all grain heretic thought?

[burntchef]

So as I struggle to get my all grain set up working better, efficiency is my issue. No big surprise there. Question? After the boil and cooling, you test and find out that your projected og of 1.060 is really 1.045. Can you add fermentable sugar at this point without adding sweet? What would be the rate of addition per 5.5 gallons of wort to move the og higher?

Along the same vein, if you missed the boil off volume by a full gallon on a 11 gallon batch. You wound up with 12 gallons, how much would that dilution move the og down?

Thanx
Eric

 

[ancientmariner52]

Hello, Eric. Adding fermentable sugar will increase OG, and final ABV, without adding sweetness. Fermentables are almost 100% consumed by the yeast. You can also add malt extract. I try to keep a few pound of light DME on hand for emergencies like this.

As to calculations, there are formulas to answer all of your questions. A simpler way is to use one or more of the many homebrewing smartphone apps. I'm too old to re-learn algebra, so I let the apps do the work.

In reference to efficiency: the biggest single factor seems to be the grain crush. Finer crush = better conversion = higher efficiency. Ask your LHBS to double crush, or better still, get your own mill and take control.

Good luck!

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

If your mash tun utilizes a braid, a finer crush may lead to a stuck sparge. But if you use a bag as opposed to a braid, you can generally go much finer on the crush.

 

[ancientmariner52]

If your mash tun utilizes a braid, a finer crush may lead to a stuck sparge. But if you use a bag as opposed to a braid, you can generally go much finer on the crush.

This is entirely correct. I should have mentioned that I underlet my strike and sparge water through my manifold. I've never seen a doughball, and my one and only stuck sparge broke up when I let a bit more water backflow in. I stir at the beginning of the mash, every fifteen minutes during, and after adding sparge water. Batch sparge, BTW. I intend to try a bag one of these days.

 

[burntchef]

You think your old? I still have a flip phone, 1 step up from the jitterbug! lol. Anyway I have a manifold in the bottom of my cooler and do rice hulls in the crush, I have never had a stuck mash, knock on wood. I read some more of the sticky's and will prolly downsize my mash tun cooler as a step in the right direction. I am also going to try and do a efficiency calc on brewers friend to see where I am. Do not get me wrong, I have been steady eddy at 5% but am trying to get better. Anyone familiar with brewers friend and how to apply the calcs ancientmariner spoke of? Thanx for all the help! btw I am at the 44 gallon mark after today for this year.
Eric

 

[doug293cz]

The simplest way to do the calcs is using what are known as "gravity points." Each fermentable has it's own value for points/lb. If you multiply the points/lb by the weight of fermentable that you add, and then divide by the volume of wort, you get the increase in SG in thousandths. Here is an example:

Table sugar has 46 points/lb. Adding 1 lb to 5 gal of wort adds 46 points, and 46 / 5 gal = 9.2 points/gal. So the SG of your wort will increase by 0.0092
​

Here are some typical points/lb values:

• Table sugar: 46
• Corn sugar: 42
• Dry malt extract (DME): 44
• Honey: 34

To figure out how much to add to get to a specific SG do the following:

• Subtract your current SG from your target SG, then multiply by 1000. This is how many gravity points/gal you need to add.
• Multiply the needed points/gal by the volume of wort to get the total gravity points you need to add.
• Divide the total points by the points/lb of the fermentable you are adding to get the weight you need to add.

In your case you have 5.5 gal of wort at 1.045 that you want to bring up to 1.060. That's a pretty large SG increase, so you are best off using DME rather than table or corn sugar, in order to maintain the malt character of the wort. The calcs are as follows:

• (1.060 - 1.045) * 1000 = 15 points/gal
• 15 points/gal * 5.5 gal = 82.5 points
• 82.5 points / 44 points/lb = 1.875 lb, so round to 1.9 lb

These calculations are not exact, but they are usually good enough. The error comes because adding fermentables to the wort increases the volume a little bit, but the calculations do not take that volume increase into account.

Brew on

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Many brewing equations simplify when the batch volume is known.

• DME is 44 PPG or 8 gravity points (44 / 5.5) in 5.5 gallons of water.

• With a 5.5 gallon batch, when short 15 gravity points, divide 15 by 8.

• 1.875 pounds of DME will add 15 gravity points to 5.5 gallons of wort.

With a known batch size, similar short equations exist for recipe calculation of OG (once estimated efficiency is reasonably known), hops (knowing batch size and time of hop addition), etc.

 

[cloudybrewer]

For the volume correction:

You ended up with 12 gal at 1.045 instead of 11 gal. What would the gravity have been at 11 gal?

45 points per gal x 12 gals = 540 points total
540 total points / 11 gal = 49 points per gal
1.049

 

[burntchef]

Thanx for all the help!
digesting the above, my overshot of 12 gallons made a significant difference. If my volume was correct and my crush finer, I may have been a lot closer. so I may not have a big issue, just further refinement of my process.
Eric