extra water"...
fantastic! maybe i should have read that before ASSUMING that it was a 5 gallon recipe...

what now?

 

[unionrdr]

It gives OG range of 1.040-1.052 & FG range 1.008-1.014. So going from that,you can check for a stable FG within those range of gravity numbers.

 

[jlfindley74]

what about the fact that it appears to be a 2.5 gallon batch and i turned it into a 5 gallon batch? surely that is going to greatly affect the final product....

 

[Yooper]

what about the fact that it appears to be a 2.5 gallon batch and i turned it into a 5 gallon batch? surely that is going to greatly affect the final product....

Yes, it will. It will be greatly watered down if it really is a 2.5 gallon batch size, and you used the ingredients for 2.5 gallons and made five gallons. I can't see the recipe- how many pounds of extract did you use?

 

[jlfindley74]

3lbs 6oz dme total.

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

Yes, it will. It will be greatly watered down if it really is a 2.5 gallon batch size, and you used the ingredients for 2.5 gallons and made five gallons. I can't see the recipe- how many pounds of extract did you use?

Included Ingredients.



Briess Sparkling Amber Dry Extract
2 lbs, 6 oz

Briess 2 Row Caramel 120
1 lbs, 0 oz

Tettnang, German Pellets
1 oz @ 30 mins

Hallertau Pellets, German
1 oz @ 10 mins

SAFALE US-05 American Ale
1 ea

 

[duboman]

If the recipe was for a finished 2.5 gallon batch size then you diluted the product roughly by half so whatever the listed OG was divide by 2 or say 1.050 would become a 1.025 beer.....

The only thing you could do at this point is suck it up to experience and see what you get. If you really wanted to get adventurous you could boil up the needed DME to raise the gravity and add in the hops necessary to bring back the IBU's missing to balance but IMO at this point it's just not worth it.

The other thing you can do is boil up another batch correctly and blend the two.

 

[Yooper]

Included Ingredients.



Briess Sparkling Amber Dry Extract
2 lbs, 6 oz

Briess 2 Row Caramel 120
1 lbs, 0 oz

Tettnang, German Pellets
1 oz @ 30 mins

Hallertau Pellets, German
1 oz @ 10 mins

SAFALE US-05 American Ale
1 ea

That's the recipe? It's a terrible recipe then. A pound of 120L but only 2 pounds 6 ounces of extract? There must be a typo in there somewhere, as no one should sell that kit or recommend it.

 

[Yooper]

3lbs 6oz dme total.

Is it that much extract? The recipe above has a pound of 120L and 2 pounds 6 oz extract.

If that is the case, the recipe is flawed but diluting it 50% makes it worse unfortunately.

 

[jlfindley74]

@ Yooper - sorry, not that much extract... here's the recipe and then under it, what i actually did.

the original recipe, which states "Makes 2.5 gallons at 75% efficiency"
Briess Sparkling Amber Dry Extract 2 lbs, 6 oz
Briess 2 Row Caramel 120 1 lbs, 0 oz
Tettnang, German Pellets 1 oz @ 30 mins
Hallertau Pellets, German 1 oz @ 10 mins
SAFALE US-05 American Ale 1 ea

heres what i did:

Briess Sparkling Amber Dry Extract 2 lbs, 6 oz
Briess 2 Row Caramel 120 1 lbs, 0 oz
Tettnang, German Pellets 1 oz @ 60 mins
1/2tbs irish moss @ 15 mins
Hallertau Pellets, German 1 oz @ 10 mins
Simcoe pellets 1oz at 5 mins
SAFALE US-05 American Ale 1 ea

i started with 3 gallons of water, steeped grains for 20 mins, brought to boil, added my dry and Briess 2 Row Caramel 120, started my 60 min timer, added hops at stated times above, ended with 2 gallons wort, cooled to 70 degrees, then added 3 damn gallons of 70 degree water, then pitched yeast, then capped it off with airlock. so, now it sounds like i have 5 gallons of really thin beer that will maybe taste like a newcastle that someone poured water into.... fn great....

 

[helibrewer]

It also appears that you boiled the Caramel 120 for 60 minutes?? I'm hoping you removed the grain after steeping.

