All Grain....What did I get myself into

[jgc132]

Hi everyone. First time using this forum. Looking forward to speaking with other homebrewers now that this hobby has taken over my life!

This is my 2nd all grain batch and I was trying to do Avery's White Rascal recipe that they post on their website and I missed my pre boil OG by a ton. Estimated at 1.050 and got 1.001!

Recipe:
2 row pale 5.5lbs
Wheat Malt 5.5 lbs

Strike at 150degrees 14 qts for 1 hour
Batch Sparge w/ 2 steps 2gal and 4 gal at 168 degrees.

My temps were good during mash and an iodine test indicated full conversion.
Did I drain to quickly? What else could I have missed?

Thanks for your input.

 

[WhiteEagle1]

Did you crush your grains?

 

[Kremlock]

What did you use to take your reading? From what you are saying you should be higher then 1.001. If Hydrometer put in in water and check the reading. Then take a reading with sugar in the water, should be higher.

 

[Lgaddy44]

Stupid question here, but was your grain milled/milled properly? That would be the first place I'd look.

 

[brewmastercontrols]

+1 on did you crush your grains?

Are you sure your hydrometer is OK?

 

[billl]

Also, was your strike water at 150 BEFORE you added the grains or was the actual mash temp 150?

 

[DPBISME]

I assume you have cast your yeast, so is it bubbling?

If it does so for a day or so I would say you are good.

I have three hydrometers and they all read different so I quit using them at all.

The other suggestions are good but I also assume you crushed your grain.

..and "...what have you gotten yourself in too? Well brewing of course and it can take a few time until you do everything in the correct order.

DPB

 

[jgc132]

Thanks for the quick replies.

yes I did crush the grains. The homebrew shop milled them for me. I also checked my hydrometer and with just water it read at 1.000 so i figure it is correct. It is definitely a cheap hydrometer though...

My strike water was at 168 when i added the grain.

I never put it on the stove to boil since the OG reading was so far off. It is just sitting in the kettle. I was getting ready to pour in down the drain.

 

[tmoney645]

Don't dump it, just toss a few pounds of DME in there and find see what happens.

 

[kblankenship11]

There is no way that hydrometer reading is right. With that grain bill at 1% efficiency you get 1.001. I dont think it's possible to get 1% even if you dont crush your grains (unless you dipped them in wax...)

Make sure that reading is right before you do anything drastic. Something is not right there.

 

[inhousebrew]

Something seems horrible wrong here. Even if you severely mess up I feel like you should get higher than 1.001 just by accident. Did you hit your volumes? Did you mix it up and try sampling again?

You didn't sample from the last runnings of your second batch sparge did you? I don't know honestly...

 

[stpug]

Taste it. I would expect there to be decent sweetness at 1.050. I get mild sweetness with 1.037 in 6.35 gallons. If it tastes sweet then put a cup aside and set in your refrigerator to deal with later, and continue with your brew day.

Then when you have a moment, find a friend or LHBS that can test your wort for you with refractometer or hydrometer to tell you what you really have.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

You DID remember to lower the pre-boil sample down to the hydrometer calibration temp... right? Most are calibrated at 60F, I have one that's calibrated at 70F. If you measured at 150F+, your reading is going to be completely false.

MC

 

[SpeedYellow]

You're telling us that your wort is measuring essentially identical to tap water. Based on your process of adding that much crushed grain to hot water for 1 hr, that's bascially impossible since you'd get at least a good amount of starches to dissolve.

Probably your hydrometer is cracked, and letting water in.

 

[jgc132]

My hydrometer seems correct. Tested it in water with sugar and the reading was ~1.050.

I messed up the original post as the OG was 1.010 not 1.001; so 10% efficiency. Is that possible? Could I have used too much water in the mash/sparge?

 

[brew2enjoy]

You DID remember to lower the pre-boil sample down to the hydrometer calibration temp... right? Most are calibrated at 60F, I have one that's calibrated at 70F. If you measured at 150F+, your reading is going to be completely false.

MC

This

 

[brycelarson]

this:

You're telling us that your wort is measuring essentially identical to tap water. Based on your process of adding that much crushed grain to hot water for 1 hr, that's bascially impossible since you'd get at least a good amount of starches to dissolve.

Probably your hydrometer is cracked, and letting water in.

What temperature was the sample you measured?

Let's make sure there really is a problem before we suggest solutions.

http://ebrew.com/primarynews/ct_hydrometer_temp_correction.htm

 

[stpug]

1.010 at 205*F puts the corrected gravity at 1.048, FWIW.

 

[inhousebrew]

The temp correction suggestion is a good one. If it was right after the mash and sparge you should be around 150*. That would actually mean you were at roughly 1.029 which is still low but not impossibly low

I like this calculator for doing that: http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/hydrometer.html

 

[jgc132]

I think you guys nailed it! I never lowed the temp when i tested the OG. Im going to finish out my brew and see what happens.

You all kick ass! Thanks for the help!

 

[enricocoron]

It looks like the problem was solved but everyone should have also suspected the possibility the base malt was labeled falsely and non diastatic.

 

[brycelarson]

It looks like the problem was solved but everyone should have also suspected the possibility the base malt was labeled falsely and non diastatic.

why? There wasn't actually a problem.

Troubleshooting should always start at the simple and move to more unlikely only once the simple has been ruled out.

 

[inhousebrew]

I think you guys nailed it! I never lowed the temp when i tested the OG. Im going to finish out my brew and see what happens.

You all kick ass! Thanks for the help!

No problem. And I never cool my samples, I use the calculators online to adjust.

 

[Kremlock]

refractometers are great for this.

So now that we've figured out the problem, did you take a reading now that it's cooled off?

 

[jsv1204]

+1 to the refractometer. Invaluable on brew day. Once you start fermenting, you need to use your hydrometer, but having the refractometer on brew day is really nice.

 

[enricocoron]

why? There wasn't actually a problem.

Troubleshooting should always start at the simple and move to more unlikely only once the simple has been ruled out.

I like to think of all the potential problems and then eliminate them one by starting with the easiest. I know people who have ordered grains and got a non diastatic malt as 90% of their base and had negligble conversion. I just wanted to let people know that this is a potential problem when you trust someone else to select and mill your grains.

And a beer starting that far beneath intended OG is a small problem.