5.2 Stabilizer, Low Efficiency, Tap-A-Draft, Hops, and other thoughts

[CountryGravy]

Hello everyone!

Here is a quick rundown of some other information I've talked about on here, and the thoughts I have right now:

1.) First BIAB resulted in low efficiency. I missed SG Mark by .009 or so.
2.) That brew fermented out well, far more than expected. Nearly made up for the efficiency problem. It was the first of my "Hops testing" experiments, and it's really pretty good. Even the wifey likes it.
3.) I have not tested the water at my house, but I did read the local water report and found that the pH is in 7's. Turns out, that's not so good. I thought that might have something to do with the effiency. I decided to try out the 5.2 Stabilizer. Many here hate it, a few are unsure, and a few have given it good reviews. I bought it, used it according to the instructions, and my efficiency on my second BIAB... dropped. It was worse. Yuck. Time to invest in some pH testing and figure things out for myself.
4.) In an effort to increase efficiency, I ordered double crushed grain for my last order. I have shopped at many online stores: Homebrew Heaven, Midwest, MoreBeer, and Ritebrew. Ritebrew actually has double-crushing as an option, without needing a note in the comments or anything of that variety. I ordered three different grains, double crushed, and they arrived in TWO DAYS with standard shipping. Wow! Great prices... hopefully the grain is fresh when I brew this weekend. The grain is obviously more finely crushed. We'll see if this increases my efficiency.
5.) I really enjoy my Tap-A-Draft. Many people here have mentioned that it makes little sense to invest in Tap-A-Draft when the price for a 5G keg system isn't too far off, but I only brew 2 or 3 gallons at a time, and I love being able to fill one TAD bottle and then top off a few 12 oz bottles. I've emptied three of the bottles now with only one minor hiccup, which was a little beer spray when I moved one of the bottles right before putting it in the refrigerator. Maybe the cap wasn't tight enough...
6.) I love hops. I love minor hop notes on the palate and I love it when it bites my throat. Using a simple recipe to test different hops is so much fun.

 

[mtnagel]

I'm not expert, but I don't think the pH was the cause of your low efficiency. I've also heard the starting water pH doesn't really matter. It's the reserve alkalinity that's more important.

As for increasing the efficiency, the double grind may help a little. But check out my post where I got 85% efficiency using a dunk sparge. I just brewed this weekend using the method and I used cold water for the sparge and I was still in the low to mid 80's. Or you can just get a a little more grains. I'm probably saving a buck or two in grain cost with the extra step in the process. But I'm generally using it to lower the pH, so it's not much extra work for me.

 

[PRE66_6TART]

Yeah, it's the mash ph that matters, not the water ph. When you add your grains it will lower the ph of your starting water, but you won't know by how much, and the starting ph doesn't really tell you where it will end up. You would have to know more about your water to predict the mash ph. I threw out my 5.2 and bought a ph meter after reading more about them on this forum. The ph meter wasn't really that expensive and it's easier to use than those test strips (I could never quite tell what color it was).

I'll add another vote for dunk sparging. It's so quick and easy, and it works with cold water in a bucket, so you don't need an extra pot or burner or anything.

 

[CountryGravy]

Thanks for the info guys!

I've still got my copy of How To Brew, so I'll need to get back to it and learn more about mash pH. I haven't read it since before I started extract brewing, so I wasn't paying enough attention to AG.

I'll look into dunk sparging and read your posts. I'm really excited to get my process nailed down so I can make accurate assumptions and recipes. I always dreamed of making 20G batches in a giant three tiered structure, but that is not in my future. I'm going to be content with 2 or 3 gallon batches on a good rotation with locked down brewing, sanitizing, and bottling techniques.

Thanks for reading my post and for helping me out!

 

[jleiii]

I'm still working on getting my BIAB process refined, yet had a shocker on the last batch. The pre-boil gravity was 14 points low, 1.032 vs 1.046.
9 lbs MO, and 1/2 each C80, C120 and Choc Malt for a porter. All double crushed, and pretty powdery but hulls pretty much intact. I have a Millars B3 mill.
I got the ph test strips and used it for the first time, and came in at about 4.6 which it turns out is not that bad for a dark mash. Ok, that's not it.
I did make one change from previous batches where I usually hit the OG very close, I rinsed my grains with 100F water, not boiling as I usually do. My pot is not big enough for all the water up front, so I use on the grain rinse as top off water. Even the water that driped from the grain later on was barely sweet. Still not sure why eff was so low. Thought about bad starch conversion, but the post boil/chill sample was crystal clear, so probably (hopefully!) not a starch issue.

Check Wards Lab for water testing, pretty cheap. They seem to be the go-to people in the homebrew arena.

I considered the Tap-a-Draft system for similar reasons, but they were out of stock for weeks around Christmas, so I decided on a roll your own version with 1 gallon 'jerry can' and homemade CO2 & tap fitting. The porter above will be the first brew in it. I plan to carbonate and serve with the same setup. I'll be doing a post on this in the DIY section one of these days..... I've been using soda bottles for carbing batches then bottling only half. That's worked fairly well so far.

Hops, hops and more hops! I have 6 different ones ready to put in the garden as soon as all the snow melts and spring can move in. Can't wait till fall for some fresh hop IPAs!

 

[Foosier]

Some thoughts...

I have been where you guys are going. Mash PH is important for many reasons don't get me wrong, but it is not going to be the reason why your efficiency is very high or low. Usually the culprit is your crush. Nail that down and things start coming together quickly. In my experience, with a really good crush my efficiency comes in around 80%. If the crush is not good, I need to add an extra 1/2lb of base malt to hit my numbers. But always the variable seems to be the crush.

Before you go buying reports and ph meters, note that many people have posted their ward lab reports here already. If you are on municipal water you can use a report someone else has submitted for the same source. This will at least give you a ball park for where you are starting. The key is fining out if you have hive hardness. This leads to high residual alkalinity which is what can cause you problems with mash PH. Read the Brew science board. tons of info there.

 

[dcbc]

Easiest thing to do is bottle up some of your tap water and send it off to Ward Labs. For not much money, you will find out what you need to adjust your water. The main minerals to pay attention to are Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, SO4 (they will report SO4-S; so multiply that by 3, and HC03. Your water pH is useful if you plan to adjust your sparge water.

Once you know your minerals, you can plug them into a spreadsheet like Brunwater along with your liquor volumes and grain bill and it will give you a very good approximation of what minerals and/or acids to add to lower mash pH or what minerals to add to raise pH if need be. I usually shoot for around 5.4. You can also use it to figure out salts to add to the boil kettle to enhance certain flavors, i.e., maltiness or hoppiness, in the beer.

My preference is to adjust the mash and sparge with lactic acid and save salts for the boil kettle.

There is a lot more to it than that, but that's about the extent to which I make adjustments and it has worked well for me.

Good luck.