140 mash temp with OG of 1.042??

[Dfinnegan]

Hey! I brewed my first ever all grain batch today! Yay! Anyway, the temp gauge I was using is t the best choice and I was impatient, so I think I mashed in at around 140. Sehttps://www.facebook.com/Clarkatbigmoose/posts/478962512260468ems low now that I am looking back. The recepie says OG should be 1.070. - 1.072 but I got 1.042. Does this mean my ABV will be super low?

 

[doug293cz]

Hey! I brewed my first ever all grain batch today! Yay! Anyway, the temp gauge I was using is t the best choice and I was impatient, so I think I mashed in at around 140. Sehttps://www.facebook.com/Clarkatbigmoose/posts/478962512260468ems low now that I am looking back. The recepie says OG should be 1.070. - 1.072 but I got 1.042. Does this mean my ABV will be super low?

Yes, your ABV will be a little more than half of what it would have been had you hit your OG target.

Brew on

 

[user 141939]

I think if you are going to brew all-grain you should learn to be more patient.[emoji4]

 

[eadavis80]

Yeah - brewing is like golf - you should not do it in a hurry. You can be EFFICIENT, but you should not rush things.

 

[PlexVector]

Hey! I brewed my first ever all grain batch today! Yay! Anyway, the temp gauge I was using is t the best choice and I was impatient, so I think I mashed in at around 140. Sehttps://www.facebook.com/Clarkatbigmoose/posts/478962512260468ems low now that I am looking back. The recepie says OG should be 1.070. - 1.072 but I got 1.042. Does this mean my ABV will be super low?

After you post and find that you have made some typing errors, or such, there is an edit button located in the lower right of your post, which will allow you to make corrections.
Remember to click save after you make corrections. I've forgotten to do that a few times.

 

[Dfinnegan]

Would it be a bad idea to add about 1/2 pound of sugar to the fermenter? Thinking that the yeast would have more to convert with?

 

[user 141939]

It'll get you a little more alcohol, what kind of beer is it? You would still fall way short though. You'll want to boil/dissolve the sugar of course and do it soon. Or you could just leave it.

Did you taste the wort after boiling? Was it really bitter? This is what I would be worried about. If you added enough hops for a 1.070 beer into a 1.040 beer it would be more bitter. Not sure if adding sugar would help that.

 

[chuckthebutcher]

some of the alcohol that you lost with the low og will be made up by the low mash temp. a temp that low will have created plenty of fermentables and should dry out the beer and bring it to a lower fg than your original recipe probably intended.

 

[Dfinnegan]

I brewed the Gold Dust IPA kit from midwest brew supplies. The wort tasted pretty sweet before the boil and before I added hops. I didn't taste it after the boil. Maybe I'll just leave it alone, drink it and be merry. Chalk it up as a learning experience.

 

[dwhite60]

If you mashed in at 140F you probably WAY under-converted.

Give it time. It won't be bad, just not what you intended.

You could boil up some malt extract and add it to your fermenter.
I'd leave it like it is.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[user 141939]

Yeah I vote for leave it too.

 

[Rhaop]

If you mashed in at 140F you probably WAY under-converted.

Give it time. It won't be bad, just not what you intended.

You could boil up some malt extract and add it to your fermenter.
I'd leave it like it is.

All the Best,
D. White

This, or leave it be don't add sugar

 

[Dfinnegan]

I think I'll add a pound of Diluted DME in te secondary fermenter.... What do you all think?

 

[Dfinnegan]

I think I'll add a pound of diluted DME in te secondary fermenter... What do you guys think?

 

[user 141939]

I would add it now, while primary is still active.

 

[Balloonknot]

get some iodine, take some of the grains out of the mashtun, put the iodine on them and see if youve fully converted your starch into sugar.

I guarantee, you did not get all the sugars out of those grains. Also, I made this mistake on my first all grain as well, do not fully open the valve on your mashtun. Let the wort slowly pour out. It should take you like 40 minutes to drain the mashtun for a 6-7 gal batch. If you drained it in less than 15 minutes, you had the valve all the way open and were unable to efficiently capture all the sugars. Im sure the beer will still tast delicious, just lighter in flavor and ABV. Remember, less sugar doesnt just mean lower ABV, your losing your gravity too which means your final gravity will be lower as well. You lose your flavor, mouth feel, and ABV.

Id guess it will end up like a light IPA beer. still better than coors light for sure tho. lol. Dont add sugar to bump up the ABV. You wont like it.

For your next all-grain, heat up your mash water to around 168-170*F. Mix it into your grain in the mash tun so that you are at a ratio of 1.5 quarts per Ib of grain. Should be thick like fresh oatmeal, not too thick like oatmeal thats sat out forever, or too thin like oatmeal that has too much water. The grains absorb the heat and lower your mash temp which is what I bet happened to you. 20 Ibs of grain with 168*F water should bring you near 155*F mash temp.

Do these things next time and your next All-grain will go pretty well, at least at the mash phase.

 

[Dfinnegan]

Thanks ballonknot. I'll just leave it and drink it. Chalk it up to a learning experience.

 

[Dfinnegan]

Thanks everybody for your input.

 

[donk5]

Also, I made this mistake on my first all grain as well, do not fully open the valve on your mashtun. Let the wort slowly pour out. It should take you like 40 minutes to drain the mashtun for a 6-7 gal batch. If you drained it in less than 15 minutes, you had the valve all the way open and were unable to efficiently capture all the sugars.

I do not believe that this is accurate, at least not with batch sparging.

 

[bacgabe]

Quick question just to eliminate a possibility...what was the temperature of the sample you measured? Was it straight out of the mash?

