Bad Thermometer... Partly Boiled Steeping Grains

[adhomebrew10]

Well... I was steeping my grains today and noticed at about 25 minutes that the water was churning a little much. I looked at my thermometer.... 150. So I pulled out the thermometer and gave it a tap and put it back in and POOF... 190. Sigh... I was very upset for about 10 seconds before just writing it off to a beginner learning experience. If my beer make me pucker a little from tannins, so be it. Other than that all went well. My expected OG was 1.048-1.051, and actual was 1.054. That seemed odd. My math put it at 1.049 and brewtarget gave me 1.051. However, I was steeping Victory malt for flavor and did not expect to get anything from it. I was under the impression you had to mash it to get gravity points, but even if I did it would be small... not 3 points. I imagine steeping the grains too hot caused the higher OG. More alcohol I guess!

 

[JefeTheVol]

A few things. Mashing that high will most likely negatively effect your flavor by leaching tannins off the grain husks, so you are right about that. Also, by itself Victory malt has no diastatic power so it would have to be mashed with some 2-row or other equivalent malt with a lot of enzyme potential. Also, your hydrometer could be off depending on: 1 how well you mixed your final wort (assuming partial mash) and 2 the temperature at which you measured your gravity. All in all, I would not worry about it, learn from it and maybe your beer will turn out ok.

Steeping the grains "too hot" as you put it, would not increase the gravity with sugar because once your temp rises up above the ideal temps for alpha and beta amylase, the enzymes denature and will not have any converting power. Without converting power, or diastatic power, it would be impossible to increase the the disaccharide content of your wort. Its possible that the increase in temperature increased your gravity with solute other than disaccharide, though. I dont know for sure, but it stands to reason.

RDWHAHB!
-Jefe-

 

[adhomebrew10]

A few things. Mashing that high will most likely negatively effect your flavor by leaching tannins off the grain husks, so you are right about that. Also, by itself Victory malt has no diastatic power so it would have to be mashed with some 2-row or other equivalent malt with a lot of enzyme potential. Also, your hydrometer could be off depending on: 1 how well you mixed your final wort (assuming partial mash) and 2 the temperature at which you measured your gravity. All in all, I would not worry about it, learn from it and maybe your beer will turn out ok.

Steeping the grains "too hot" as you put it, would not increase the gravity with sugar because once your temp rises up above the ideal temps for alpha and beta amylase, the enzymes denature and will not have any converting power. Without converting power, or diastatic power, it would be impossible to increase the the disaccharide content of your wort. Its possible that the increase in temperature increased your gravity with solute other than disaccharide, though. I dont know for sure, but it stands to reason.

RDWHAHB!
-Jefe-

That is what I thought about the victory malt. I have also calibrated my hydrometer. It is spot on. The reading was 1.052-.053 at 72 degrees which makes it 1.054 or so, right?

I am not really all that worried about it, what can I do at this point anyway. Maybe it will come out with a bit of some astringency, but I doubt it will be too bad for me to consume. I tasted the sample, and it ranks right up there with my last APA for one of the grossest things ever... WAY too sweet, but will just have to wait a few weeks to see. I am hopeful no real harm was done.

 

[Yooper]

That's a very very small difference. I would attribute to something like having a cup of water less than five gallons in the fermenter.

 

[adhomebrew10]

That's a very very small difference. I would attribute to something like having a cup of water less than five gallons in the fermenter.

That is possible. I actually did a 4 gallon batch (using my 5g secondary as a primary) and it was close to my 4g line, but it looks like it is just a bit below. Thanks for the tip Yooper!