Propane ran out last night 30 minutes shy on my saison

[JoePro]

Was doing a 90 minute boil from 7 gallons, and basically had a technical malfunction like a noob. My OG is supposed to be 1.062, and it's only @ 1.045 because instead of having 5 gallons even, I have around 5.6 gallons. I have no money for propane. I'm up to budget for beer stuff this pay period.

In "Brewing classic styles", Palmer and Jamil say that for a Saison, it's not uncommon to supplement your sugars with table sugar/dextrose. What are your recommendations to get this beer to an OG that fits with the style? My grain bill is:

8.5 lbs Belgian PA
.5 lbs aromatic
1.25 lbs Belgian White

It's a Fantome-style Saison. I appreciate your input!

 

[JoePro]

Here's another question-- I took my sample this morning after I had set it in the basement to chill down to ferm temps. Is it possible that I may have taken a lower OG sample from the top of the wort? How different would the reading would have been if I had taken an OG sample from the bottom?

 

[asterix404]

You you have any DME around? You could boil that quickly and add it to the wort. I wouldn't add much more than half a pound to a pound to keep in line with the 10% mark of table sugar as it will just make it sort of acidic and the yeast might not like it much.

If you didn't mix it, it would be very different. The heavy wort is at the bottom of the pot.

 

[lostboysbrew]

Here's another question-- I took my sample this morning after I had set it in the basement to chill down to ferm temps. Is it possible that I may have taken a lower OG sample from the top of the wort? How different would the reading would have been if I had taken an OG sample from the bottom?

Temperature affects gravity. There is no way that .6 gallons yielded that many points off.

What temp did you measure the 1.042 at??? If you measured it at, for example, 146 degree F, you corrected gravity is 1.061.

More info is needed!

 

[JoePro]

You you have any DME around? You could boil that quickly and add it to the wort. I wouldn't add much more than half a pound to a pound to keep in line with the 10% mark of table sugar as it will just make it sort of acidic and the yeast might not like it much.

If you didn't mix it, it would be very different. The heavy wort is at the bottom of the pot.

Well, it's sitting in an 8 gallon carboy atm, and my autosiphon can't reach down that far. I haven't added any table sugar yet-- was thinking about adding .75 lbs of dextrose and .5 lbs of amber DME. Sound good?

 

[JoePro]

Temperature affects gravity. There is no way that .6 gallons yielded that many points off.

What temp did you measure the 1.042 at??? If you measured it at, for example, 146 degree F, you corrected gravity is 1.061.

More info is needed!

75 * F. I think what's happening is that I took a less dense wort sample off the top.

 

[asterix404]

Yea, I think so too. I wouldn't add the table sugar but the half pound of DME should offset the fact that your boil didn't go for so long. You will get within a few points, just make sure that you boil the half pound of DME before adding it. The bitterness should still be okay so I wouldn't touch the hops unless you want to dry hop the saison.

 

[JoePro]

What do you think the Gravity differential would be in between the top foot of wort and the bottom foot? Ten points?

 

[dcp27]

75 * F. I think what's happening is that I took a less dense wort sample off the top.

if this was post-boil without any top off, there is no less dense area. its a solution, so top, bottom, middle, wherever is going to be the same.

 

[JoePro]

if this was post-boil without any top off, there is no less dense area. its a solution, so top, bottom, middle, wherever is going to be the same.

Yes, but doesn't sugar, even in a solution, slowly fall? I took the wort sample this morning about 6.5 hrs after I put it into the carboy.

No top-off water.

 

[dcp27]

no, if that were the case then every beer would be sweeter on the bottom than the top. it just sounds like you got 65% efficiency instead of the 80% the recipe apparently had.

 

[JoePro]

I have no idea where this efficiency problem could come from.

I made sure to slow my sparge to around 1 gallon/18 minutes. I did a 90 minute mash @ 148. The only thing that could really detract from efficiency would be the .6 extra gallons.

So should I add some DME?

 

[dcp27]

do you regularly get 80% efficiency? some people take a hit when using wheat, but it shouldnt have been that big of a drop since it was only 1.25lbs. also, extra volume doesnt effect efficiency, its part of the calculation.

if you want to bring it all the way up to 1.062, then id go with 1-1.5lb DME with 0.5-1lb sugr to compensate for the lower fermentability of the DME.

 

[JoePro]

do you regularly get 80% efficiency? some people take a hit when using wheat, but it shouldnt have been that big of a drop since it was only 1.25lbs. also, extra volume doesnt effect efficiency, its part of the calculation.

if you want to bring it all the way up to 1.062, then id go with 1-1.5lb DME with 0.5-1lb sugr to compensate for the lower fermentability of the DME.

1st batch this year - 75 % eff
2nd - 79%
3rd - 70%
4th - 65% (with an extra .6 gallons, so I'm assuming it would be around 73%)

Time to start buying freshly milled grain from LHBS, it seems.

 

[JoePro]

I did notice this:

Ever since I took out the SS braid from my mash tun and added the false bottom, the rate at which the wort was flowing out of the mash tun varied quite a bit. It was very, very strange.

What could have been the issue there? Sometimes it would just stop altogether and I'd have to open up the valve a little more for the wort to get flowing.

 

[dcp27]

1st batch this year - 75 % eff
2nd - 79%
3rd - 70%
4th - 65% (with an extra .6 gallons, so I'm assuming it would be around 73%)
Time to start buying freshly milled grain from LHBS, it seems.

extra volume doesnt matter, efficiency is based on total points. 1.050 @5gals is the same as 1.045 @5.6gals

how long ago were these grains milled? they don't have nearly the shelf-life of un-milled grains and IIRC can begin to lose potential over time.

 

[JoePro]

It was milled around June 25th.