Ever have an "epiphany"?

[jestmaty]

Last couple of brews have finished super low gravity.

Back on Friday June 1st, my wife and I did a Brewer's Best Australian IPA mini-mash... it turned out GREAT! Hard to mess up an extract kit.

Then, on Father's Day June 17th, I did my usual midwest supplies' Hank's Hefeweizen. Been making that all-grain recipe for a while and really enjoy the results. But, I've been using my own ingredients, tit-for-tat, not the actual kit from midwest. Father's day brew just become "ready to drink" around July 16th. It's pretty dry and tart, not a lot of body, as the FG was 1.004! Supposed to be about 8-9 points higher. Started at 1.060 (high) and finished super low, 1.004. Very high in alcohol content, but again, very dry and tangy.. drinkable, but not what I remember from my joint brew sessions with my neighbor. And... I do believe in going to secondary, this brew was incredibly clear!

Did some reading and as I suspected... my mash temps have been on the low side My 75 quart Coleman cooler is just too big for a 5 gallon mash and the big surface area and my start temps of 153* just don't get full conversion. I suppose the temp still drops pretty quickly and by the time my hour is up, I'm in the mid 140's?

My all grain brews started with my neighbor mentoring me, using HIS +/- 50 quart Igloo, and his experience to brew 5 gallon brews. Those turned out really nice.

Then, he and I started brewing 10 gallon batches of Hank's Hefe in my 75 quart Coleman.. those turned out well too

But, he then stepped away from homebrewing and I went 'solo'.

Still used the Big-Ass Coleman for a measly 5 gallon batch. I would get my mash temp to 152* and close er' up. My "epiphany" is, through research and discovery, I've learned that my mash temps have been too low :cross:

I brewed again on July 3rd, same Hank's Hefeweizen copy of midwest supplies recipe... (done it a dozen times already), got a SG of 1.060, should have been around 1.052, finished at 1.008. Again, the target FG is about 1.012. Well, 540 ounces of that brew just went into bottles yesterday and I'm expecting more of the same... dry, tart, tangy, high alcohol, and not a lot of body. Bummer..

Lastly, I brewed a 5 gallon midwest supplies all-grain batch of Amarillo Pale Ale. Starting OG should be 1.054, mine was on target. FG expected to be +/- 1.012, mine was .004! Way low. Brewed 7/12, racked 7/19... same date the sample was taken

Now I'm onto something........ I truly feel my mash temps have been on the low side. (For the record, the smell of this pale ale is AWESOME!) Usually, my nose gives me a somewhat accurate expectation of what to drink in a few weeks after bottling. I MAY have gotten away with this one, but the point is, I need to bump up my mash temp.

So.. to wrap it up...

I'm now gathering another Hank's Hefe supply list from my lhbs AND I have a new 10 gallon Igloo mash tun. My thinking is that the smaller surface area as well as being a new cooler will have me starting at 154* and ending at 153-4* an hour later. Conversion will be proper and my FG's will end up where they're supposed to :rockin:

 

[JasonToews]

do you preheat your mash tun? I usually boil around 2 gallons of water and throw it in the mash tun befor i get my mash in water ready,drain,add water and grain. Mash is always at the same temp by the end.

 

[jestmaty]

do you preheat your mash tun? I usually boil around 2 gallons of water and throw it in the mash tun befor i get my mash in water ready,drain,add water and grain. Mash is always at the same temp by the end.

Well... sorta

I get my approx 3.5 gallons of strike water up to 180* and dump into the tun. Wait about 5 minutes, then dough in. To me, that's preheating and probably taking the strike water down about 10 degrees.

By the time I dump my grain and stir, I'm in the high 150's*.

Very seldom do I dump a handful of ice cubes to bring it down to 153*... almost never now that I see it's better to be a tad, notice 'tad', on the high side rather than the low.

Not talking about having temps of 170 and walking away for an hour.. I'm talkng about if I have 156-157, I'm good to close er up and let conversion begin :rockin:

 

[mjohnson]

Ever compare your thermometer with another one? Perhaps its off. I had one that was off by quite a bit. If you don't want to do that, just mash with your same thermometer and increase the mash temps until you get the results you're looking for. Even if your thermometer is off, as long as its consistent, you should be able to get good results, even if it says you're mashing at 165.

Judge by the results, not the numbers on your thermometer. The important thing is knowing your equipment.

 

[jestmaty]

Good call... As far as I can tell, it's accurate. I am a thermometer nut and have a bunch of digital and analog thermometers all over the house...

Some with probes, others without.

It's spot on with about 3-4 other digital and analog thermometers, so I'm confident that it's not the issue.

Since we all like pics.. here's the new mash tun with filter shown.. of course the valve goes on the OUTSIDE!
It's a $25, 40 quart Igloo from Academy!

 

[Pilamman]

I've run into similar issues. What I've started doing to better understand my equipment is taking measurements and noting it all down. Ambient temp = Coleman cooler MLT temp. I heat the strike water pour it in and after stirring well measure temp. After doughing in measure temp again. Target for me is 156 knowing it'll cool a couple deg over the hour. Shut it and measure temp at end of one hour. So I recommend measure everything for every batch, take notes and review them before every batch and you should get dialed in real quick. But preheating helps a ton, especially on cold days.

 

[biochemedic]

I actually heat all of my strike water to about 10 degrees above my strike temp and put it in the mash tun first. It sits closed for ~ 10 min to equilibrate/preheat the mash tun, then I stir the water until it drops to the strike temp, and I put the grain in. Further to getting your own system dialed in, I've found that I loose about an additional degree actually mashing in, so I generally add about a degree to my calculated strike temp. It's pretty unusual for me to drop at all, and certainly not more than an additional degree over the course of an hour...my cooler (58 qt Coleman Xtreme 6) will keep a solid temp for a very long time, even with 5 gal batch grain bills.

 

[jestmaty]

thanks to all, especially the last two posts

I have the new cooler and a new recipe that I can't wait to brew in the 'better' cooler. I truly feel like my smaller (by almost 1/2) ice chest over my old one is going to keep my mash temps at my starting temp during the hour-long mash.

Also, I look for 153* mash temp and have to go almost to 175* on the water... 22* above ideal mash temp. Occasionally a few ice cube are needed to bring it down, but that is rare. What happens is, I get 153*(ish) at the beginning of my hour, but by the time I'm done, it's down to mid 140's

 

[Jakeintoledo]

I don't know how much data collection you do on the average brew session, but being a total dork, I collect a LOT of data points on a brew. The advantage to doing this is that I can go back and look at the temp drop on the mash. In a given hour, my mash drops three degrees. I work to compensate for that, so that would be my first question.

I also put strike water into a cooler on 'standby' while I boil up another gallon of water. I dough in and if my temp is low, I hit it with the boiling water, stirring, to make sure that I hit temp.

I had your same problem, your EXACT same problem, with the first four or five beers I brewed. no body, lower gravity than expected, higher alcohol content, all the signs of low mash temp. I figured 147-149 was okay, close enough to 153. I was wrong.

I did an ESB recipe and mashed it at 147, and it was horrible. I did the same recipe at 153 starting and it was wonderful. night and day, and nobody who has drank both beers can possibly believe they're the made of the same ingredients. I can't stress how big of a difference six degrees in mash can make, at least according to my experience.

 

[Jakeintoledo]

ALSO: make sure your thermometer is good. I test it by boiling water, and if the thermometer isn't within a couple of points of 212, I 5hitcan it.

btw, the thermometer issue was part of my low temp problem. my digital thermometer got wet and suddenly started reading temps ten degrees higher than they were.