Am I high or what help please

[Primevci]

Ok so i follow bs2 mash and sparge info, well anyways i followed there instructions and it said for my stuff i need about 7.89 gallon pre boil and it said my est. sg pre boil should be 1.062 it was not it was at about 1.030 then i was like crap because it was 8 at night and had to just push the brew threw no lhbs was open this late so i follow hop sched.
Then 60 mins rolls around i had way to much wort so i just boiled till i got close to 5.5gal then added my whirfloc tab and inserted my immersion chiller. I think i boiled 90 mins in the end... instead of 60 but here is the funny part once i got down to about 65 degress i took a g-reading and it was a little higher then expected about 1.076 when the recipie said it would be around 1.073 what gives?
Was it to much mash and sparge water? was it the temp of the pre boil whitch was taken at about 140 "i used a online calculator to estimate the temp swing/Hydro calibration" this is my 2nd all grain first with a hydro meter "couldnt find it on my first one"... just really confused why everything before the end was telling me i screwed up but in the end at 5.5 gals i did better than expected..

 

[motleybrews]

Same thing happened to me last weekend. But I thought the 7.43 or whatever bs2 said was way to much so I started with 4.5

 

[JuanMoore]

A couple things jump out, number one being the hydrometer reading. The further you get from the calibration temp the less accurate the reading will be. I suggest cooling the sample to ~90F or below before taking the reading next time. You also could have had a false reading if the first runnings weren't thoroughly mixed with the sparge runnings. Your sample may have had more of the low gravity sparge runnings. What was your actual preboil volume, was it the 7.89 gal bs estimated, or could it have been more?

 

[Primevci]

it was 7.89 measured

 

[Brewskii]

+1 to stratified wort in the brew kettle. Gotta stir that sucker good to get an accurate pre-boil OG.

 

[Primevci]

yeah i did stir to mix it up for the pre boil.. i just think bs2 is puting to much water for my sparge or something so it was 21qts for the mash and 5.10 gallons for the batch sparge.. for a 5.5 gallon batch.. does this seem right?

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: St Rogue Red
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.89 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.76 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.075 SG
Estimated Color: 17.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 31.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 84.3 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 64.5 %
3 lbs Munich Malt (IMC) (6.0 SRM) Grain 2 19.4 %
1 lbs Dextrose (Briess) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 5 6.5 %
8.0 oz Carastan Malt (34.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.2 %
1 lbs Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.5 %
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 17.0 IBUs
0.25 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 6.5 IBUs
0.25 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 40.0 min Hop 7 7.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.10 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 9 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 15 lbs 8.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 21.32 qt of water at 161.5 F 148.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Drain mash tun, Batch sparge with 1 steps (5.10gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Primevci]

should i just adjust my numbers to have around 6.5 gallons preboil looking at that recipe i just don't understand why the post boil is 6.79 and why the fermentor is 5.5 gals where do i loose that 1 gal?

 

[JuanMoore]

You lose wort in several places along the way, but how much is very dependent on your individual system. Beersmith has places for you to input the actual losses of your system at each step, so you need to figure out what they are, and then input the correct numbers. The 1.25 gal loss from the boil kettle to the fermenter and the 0.75 gal loss from the fermenter to the bottles are both about twice what I lose on my system, but could be right on for someone elses system. If you didn't input those volumes as losses, it must be the default setting for the equipment you have listed.

I don't know if BS2 is any different, but one of the things I always disliked about BS is that it calculates boil off as a percentage, when it's actually dependent on the diameter of the boil kettle and how vigorous the boil is. If BS2 still uses a percentage, you really need to rely on your own numbers for that aspect. Either way you obviously didn't boil off as much as BS2 anticipated you would, and you need to adjust that for future brews.

 

[Primevci]

yeah im going threw today and actually measuring loses so far my dead space in mt was off default was .80 its actually .58 bs2 lets you put in actual loss now im doing a 1 hr boil right now to see what that loss is

 

[Hoodweisen]

You are tripping out. MAN

 

[Dan]

My boil off rate is always more than what BS2 predicts as well. If I boil 8 gallons of water for an hour and then measure the loss would that be an accurate prediction of the wort boil off percentage per hour? Not sure it wort boils off faster or slower or if since the water is what is boiling off, would they be the same. During brewing I get a little to busy to try to accurately gauge what my boil off was, usually an estimate. What do you guys think?

 

[logdrum]

Boil off is a set rate, not a percentage, e.g.: a 1 hr boil in a 15" d kettle will lose the same volume no matter what the starting volume. Of course this will vary according to atmospheric conditions, elevation, etc. For me, I use 1.9 gl /hr, a bit more or less depending.

Sent from my iPod touch using HB Talk

 

[Primevci]

it came out to 1 gal for me... i did a 5 gallon boil and ended up with 4

 

[Primevci]

wow glad i second guess myself after my boil test run yesterday i started to think i put in 5.5 gals instead of 5.. well i did another boil off and i guess i did put 5.5 gals in last night because my boil off today was 1.56 glad i dbl checked myself so im happy with what i got today i was very careful measuring out 5 gallons with a big pyrex measuring cup 2qt vs a bucket with gallon marks on it..

 

[usfmikeb]

Boil off amount is dependent on your system, and you should be adjusting your recipe to match the way your system works.

 

[Primevci]

Boil off amount is dependent on your system, and you should be adjusting your recipe to match the way your system works.

yup spent the last 2 days measureing and double checking myself now i feel confident in my numbers...... now