Beerandgranite
Active Member
I have recently started fly sparing with very good results in mash efficiency (72% to 88% allegedly). I brewed a Bock and Helles bock both with an OG over 1060 with no issues.
However, this weekend I brewed a german pils (og of 1048), and noticed that really early into the fly sparge that the runnings from the mash tun were incredibly clear. I did not account for this and with a bit of research in the moment, I quickly learned that you don't want your running to fall below 1010 due to tannin extraction. I stopped the fly sprage and checked the runnings, and sure enough they were at 1011, and was 1.25 gallons short of my pre boil volume.
I havent been able to wrap my head around how to correct this. a few ideas:
However, this weekend I brewed a german pils (og of 1048), and noticed that really early into the fly sparge that the runnings from the mash tun were incredibly clear. I did not account for this and with a bit of research in the moment, I quickly learned that you don't want your running to fall below 1010 due to tannin extraction. I stopped the fly sprage and checked the runnings, and sure enough they were at 1011, and was 1.25 gallons short of my pre boil volume.
I havent been able to wrap my head around how to correct this. a few ideas:
- the error was in my recipe design. should I over build the grain bill and dilute in the kettle to reach target OG?
- the error was in my mash and sparge volumes (1.5qt/lb mash thickness). Would a thicker mash be a solution to this?
- Fly sparging may not be appropriate for low OG beers ?
- the problem is possibly overstated and cant be avoided