Hey all. First time all grain brewer...but I need help diagnosing my pitfall.
Tried a 90 minute Dogfish Imperial IPA recipe. About 18 pounds of grain total that I put in a large grain bag. Mashed at 160 in a cooler. Spargged at 172. When I poured the wort into my kettle from the cooler, I didn't filter because I had a grain bag. Added hops, did the 90 minute boil. Lost .5 gallons or so in the boil. No problem...great SG readings.
Here is where it got weird. After primary fermentation, I could only transfer only 3 gallons of the 4.5 gallons because the bottom 1 1.5 gallons was nothing but sludge. Why was there do much? Do I need to filter? I thought that is what the grain bag does? Where did the sludge come from and how do I avoid it?
Thanks for reading.
Tried a 90 minute Dogfish Imperial IPA recipe. About 18 pounds of grain total that I put in a large grain bag. Mashed at 160 in a cooler. Spargged at 172. When I poured the wort into my kettle from the cooler, I didn't filter because I had a grain bag. Added hops, did the 90 minute boil. Lost .5 gallons or so in the boil. No problem...great SG readings.
Here is where it got weird. After primary fermentation, I could only transfer only 3 gallons of the 4.5 gallons because the bottom 1 1.5 gallons was nothing but sludge. Why was there do much? Do I need to filter? I thought that is what the grain bag does? Where did the sludge come from and how do I avoid it?
Thanks for reading.