BrewRI
Well-Known Member
I just finished my first partial mash attempt and it did not go well (I think). The OG is supposed to be 1.073, I got a 1.062. I was wondering if I could get some advice or suggestions, here are the big problems I think I had.
1. I used a 10g boiling pot to make a 5g batch, the problem I noticed is that the water level wasn't very high so I had to push the grain bag down slightly to make sure all the grains were under water, when I removed the lid after the 45 minutes part of the bag was above the water level, it was a small amount but it was still too high.
2. I'm not 100% sure I did the sparge right, I got the water to 175 and poured it slowly and evenly over the grain bag supported by a strainer. After that I dunked the bag back into the wort for 5 minutes and lifted it, let it drain, lifted it, let it drain for another 5-6.
3. I added the wort (after hops and all that) to the primary and then put another 2-2.25 gallons of filtered water on top. I secured the lid and then swirled the beer ever so slightly before putting it on the ground to take the gravity measurement. Could it be that I diluted the top level of the wort and then when I took my sample (I used a sanitized measuring cup, not a thief) there was more pure water than mixed wort, resulting in a low OG?
Any help would be great.
1. I used a 10g boiling pot to make a 5g batch, the problem I noticed is that the water level wasn't very high so I had to push the grain bag down slightly to make sure all the grains were under water, when I removed the lid after the 45 minutes part of the bag was above the water level, it was a small amount but it was still too high.
2. I'm not 100% sure I did the sparge right, I got the water to 175 and poured it slowly and evenly over the grain bag supported by a strainer. After that I dunked the bag back into the wort for 5 minutes and lifted it, let it drain, lifted it, let it drain for another 5-6.
3. I added the wort (after hops and all that) to the primary and then put another 2-2.25 gallons of filtered water on top. I secured the lid and then swirled the beer ever so slightly before putting it on the ground to take the gravity measurement. Could it be that I diluted the top level of the wort and then when I took my sample (I used a sanitized measuring cup, not a thief) there was more pure water than mixed wort, resulting in a low OG?
Any help would be great.