What a cluster......

[tojo]

I have been brewing for about a year and a half now...mostly extract batches and a few partial mashes. I have been building up to do all grain buy purchasing equipment (new and used), reading for hours on this forum and watching videos to further my experience. My first venture was going to be a hefe , figuring a wheat beer should go relatively "easy".....famous last words!

Being unfamiliar with the workings of my equipment I went online to use a water calculator for my mash and sparge volumes. Obviously some of the baseline "ASSumptions" I made were incorrect.

Here is the recipe:

Disclaimer: The recipe was from a member here on HBT and highly recommended, but as I feel I screwed this one royally I don't want to name the exact recipe to bring down his reputation)

6.25lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
4lbs White Wheat Malt
1lb Vienna Malt
****Mash 158 for 60 minutes****
0.25 Motueka Hops at 60 Minutes
0.25 Sorachi Ace 20 minutes
0.25 Motueka Hops 20 minutes
0.25 Sorachi Ace 7 Minutes
WL Hefe IV

My equipment:

10 gallon rubbermaid cooler for MLT
9 gallon brew kettle
4 gallon kettle (used as holding vessel for first runnings)

The saga:

Brought mash water (3.75 gal per online calculator) up to 175 and dumped it into MLT. Waited 10 minutes for MLT to warm and stirred a few times to bring down temp to 165. Dumped in grain and stirred to assure no dough balls. I placed blanket over top of MLT to insulate as I felt no other areas of heat loss besides the lid. I prepared sparge water (5.75 gal per calculator) while my 60 minute mash was in progress. I checked the temp of mash at 15 minutes in and it was 147 . I heated up 1qt of water and dumped in, stirred, closed lid and wrapped blanket over top.

After 60 minutes was done I transferred first runnings to 4 gallon kettle and then added sparge water to MLT. I stirred to assure getting as much additional sugars washed from the grain. The second runnings were emptied from the MLT into the 9 gallon kettle and then first runnings added also. My 9 gallon kettle was now filled to the rim with wort. I guess my grain absorption (ASSumptions #1) was WRONG!!

Previously to doing the brew I wanted to calculate the boil off rate for the kettle and figured it at 1.5 gallons per hour. Okay this I knew was right.....RIGHT....(Fact/ASSumption #2)!!! After getting the wort to a boil (luckily no spills, boil overs, ect) and doing so for 60 minutes I was left with 7 gallons. Hmmmm....9-1.5=7.....HUH!!!!! I'm no wiz at math but I ain't that bad!

Well to add insult to injury I did all this before going to work and ran outta time. No IC. I just covered it to keep out any potential nasties, left it in the kettle in the garage and went to work (6PM). I come home this morning (8AM) and transfer to my 6 gallon carboy. ....the biggest fermentation vessel I have. Oh right remember I had 7 gallons of wort left in my kettle. Well I transfer as much as the carboy will take and then look in the bottom of the kettle and it looks like sludge. WTH...I've never seen this before! What is this?!?!?!? Fingers crossed..."(voice in head) Maybe it's normal for all grain!!, Maybe its....arghhhh.....I don't know what it is"

All part of the learning process you say? We can't ALL hit them outta the park...everytime! I'm just crossing my fingers this comes out somewhat decent and the next time will be better as I've learned some lessons. If it's bad I'll just have to pinch my nose and guzzle it down cause I ain't throwing it away....LOL

 

[tojo]

Pics of kettle sludge

 

[Pappers_]

The sludge was what we would call trub if you had transferred right away to a carboy. Since you left it in your kettle for hours it looks like sludge. Hops, proteins, etc. No worries.

About your sparging and volume issues . . . You might consider getting Beersmith, I use it to calculate the amount and temp of water I need to hit my target mash temp and it is spot on.

I usually hit my OG numbers too, here's the easy, no-fuss method: 1) know what volume of wort you want to end up with and use that in your Beersmith recipe calculations; 2) take your long stirring spoon or a dowel or stick and mark off the volume lines for your kettle - I have 6, 6.5, and 7 marked on mine; 3) sparge until you hit your pre-boil volume target - say 7 gallons pre-boil for a final volume after boiling of 5.5 gallons.

That's it, easy-peasy.

 

[BrewerinBR]

looks like grain protein and hot break material ... left in boil kettle is best will help the beer clarify later on

What was you OG?

 

[tojo]

OG was low at 1.40. It should have been 1.051, but I am adding fermentable sugars after primary fermentation to I'll just have to bump that up a bit to compensate for the points lost.

 

[Paramecium]

I agree with the previous posters. Get Beersmith and it will get you pretty darn close on those volume numbers. Boil off you just have to get to know your equipment. Every setup is a little different.

As for temp loss in the mash, you will lose more heat with less grain in the tun with all that empty headspace. The more you fill it up the more it will hold heat but either way you should wrap it in some blankets, not just the top. I use a 10 gallon round cooler and have gotten best results with a towel on the bottom, and a couple large blankets over the top and wrapped snugly around the cooler. I usually only lose a few degrees ina 60 minute mash even with a small grain bill.

 

[Paramecium]

OG was low at 1.40. It should have been 1.051, but I am adding fermentable sugars after primary fermentation to I'll just have to bump that up a bit to compensate for the points lost.

Your OG probably would have been much better if you had the right amount of wort. With all that extra sparge water you diluted it quite a bit. With Beersmith you could play with water volumes and get a rough Idea of where you would have been. I'm at work otherwise I would do it for you.

 

[bruin_ale]

sounds like you'll still end up with beer, so it wasn't THAT bad. There are some growing pains when using new equipment as certainly when switching processes. Each successive batch should get better and better, especially once you get volumes and mash temps figured out.

 

[tojo]

I also forgot to correct OG for temp at time I took it so it is actually 1.045. Better but like you guys posted, I should get better as time goes on.

 

[strambo]

My Belgian Golden Strong Ale "sludge"-trub looked exactly like yours. I transferred it all into primary, then cold crashed and transferred to secondary leaving most of it behind. I still wondering how clear it will end up...but it has a couple months to age before I bottle it.