Typical first AG brewer, I made a few mistakes.
It was a porter, and had about 11 lbs of grain.
First off, I used a ratio of 1.5 qts per lb of grain, which I think is a bit high. It ended up being somewhere around 4 - 4.5 gallons of water in the mash (I added a little extra... don't know why). I mashed at right around 152 which remained pretty constant. Mashed for an hour.
I did the iodine test (it showed red), then put it another 2-3 gallons for a mashout. In retrospect, this seems like WAY too much water. The first runnings were damn near 6 gallons! I could only sparge with about 2-3 qts at 180 degrees, and I don't know if it made a big difference.
My target OG was 1.055, and I only hit 1.042! I was considering throwing in some light DME, but I decided that I wanted to have a truly all-grain batch of beer.
My questions are:
I also did a reading the other day (about 4 days after pitching), and it's only 1.020 and it looks like fermentation has stopped. I'll check again today to make sure it's not stuck (I doubt it is, but you never know).
I'm not going to ask if my beer is ruined, because I don't think it is. I think I'm going to be stuck with a very dry porter. I just hope it's worthy of the blueberries I have (they were hand-picked at my late grandpas house a few hundred miles away).
If you have any other tips or suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
It was a porter, and had about 11 lbs of grain.
First off, I used a ratio of 1.5 qts per lb of grain, which I think is a bit high. It ended up being somewhere around 4 - 4.5 gallons of water in the mash (I added a little extra... don't know why). I mashed at right around 152 which remained pretty constant. Mashed for an hour.
I did the iodine test (it showed red), then put it another 2-3 gallons for a mashout. In retrospect, this seems like WAY too much water. The first runnings were damn near 6 gallons! I could only sparge with about 2-3 qts at 180 degrees, and I don't know if it made a big difference.
My target OG was 1.055, and I only hit 1.042! I was considering throwing in some light DME, but I decided that I wanted to have a truly all-grain batch of beer.
My questions are:
- Should I use 1 qt per lb of grain to mash?
- Should I even bother with doing a mashout?
- Is the thin mash and/or small sparge the reason my OG is so low?
- I wanted to add blueberries after the initial fermentation, will the blueberries add any body and/or boost the ABV?
I also did a reading the other day (about 4 days after pitching), and it's only 1.020 and it looks like fermentation has stopped. I'll check again today to make sure it's not stuck (I doubt it is, but you never know).
I'm not going to ask if my beer is ruined, because I don't think it is. I think I'm going to be stuck with a very dry porter. I just hope it's worthy of the blueberries I have (they were hand-picked at my late grandpas house a few hundred miles away).
If you have any other tips or suggestions, I'd love to hear them.