Looking for a little help troubleshooting my first AG brew

[Finder]

To start off, I'm really new to homebrewing and this is my first post, but I've read (and learned) quite a bit already from this awesome forum. Hello!

This might be quite long.

I brewed an AG batch yesterday using the BIAB method which seemed pretty straight forward. I read DeathBrewers thread in addition to some videos on youtube. I decided on the "no sparge" method. The recipe I was the Cascadian Dark Ale / Black IPA / India Black Ale from Northern Brewer (warning pdf link to recipe).

Recipe
OG 1.075 READY: 6 WEEKS
Suggested fermentation schedule:
- 1-2 weeks primary; 1-2 weeks secondary;
2 weeks bottle conditioning--

MASH INGREDIENTS
- 11.5 lbs. Rahr 2-row pale--
- .5 lbs. Briess Caramel 80L--
- .375 lbs. Weyermann Dehusked Carafa III--
- .375 lbs. Simpsons Chocolate malt--

MASH SCHEDULE: SINGLE INFUSION
Sacch’ Rest: 152° F for 60 minutes
Mashout: 170° F for 10 minutes

BOIL ADDITIONS & TIMES
1 oz. Summit (60 min)
1 oz. Chinook (15 min)
1 oz. Centennial (10 min)
1 oz. Cascade (5 min)
1 oz. Centennial (0 min)
1 lb Corn sugar (0 min)
DRY HOPS – add to secondary fermenter
one week before packaging:
1 oz. Cascade

YEAST
WYEAST #1272 AMERICAN ALE YEAST II.
Optimum temperature: 60-72°F

BLACK IPA (All Grain)
BOIL ADDITIONS & TIMES
- 1 oz. Summit (60 min)--
- 1 oz. Chinook (15 min)--1 oz.
- Centennial (10 min)--1 oz.
- Cascade (5 min)--1 oz.
- Centennial (0 min)--
- 1 lb Corn sugar (0 min)
DRY HOPS – add to secondary fermenter
one week before packaging:
- 1 oz. Cascade--

Using the Mash and Sparge Calc from here. I derived these calculations:

Variables
Batch Size (gal): 5
Grain Bill (lbs.) 12.75
Boil Time (hrs.): 1
Trub Loss (gal.): .5
Equipment Loss (gal.): 1
Mash Thickness (qts/lb.): 1.33
Grain Temperature (deg.): 70
Target Mash Temperature (deg.): 152

Constants
Wort Shrinkage (pct): 4
Grain Absorption Constant (gal/lb): .13
Percent Boiloff per Hour (pct/hr): 10

Results
Total Water Needed (gal.): 9:02
Mash Water Needed (gal.): 4.24
Sparge Water Needed (gal.): 4.78
Strike Temperature (deg.): 164.33

I filled my massive pot with roughly 9 gallons (this pot is HUGE, I'm not even sure the full capacity but it wasn't even half full). I doughed in at 165 with the heat off stirring frequently but it took 15 minutes for the temperature to drop to 152. At this point I covered the pot with a blanket and maintained temp for the rest of the 60 minutes after doughing in. I suspect this might be one of my mistakes. Should I have waited 60 minutes from getting the proper mash temp of 152?

The temp during mash was fine. I didn't really stir during this time except for when I was trying to get the temp down during the first fifteen minutes. After the timer went off I turned the heat on to mashout at 170. After hitting 170 I cut the temp which fluctuated between 170 and 171 during the ten minutes of mashout. I gave the grain a couple more stirs and then drained the bag for 5-10 minutes or so then hung it inside a sterilized bucket.

I put the wort back onto the burner and started heating it to the boil. During this time I emptied the bucket I had hung the grain bag into a few times to make sure I got any run off. During the last time I squeezed the bag out a bit. After hitting a rolling boil I began my hop additions as directed by the recipe in addition to adding one pound of corn sugar at flameout.

I chilled the wort with Chicago tap water and while I thought it was taking forever to chill, I realized during this time that my remote thermometer (one with a digital base and a cable to stick in meat or float in wort in this case) seemed to malfunction and stop giving proper temps. I was wondering why it was taking so long to come to temp despite the fairly crappy immersion chiller I was using when I decided to take the temp with my instant read thermometer and got a reading of 74 (phew).

The mistake I made here is that I am pretty sure I should have taken a gravity reading pre-boil because when I finished the boil I felt like I had more than 5-5.5 gallons in my kettle. I think I should have boiled longer. I siphoned the wort into a sanitized ale pale for primary fermentation the amount of which is around 6 gallons. I took a sample of the wort into a long tube for a gravity reading at this point. To my chagrin, the reading was 1.050. A whole .025 off my target 1.075 indicated by the recipe. Taking the temp again with my instant read thermometer and I was getting about 73.4 so I decided to go ahead and pitch my yeast (Wyeast American Ale II Liquid Yeast if you missed it earlier) at this point. Then I put the lid on and shook the crap out of the bucket to aerate.

I didn't have an extra airlock so I hooked up a blow off bucket which is now happily bubbling away at a steady rate behind me as I type this. It's maybe slightly warm for room temp in here at ~75. I could probably relocate to the basement where it is likely a good 5-10 degrees cooler.

If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. I figured I should give the best recount of my brew day as possible in order to for someone to maybe point out where I went wrong or where I could improve. I'm thinking I have an efficiency problem or my thermometer caused me to mash and mashout at the wrong temps (although it seemed to be working fine at that point). I've read you can possibly boil a pound of sugar on the stove in water, cool and add to the wort after fermentation has stopped in hopes of making up the gravity. Should I risk this? Honestly, I'm more after flavor than ABV, but I'm worried missing my target is going to unbalance my beer. I'm leaning toward just rolling with the lower gravity and possibly having a tasty "session" CDA.

tl;dr Missed my OG of 1.075 by .025 at 1.050. Is there a way to make up the difference post-fermentation?

