For my first AG brew I made Edworts Haus Pale Ale and while I undershot my mash temp everything else went well and I was within .002 of target OG.
I followed Ed's recipe to the letter and ended up a little low on volume into the fermenter. Then I read up on brewsmith and inputting equipment profiles and setup my equipment profiles in what I believed are correct.
Today I brewed an American Wheat based on a recipe I found here (posted below) and followed the water volumes suggested by brewsmith.
Target post boil OG should have been 1.047 and when I measured it I was at 1.032 a full 15 points under gravity, which means a 4.8% ABV will turn out around 3.3%
At this point I'm seriously considering dumping the batch, decanting & washing and storing the starter I made to save the $7 smack pack I wasted.
My thought is the water volumes are incorrect (11g total sounds like way too much to me) and I mashed/sparged with too much water for the available sugars in the grain.
I ended up with 9g in the kettle from first and second running with about 1 gallon I boiled off approximately 1 - 1.2g of water and reading tells me I should have lost about 1.25g to the deadspace in my Blichmann 15g BK.
Am I on the right track that the problem is likely in the equipment profile or is there some other factor I'm overlooking?
I'm grateful this happened on a $20 batch, rather than an expensive double IPA, but I'd really like to figure out the issue and get my process locked down.
I followed Ed's recipe to the letter and ended up a little low on volume into the fermenter. Then I read up on brewsmith and inputting equipment profiles and setup my equipment profiles in what I believed are correct.
Today I brewed an American Wheat based on a recipe I found here (posted below) and followed the water volumes suggested by brewsmith.
Target post boil OG should have been 1.047 and when I measured it I was at 1.032 a full 15 points under gravity, which means a 4.8% ABV will turn out around 3.3%
At this point I'm seriously considering dumping the batch, decanting & washing and storing the starter I made to save the $7 smack pack I wasted.
My thought is the water volumes are incorrect (11g total sounds like way too much to me) and I mashed/sparged with too much water for the available sugars in the grain.
I ended up with 9g in the kettle from first and second running with about 1 gallon I boiled off approximately 1 - 1.2g of water and reading tells me I should have lost about 1.25g to the deadspace in my Blichmann 15g BK.
Am I on the right track that the problem is likely in the equipment profile or is there some other factor I'm overlooking?
I'm grateful this happened on a $20 batch, rather than an expensive double IPA, but I'd really like to figure out the issue and get my process locked down.
Recipe: American Wheat TYPE: All Grain
Style: American Wheat or Rye Beer
---RECIPE SPECIFICATIONS-----------------------------------------------
SRM: 3.7 SRM SRM RANGE: 3.0-6.0 SRM
IBU: 19.0 IBUs Tinseth IBU RANGE: 15.0-30.0 IBUs
OG: 1.047 SG OG RANGE: 1.040-1.055 SG
FG: 1.011 SG FG RANGE: 1.008-1.013 SG
BU:GU: 0.400 Calories: 34.4 kcal/12oz Est ABV: 4.8 %
EE%: 72.00 % Batch: 6.00 gal Boil: 9.04 gal BT: 60 Mins
---WATER CHEMISTRY ADDITIONS----------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 4.5 %
5 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 50.0 %
4 lbs 8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 3 40.9 %
8.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.5 %
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs Total Hops: 1.40 oz oz.
---MASH PROCESS------MASH PH:5.40 ------
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD WATER CHEMICALS BEFORE GRAINS!!<<<<<<<
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 16.95 qt of water at 161.7 F 152.0 F 60 min
---SPARGE PROCESS---
>>>>>>>>>>-RECYCLE FIRST RUNNINGS & VERIFY GRAIN/MLT TEMPS: 70.0 F/72.0 F
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD BOIL CHEMICALS BEFORE FWH
Batch sparge with 2 steps (2.00gal, 4.92gal) of 165.0 F water
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.35 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 5 15.7 IBUs
---BOIL PROCESS-----------------------------
Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.038 SG Est OG: 1.047 SG
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.30 oz Centennial [10.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 3.3 IBUs
0.75 oz Centennial [10.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 7 0.0 IBUs
---FERM PROCESS-----------------------------
Primary Start: 03/31/2012 - 9.00 Days at 62.0 F
Secondary Start: 04/09/2012 - 10.00 Days at 65.0 F
Style Carb Range: 2.30-2.60 Vols
Bottling Date: 04/09/2012 with 2.3 Volumes CO2:
---NOTES------------------------------------