So I am coming from the world of BIAB. I just setup a new electric brewing system and had my first pre day. I had a huge issue with my wort.
So I am using a 2 vessel + external herms setup. Using an exhilarator as my herms coil. I got everything up to temp, strike was set to about 160 f. I verified temp in the Mash tun by using a hand held thermometer. Put my grains in. Was 11 lb total. Pre boil gravity should have been 1.040, it ended up being only 1.024. I didn't realize this until I had sent it over to the boil kettle. So I actually transfered all the wort back and tried to let it go another 30 mins. No change in gravity.
A couple notes.
1. When I mashed in I kept the pumps and coil running. I watched a video from spike on their website and noticed they mashed right in with the mash tun recirculating. But I have seen others say you need to stop pumps to set a grain bed? Not sure which is correct or if either is wrong.
2. I did have 4.5 lb of questionable grains. I used some old 2-row. It has been stored in 5 gallon sealed bucket, but last year it was stored in a non climate controlled storage shed as we built a new house. SO I am sure it got quite hot in there over the summer. Additionally the grain was from early 2017. SO not sure if it was just bad. If I remove this from the recipe it says pre boil would be 1.024 which is exactly what I got.
Anyway hoping to get some feedback before the next brew day. Making sure I have new 2-row so I can eliminate that from the suspect list and I guess will see what happens.
So I am using a 2 vessel + external herms setup. Using an exhilarator as my herms coil. I got everything up to temp, strike was set to about 160 f. I verified temp in the Mash tun by using a hand held thermometer. Put my grains in. Was 11 lb total. Pre boil gravity should have been 1.040, it ended up being only 1.024. I didn't realize this until I had sent it over to the boil kettle. So I actually transfered all the wort back and tried to let it go another 30 mins. No change in gravity.
A couple notes.
1. When I mashed in I kept the pumps and coil running. I watched a video from spike on their website and noticed they mashed right in with the mash tun recirculating. But I have seen others say you need to stop pumps to set a grain bed? Not sure which is correct or if either is wrong.
2. I did have 4.5 lb of questionable grains. I used some old 2-row. It has been stored in 5 gallon sealed bucket, but last year it was stored in a non climate controlled storage shed as we built a new house. SO I am sure it got quite hot in there over the summer. Additionally the grain was from early 2017. SO not sure if it was just bad. If I remove this from the recipe it says pre boil would be 1.024 which is exactly what I got.
Anyway hoping to get some feedback before the next brew day. Making sure I have new 2-row so I can eliminate that from the suspect list and I guess will see what happens.