First All Grain.... one mistake (so far)

After a few weeks of reading as much as I could on this forum - thanks everyone for the insanely good information - I finally did my first all-grain brew. It was a lot of fun and now I'm hooked. The SWIMBO helped out and I took a ton of notes. A special shout out to whoever created the well designed brew-log I found somewhere on here. I brewed Yooper's Lakefront-ish clone as a 2.5 gallon batch using a cooler and the batch sparge technique. Went pretty smoothly, my pre-boil gravity was a little bit off, but again thanks to all the info here, I was able to calculate how much DME to add. According to my notes my mash efficiency was 71.9% which I think is normal for a new all-grain brewer.

I did make one mistake (that I know of). I only boiled for 60 minutes, but the recipe called for 90. I just blanked, having done a lot of 60 minute extract boils.

I guess my bitterness will be off and I'll have a less bitter, less hoppy brew than I attempted? Any thoughts or suggestions on a way to fix?

I also have a question. Now that I know my mash efficiency, and assuming I'm just going to try to add some more grain rather than try to be more efficient on the next brew, how do I calculate how much more grain to add next time? I'm going with what seems to be a common theme: don't worry so much about increasing efficiency, just add grain and work on consistency.

Thanks to everyone in this forum who have helped me evolve from a "home brewing is fun" type of guy to a "home brewing is my life" type of guy. LOL.

 

I wouldn't jump the gun just yet. I would get a few more brews under your belt and then you can take an average to understand what your mash efficiency really is. As always during mashing, stir stir stir.

 

+1......Also a good crush will put you where ya need to be.

 

I agree. Check to make sure you have a decent crush, then take an average efficiency over at least a couple of batches before you tweak the grain bill

 

Your efficiency may not be as bad as you think. If you would have boiled for the entire 90 minutes, your og would have gone up considerably because you would have boiled off about another 1/2 gallon. What were your pre boil and post boil volumes? Your volumes may be off a bit too, which will throw off your efficiency.


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Congrats on your first all grain. I'd agree that a few more brews should give you a better idea of efficiency.


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Here is a picture of my crush. It was done on a Barley Crusher (MaltMill) at the default setting. Thoughts?

Also, I'm still wondering what to expect in terms of flavor as a result of only doing a 60 minute boil instead of a 90 minute boil as called for in the recipe.

Thanks!

 

That crush looks fine, as long as there are no uncracked grains.
You only need a 90 minute boil if your using Pilsner malt or to reduce the volume in a bigger beer.

 

She is making a 5 gallon batch with a 90 min boil. This will lend itself to a higher gravity, as she was likely able to sparge more, and then condense those sugars with the longer boil. Also, since it was a longer boil, she may end up with a slightly darker color, and more toffee/caramel notes than the recipe might suggest. She doesn't have any hop additions between 60 and 90, so your IBU will likely be similar in number, but the perceived bitterness could vary greatly because of differences in sweetness and balance.

You should still end up with a fine beer, just might not be exactly "cloned"

 

Thanks RoadKing and Kingbogart! Very helpful comments. I appreciate it.