 

[phillyhomebrew]

I decided on the "no sparge" method.

I think you answered your question right there.

And yes, you should wait 60 minutes from hitting the temperature after the inital dough in, but I don't think that would have affected your efficiency that much.

I'm gonna pretty much blame not sparging, especially with that much grain. Consider the absorption rate of the grain, and it was fully of high sugar wort.

Either way, you're gonna have a good beer on your hands, so drink it, and try try again!

 

[emetcalf]

Your mash temp problem most likely came from using all the water at once. Mash temp calculators are set up to use the mash volume(4.24 gallons in your case), not the full water volume.

 

[iaefebs]

You ended up with more wort then you calculated and that would make the difference.That was a lot of water. I think your calculated losses at each stage need adjusting.

 

[Finder]

I'm gonna pretty much blame not sparging, especially with that much grain. Consider the absorption rate of the grain, and it was fully of high sugar wort.

Either way, you're gonna have a good beer on your hands, so drink it, and try try again!

Any idea how some of these folks doing the brew in a bag method are getting 70%+ efficiency if they're not sparging? It seems like it could be the problem, but I also wonder if ending up with much more wort than I planned for would make that big of a difference in OG. But, you're right, I think it's gonna be a tasty beer regardless and I'll just have to modify my process going forward. Thanks.

Your mash temp problem most likely came from using all the water at once. Mash temp calculators are set up to use the mash volume(4.24 gallons in your case), not the full water volume.

I had not thought of that. The brew in a bag method calls for using mash and sparge water all at once, hence the large value. If I started with the full amount of water again, I would definitely keep this in mind and keep a much lower strike temperature.

You ended up with more wort then you calculated and that would make the difference.That was a lot of water. I think your calculated losses at each stage need adjusting.

Yes, I do need to adjust losses. I've never brewed this way before (and this was only my second batch ever) after brewing an extract kit just last weekend so I was mostly going with what seemed like generic values. I guess ending up with what's probably 1 gallon of wort more than intended can dilute things enough to make significant difference in gravity.

Instead of trying to correct things, it sounds like I am better off noting my mistakes, adjusting and moving forward while enjoying my, most likely, tasty--if less alcoholic than intended--AG beer.

 

[Bobby_M]

Grain Absorption Constant (gal/lb): .13

That's a little high even if you're NOT squeezing the bag. I figure .1 gal/lb. If you're squeezing, it's probably closer to .9 gal/lb. Your efficiency loss is probably a combo of no sparge and starting with a bit too much wort. The crush of the grain is probably just as equal to blame.

The above is correct regarding your high initial mash temp. That strike temp was based off the "mash water" volume of 4.24 gallons, not 9 gallons. If you no sparge again, adjust the numbers in the calculator.

You may have trouble getting this batch to ferment out as low as you hoped.

 

[iaefebs]

That's a little high even if you're NOT squeezing the bag. I figure .1 gal/lb. If you're squeezing, it's probably closer to .9 gal/lb.

I know you meant .09 gal/lb not .9 gal/lb. I use the .13 amount also and it works for me. (I actually use 1 pint per lb for my calculations.)

 

[Finder]

Like I said, I sort of just used generic values. Any tips on figuring out more accurate values in the future?

Should I just not worry about attempting to add in dextrose (or similar) when fermentation slows to try and make up the gravity? Fermentation seems to have slowed (~48 hours from pitching the yeast).

 

[BigRob]

I was doing BIAB and routinely hitting 75% efficiencies, sometimes sparging, sometimes not (in the case of my half-batches). The last 5 brews I've been double-milling my grain (once at .40 and another at the tightest setting on my mill) and my efficiency with no other changes to my method has jumped to 81-83%.

I think the crush is a huge part of the efficiency equation when it comes to BIAB, and I don't deal with Northern Brewer or such, but I'd assume theyre crushing for more of the traditional brewers which means nowhere near as fine.

 

[Finder]

^I too am thinking the crush was not fine enough for BIAB. My order came pre-crushed and it seemed fairly coarse to me. I'm not really that worried, just hoping to avoid repeating any mistakes going forward. I really appreciate all the advice given thus far.

 

[phillyhomebrew]

Any idea how some of these folks doing the brew in a bag method are getting 70%+ efficiency if they're not sparging?

Honestly, I just heard of this Brew in a Bag phenomenon about 2 weeks ago when a customer said he was doing it with 75-80% efficiency. I asked him what he does, and it was basically like this.

Mash in at 150-158 depending on what your brewing.
Heat 2 HL kettles to 175-180.
After your 60 minutes, pull the bag out of the mash, and lightly squeeze.
Dunk in HL #1, stir, wait 15 minutes.
Pull the bag out of the mash, and lightly squeeze.
Dunk in HL #2, stir, wait 15 minutes.
pull the bag out of the mash, and lightly squeeze.

HL #2 is less volume than HL #1, but I don't know what ratios he was using. After, gather all 3 worts, and start the boil.

Like I said, I never heard of, or tried it, but I think I'm gonna have to and see what beersmith says.

 

[Finder]

^Sounds interesting. There are tons of videos and even a great tutorial on this forum by DeathBrewer that inspired me to give it a go in the first place.

Fermentation seems to have completely slowed on this batch so I took a sample for a gravity reading last night and got 1.012. I tried the sample and it seems to have ok flavor, creamy body with a slight bitterness and loads of citrus on the back end. I still haven't really gotten a straight answer, but is it a horrible idea to attempt to add a pound of sugar (boiled and cooled, of course) at this stage and leave the beer in primary for another week? Having a 5.1% beer isn't that big of a deal, but I am worrying the low ABV is going to through the balance out of wack.