Help, O.G. very low

[wormsgetsold]

This is my first AG brew. I am making the centennial blonde. After mashing at 153 for 60 minutes I collected about 3 gallons of wort. the SG is 1.020. I feel like everything went well. The wort coming out of my MLT is 1.005. I stopped and the mash has another 3 gallons of water in it sitting at 160 and dropping. what should I do?

 

[The Pol]

Are you reading the gravity right? I mean the initial runnings are at 1.020 and after 3 gallons they are at 1.005? Are you compensating for temp?

That is really low... I mean it is recommended not to run off with the SG below 1.008 or so beause of possible tannin extraction.

Was the grain crush REALLY bad? Is your thermometer accurate?

I am at a loss. I say run it all off and boil it, then take a gravityu reading at 60F.

 

[wormsgetsold]

Yeah, I just figured that out. corrected hydrometer reading is 1.040. Now the problem is I only have 3 gallons or so of wort. I still have about 2 gallons of water in the MLT at around 145 now. Should I use it, or just correct the hops and make a 3 gallon batch?

 

[EdWort]

Did you stir your mash at any time?

 

[EdWort]

Yeah, I just figured that out. corrected hydrometer reading is 1.040. Now the problem is I only have 3 gallons or so of wort. I still have about 2 gallons of water in the MLT at around 145 now. Should I use it, or just correct the hops and make a 3 gallon batch?

Stir it up, drain it off and use it. Remember you will boil off a gallon or so, thus increasing your O.G.

 

[The Pol]

This is why a refractometer with ATC is nice... you can take gravity readings at any temp.

 

[Bobby_M]

Who crushed your grain? Is it even crushed?

 

[The Pol]

Sounds like it was more or less hydrometer error?

 

[wormsgetsold]

well, yes, it was a hydrometer read error on my part.

yes, the grain was crushed. By Austin Homebrew Supply.

I ended up with 4 1/2 gallons at 1.037. I think that happened due to not stirring during the mash or lauter. I figure the best way to learn is to mess something up. Trying another all grain tomorrow.

 

[Gremlyn]

Did you sparge? Did you add the sparge water to the leftover mash water, thus cooling the sparge water down a lot?

 

[wormsgetsold]

I sparged with 170* water after I drained the mash water down to about an inch above the grain bed. Pretty sure the problem, as EdWort pointed out, was a lack of stirring. And by lack of stirring I mean none after the initial stir to break up clumps. In fact, I was worried about disturbing the grain (for some reason I thought that was bad) so I poured the sparge water very slowly trying to disturb the grain as little as possible. I'll give it another try tomorrow. Just to be clear though, do I stir during the mash, or after? Or both?

 

[Brewin_CRAZY]

Once you mash in (stirring the whole time) just let it sit (60 mins or whatever your mash time is). I never mix after that point. Open the Mash up, start to drain it making sure to vorlauf and pack that grain bed down. Then sparge away and get ready to boil. It really sounds like you had a bad SG reading or just had a really crappy mill. If you are sure that you did all this correct swing by the brew store and ask them if they checked the spacing on their mill lately. Just last weekend my mill managed to get to spaced out and I had to mill twice. Before you mash always grab a handful of grain and just look at it, if all the husks still look fairly intact you may have had a poor mill. Of course this will take time to get the hang of, but every time you brew just check it, eventually you will know when a milling just didnt go right. Brewing is fun, embrace the screw ups and learn from them. but like everyone says, never throw a beer out!

 

[wormsgetsold]

Brewing is a blast, and quickly becoming an obsession. I am not throwing the brew out, although I am looking at a 3.7% beer-great for a central texas summer day. I totally agree that mistakes are learning experiences at their best. I was just going to do it again because I have a couple of empty fermenters, time, and grain. Thanks to everyone!

 

[OhioMurb]

I made the switch to all grain recently and went into it figuring that my first 3 batches were going to be cr*p - I'm not going to worry about how they turn out, I'm going to figure out my system, how to brew all grain, etc.

Now I'm really ready to brew!

 

[ajf]

Some stir during the mash, most don't. Stirring during the mash may help the conversion a bit, but it also cools the mash down.
Before taking the first runnings, stir really well, wait about 5 - 10 minutes to let things settle, then recirculate until the runnings are clear (have no pieces of grain in them), and drain to the kettle.
Repeat the stir, settle, recirculate after each addition of sparge water.

-a.

 

[wormsgetsold]

Well, I am brewing another centennial blonde right now. It is going well. The other brew is almost done fermenting, don't expect much, but I have a billy goat in my house that will drink just about anything. Got a rye coming up tomorrow, and a brown ale on tuesday. Gonna get that pipeline going strong. I love this forum! Thanks everyone!