 

[hio3791]

maybe taste like a newcastle that someone poured water into.... fn great....

Sorry to say but it'll be worse than that. Mistakes are learning opportunities. Next time, if you question a recipe, post it here with your process. Plenty of helpful people will give you feedback.

 

[jlfindley74]

it also appears as though i was mentally inept for a period of time yesterday. ill just call it "Moron Porter" and serve it to miniature gay unicorns who cant hold their liquor...

OR - maybe ill just pour that watered down waste of my time down the fn drain and start over and pay attention this time....

 

[jlfindley74]

@ hio3791 - its not that i questioned the recipe, its that i simply didnt even read the line at the top of the piece of paper that the recipe was printed on that said "MAKES 2.5 GALS @ 75% EFFICIENCY" until the morning after brewing and assuming it was a 5 gallon batch. hey - at least it was only $18. down the drain it goes, lesson learned...

 

[hio3791]

@ hio3791 - its not that i questioned the recipe, its that i simply didnt even read the line at the top of the piece of paper that the recipe was printed on that said "MAKES 2.5 GALS @ 75% EFFICIENCY" until the morning after brewing and assuming it was a 5 gallon batch. hey - at least it was only $18. down the drain it goes, lesson learned...

Sorry jlfindley, I may have come across the wrong way. What I meant was, if you think a recipe looks strange then post it here for feedback. I didn't mean that you didn't follow the recipe right. Generally speaking, if you are using Crystal/Caramel malts, it should be around 10% of the grainbill. Personally, I like keeping it at around 5% for lighter crystal malts. For C120, I would likely go closer to 1% or 2%. Everyone's tastebuds are different so experiment and find what you like.

2lbs 6oz of DME is roughly 3.25 lbs of 2row. So the recipe (roughly) calls for 3 parts base malt and 1 part crystal. 25% crystal is a lot of crystal.

 

[jlfindley74]

Thanks for the feedback. Do you have a recommendation for a good Porter extract recipe? I will most likely wind up adding coffee and cocoa to it in the secondary

 

[hio3791]

I am not typically a dark beer drinker but I recently made EdWort's Robust Porter. I was in the mood for a Porter. It was good, smooth, slightly roasty, high ABV.

This recipe is for 5.5 gal so if you want to make 2.5 gal, just split everything in half. It's also AG. I am not an extract brewer but either someone already converted this recipe to extract or someone can certainly help you.

Good luck!

 

[normonster]

@ hio3791 - its not that i questioned the recipe, its that i simply didnt even read the line at the top of the piece of paper that the recipe was printed on that said "MAKES 2.5 GALS @ 75% EFFICIENCY" until the morning after brewing and assuming it was a 5 gallon batch. hey - at least it was only $18. down the drain it goes, lesson learned...

Dude...don't dump it!!! Drink that s*^#t. I would.

 

[normonster]

@ hio3791 - its not that i questioned the recipe, its that i simply didnt even read the line at the top of the piece of paper that the recipe was printed on that said "MAKES 2.5 GALS @ 75% EFFICIENCY" until the morning after brewing and assuming it was a 5 gallon batch. hey - at least it was only $18. down the drain it goes, lesson learned...

Dude...don't dump it!!! Drink that s*^#t. I would.

 

[normonster]

@ hio3791 - its not that i questioned the recipe, its that i simply didnt even read the line at the top of the piece of paper that the recipe was printed on that said "MAKES 2.5 GALS @ 75% EFFICIENCY" until the morning after brewing and assuming it was a 5 gallon batch. hey - at least it was only $18. down the drain it goes, lesson learned...

Dude...don't dump it!!! Drink that s*^#t. I would.

 

[jlfindley74]

Too late. It's behind me now

 

[jlfindley74]

If it was going to turn out as bad as many people have said, I don't even want to invest my time into the bottling process

 

[normonster]

Whoa...triple post ap error! Sorry!

I drink my mistakes 10 gallons at a time and never make the same one twice....lol. This one may have been more like tea than beer but that's how it goes.

Understandable though about the bottling thing....I'm kegging and have extras.

I sure am glad I finished my first couple mistakes though because low mash temps are it for me!

Cheers!