Absolutely tragic efficiency- can you guys help?

[brewfisch]

I'll start this off by saying two things- I already know what happened, and I also know I should have gone with my gut on this, but I didn't.

I was brewing a Belgian Golden Strong this past weekend, and was using my trusty Beer Alchemy software on my iPhone. It's always been pretty handy, but I've always been wary to double-check my numbers versus what the instructions are telling me. It's always been right (enough) about volumes, sparge water, etc. and I will admit I was rushing against daylight since we didn't really start mashing in until almost noon (meaning I knew I'd be pitching at dusk). So I started with a hefty grain bill, 13+ lbs of B. Pils, some specialty grains of around 2 lbs and some Pale Candi sugar and dextrose. All in all, I was going for a BIG gravity of around 1.088, or so said my calc.

I was mashing a little low, so said my recipe and had set it up for a Two-step Infusion, rest at 122º for 15 m, raise to 147º, rest 60m....

Then came time to mash out.

"Add a further 3.18 US gal at 147º and mash out"

Umm. That seems...low. Hmmmm.

Instead of going with my gut, I mashed out at this alarmingly low temp, and in fact had even reached 155º after vorlaufing a couple quarts. Where's the Mosher book to talk me off this double-infusion crazy train?? Upstairs on the bookshelf- coulda grabbed that in about 45 seconds. Coulda. Shoulda. Woulda.

I took a preboil grav reading with a refractometer to get a whopping 5.1º Brix. Now, I should've ran that entire volume through the tun again at 168.

But I didn't. Instead I boiled her down to 4-gal and pitched at 1.050!! Le FAIL.

So I added (sigh) four lbs of pilsen DME the next day to bump her up, and hopefully that's enough.

So I don't know what this post is- a rant, a cautionary tale, or an opportunity for people to give me advice as to how to actually do a double infusion, as I'm a single-step kind of guy usually. Making a mistake like this happens, and I'm happy to say it's a first for me, but does anyone have any examples of wanting to go with your gut and having some book/manual/errant calculation holding you back?

Thanks so much, and sorry for the long post- figured it's best to get a nice overview of details out of the way initially.

 

[GuldTuborg]

What kind of sparge did you do? No mash out shouldn't give you poor efficiency, but throwing all your sparge water in with the main mash might (it kind of sounds like you did that).

 

[kanzimonson]

I have several comments:

147 is a crazy low mash temp. It'll work, but it takes a long time (like 90 minutes at least). Usually when I do belgian-style beers, I mash at 149 for 60min and then raise to 153 for another 30. This ensures great conversion. If you mess up aiming for 147 and it's too low, then you have to scramble to raise the temp.

Yes, mashing out to 168 is better for sugar rinsing, but lots of people don't mash out so don't worry about that.

What I don't understand is how you said recirculating got the temp up to 155. How could the temp have possibly gone up?

Also, you said you had a low preboil gravity and were tempted to run the entire wort back through the grain... you do not want to do this. The whole point of sparging is rinsing the sugars away from the grain. The process is designed to separate the two. If you had mixed them again, you would likely have LOWERED your gravity because you wouldn't be rinsing the grains.

This whole thing sounds like it's one of your first all grain batches. If that's the case, don't worry so much - it gets easier and more efficient with every batch. You just need to plan more and learn from your mistakes. For example, when you realized your gravity was low, you should have added DME on the spot - not wait.

I think there's something about homebrewing that makes people think, "Uh oh, I know something's wrong here, but I'll just pray it works out when the beer is carbonated and I'm drinking it." This is not the right attitude. Fix problems IMMEDIATELY when they are detected. Low gravity? Add DME. Stuck mash? Scoop it out and start over. Mash temp too low? Add boiling water or do a mini decoction.

Be proactive.