First Partial Mash

[Reno Homebrewer]

I brewed my first partial mash recipe yesterday (a Belgian Dubbel), and I have a question.

The recipe was a kit from Midwest, and it said that the OG should be 1.048 - 1.052, but mine ended up being 1.062 (corrected for temp). What could cause this?

The recipe for this kit was: 6 lb. Belgian Pils malt, 3.3 lb. Light Malt Extract, 1/4 lb. Aromatic, 1/4 lb. Biscuit, and 1 lb. Amber Candi Sugar.

I used the Wyeast 1328 Smack Pack for my Yeast, and made a starter on Tuesday. This morning, it's bubbling away like mad.

 

[Jamo99]

Assuming a 5 gallon batch, they must be thinking horrific efficiency for that low of an estimated OG. 1.062 gives you efficiency in the mid 50s. You could get discrepencies depending on how accurately you measure your top off water, how well you mixed, and the efficiency of your mash. There are loads of threads on improving your mash efficiency (finer crush, better mixing, etc.)

Congrats on the partial mash, it's where I'm at right now as well. I've been working on improving my efficiency, but until I get there, I've just been compensating for it with a bit more grain. Still saving the bucks compared to complete extract and you have so much more control over the finished product. Plus a whole bunch of new ingredients to work with. Welcome to Level 4 of the addicition

 

[Brewbeard]

1.062 seems right from the grain bill given for a 5 gallon batch, as checked on at beercalculus.com.

Midwest probably expected low efficiency from the partial mash. My first partial mash had horrible efficiency (approximately 40%) due to poor sparging technique. You probably had a more normal efficiency of about 65%.

Midwest may also be wrong. 1.048-1.052 seems a bit low for a dubbel. A dubbel should be at around your recorded OG of 1.062.

 

[Reno Homebrewer]

Thank you for the quick responses.

 

[portlandbeergeek]

I too brewed my first patrial mast last night, an amber ale. Any help/info/comments would be appreciated. I think i did a good job, and it's bubbling much faster and quicker than any of my previous (5) extract recipies. Here's what i did:

5# 2 Row
1# cara munich
1/4 # melanoiden
4# light malt extract
1oz Horizon, bittering
3/4 tsp irish moss, 45 mins
1/2 oz Horizon, flavor
1/2 oz Horizon, aroma
about 3/4 cup yeast scraped from primary after light german ale (basically a non-lagered Pilsner, so says the guy at the brew shop)

Crushed grain went into kettle with about 8 quarts cold water, raised to 125 for 30 mins. Heat raised to 150 for 10 min. Heat raised to 158 for 30 mins. Heat raised to 168, sparged with 170* water (about 6 quarts i think?...) It was my first time sparging and have never seen it done. Basically i drained the grain, rinsed with the hot water, dumped it all back into the kettle and let the grain drain away another two cups or so of liquid. Brought it to a boil with the extract, hops etc. as with extract recipie.
Ended up with a 1.066 OG. How does my extraction sound? I didn't do an iodine test and need to read up on it as well as how to measure my extraction. Oh well, by doing it's the only way i'll learn. So far it looks and smells a million times better than anything i've brewed from extract.

On another note, does the suspended matter in the cooled wort affect OG? It appeared to be much thicker than past batches i've done. I did not clear the wort as i've read <i>can</i> be done, because Mr. Papiazan said it didn't really have any affect on the yeast activity.

 

[portlandbeergeek]

Just a bump to myself

In the past two months I've completed 4 partial mashes and three AG's. It's funny reading back at my first PM, i'm glad I made this post. And I've leared so much in the last two months! Unfortunately, this beer started tasting yummy about two weeks after bottling, and didn't last much more than another two weeks after that. I forgot I used Horizon hops, they were delicious! And the Kolsh yeast added some nice frutiness. Too bad I hadn't learned about yeast washing back then. Oh well.

That's all the self-gratification I can handle for one day. cheers!