 

[Dfinnegan]

I didn't really take a sample per se.... I just had my kitchen thermometer in hand and held it in the mash until the needle stopped rising

 

[bacgabe]

I am sorry. I admit I was extremely unclear in my question. I was actually asking about the temperature of your hydrometer sample. What was the temperature of the sample of wort that you took when you measured the starting gravity at 1.042? Was that straight from the mash or boil kettle by chance?

 

[Dfinnegan]

Oh.... It was in the boil kettle after I cooled it down. Right before I transferred to my fermentor.

 

[bacgabe]

Oh ok. If it was somewhere in the range of 60 or 70 degrees when you transferred it to the fermenter that eliminates the one possibility I was kicking around to explain the low starting gravity.

 

[Rhaop]

Oh.... It was in the boil kettle after I cooled it down. Right before I transferred to my fermentor.

You floated the hydrometer in boil kettle? I only ask because if somehow your hydrometer broke inside the kettle you would not want that glass in there that would ruin the whole batch

 

[user 141939]

get some iodine, take some of the grains out of the mashtun, put the iodine on them and see if youve fully converted your starch into sugar.

I guarantee, you did not get all the sugars out of those grains. Also, I made this mistake on my first all grain as well, do not fully open the valve on your mashtun. Let the wort slowly pour out. It should take you like 40 minutes to drain the mashtun for a 6-7 gal batch. If you drained it in less than 15 minutes, you had the valve all the way open and were unable to efficiently capture all the sugars. Im sure the beer will still tast delicious, just lighter in flavor and ABV. Remember, less sugar doesnt just mean lower ABV, your losing your gravity too which means your final gravity will be lower as well. You lose your flavor, mouth feel, and ABV.

Id guess it will end up like a light IPA beer. still better than coors light for sure tho. lol. Dont add sugar to bump up the ABV. You wont like it.

For your next all-grain, heat up your mash water to around 168-170*F. Mix it into your grain in the mash tun so that you are at a ratio of 1.5 quarts per Ib of grain. Should be thick like fresh oatmeal, not too thick like oatmeal thats sat out forever, or too thin like oatmeal that has too much water. The grains absorb the heat and lower your mash temp which is what I bet happened to you. 20 Ibs of grain with 168*F water should bring you near 155*F mash temp.

Do these things next time and your next All-grain will go pretty well, at least at the mash phase.

There's a lot if things that are not quite right here. First off, anyone who batch sparges does not drain slow. What you are saying is sounding like what is important for fly sparging.

Second, it's ok to use more water in the mash, I usually add more than 1.5 qt per pound. What I aim to do is add enough so the run-off from the mash and the batch sparge are equal. Plus there is the biab and the no sparge brewing which uses the entire volume of water for the mash.

Also, a 1/2 pound of sugar in a IPA is not bad. A lot of IPAs have sugar in the recipe to dry it out. Although in this case you are right. Considering the low mash temp and FG it might not be good. Although I doubt it would make too much difference in the end result.

 

[Dfinnegan]

I did put the hydrometer in the boil kettle, it didn't break I also took a reading from the fermenter because I couldn't believe I was only getting 1.042. I did a fly sparge. Now that being said, I did the fly sparge at about 170 because I knew I made the mistake of only mashing at 140..... What can I say, it was my first all grain brew day. 7.5 hours long.

 

[Balloonknot]

I do not believe that this is accurate, at least not with batch sparging.

actually its very true. Until you make the mistake and ask where did all my sugars go? You don't know.

 

[Gavin C]

It should take you like 40 minutes to drain the mashtun for a 6-7 gal batch.

.

Bad advice if you are batch sparging where a fast lauter is one of the components after a vorlauf step.

This would however be reasonable advice if you are fly sparging where overly fast lautering can result in channelling and inadequate rinsing of the grains.


The issue here that the OP has is inadequate mash temperatures. Dough in at 140, mash temp will be 130ish and completely insufficient for conversion to occur.

The result will be minimal fermantable sugars.

Solution: None right now

Learn the lessons and improve the method for the next batch. I wouldn't dick around with DME or sugar adding to the FV with this beer. It is not a recoverable situation. Just chalk it up, ditch it or drink it. I know what I would do.

 

[Balloonknot]

Bad advice if you are batch sparging where a fast lauter is one of the components after a vorlauf step.

This would however be reasonable advice if you are fly sparging where overly fast lautering can result in channelling and inadequate rinsing of the grains.


The issue here that the OP has is inadequate mash temperatures. Dough in at 140, mash temp will be 130ish and completely insufficient for conversion to occur.

The result will be minimal fermantable sugars.

Solution: None right now

Learn the lessons and improve the method for the next batch. I wouldn't dick around with DME or sugar adding to the FV with this beer. It is not a recoverable situation. Just chalk it up, ditch it or drink it. I know what I would do.

I am referring to fly sparging, not batch sparging. The OP used fly sparging. His issue sounds exactly like mine minus the low mash temp.

OP, here's some free reading material which is I found pretty helpful starting out.
http://howtobrew.com/section3/index.html
You may have fly sparged with 170*F water but the key was to capture the sugars during the resting phase. The only fix at that point may have been lauter out the wort into your kettle and add the remaining 170*F sparging water and let it do a 2nd rest.

Here in this diagram, paying careful attention to the temperatures, you can see where most of your fermentables are going to become soluble.

Amylase converts your starches to your fermentables.


How many people on here do batch sparging? I find fly sparging the typical method of choice for most homebrewers. Then again I make 10 gal batches using a 10 gal mashtun so I dont really have a choice.