First AG Batch

[amrmedic]

Hello

Ok, I finally did my first AG batch of beer. My recipe using BeerAclhemy said my target OG was 1.070 and I hit 1.064 at the end of my boil. Ok, my questions are simple. My grain bill had a total of 15 pounds of grain. I used 1.25 qt/lb strike water which was 4.6 gallons and my sparge was to be 4.6 gallons also. I used a batch sparge technique. Now I only wanted to brew a 5 gallon batch, so I needed to collect 6.5 gallons for a 60 minute boil. When I finished sparging I eneded up with like 8 gallons pre-boil. So I had to boil for like 90 minutes. When batch sparging do I stop collecting wort when I get to my pre-boil volume even though there is wort left to be drained?

Next, my efficiency is way off. In Beeralchemy I have it set for 65% efficiency, so when I got 1.064 instead of 1.070, I must be at like 50% efficiency. When I sparged, I just drained the MLT into my brew pot (after vorlauf) then filled with 170F sparge water, stirred then set for 10 minutes then emptied into my brew pot. Both times the valve was wide open. Is this wrong or should I let it drain slowly?

Thanks

 

[Benjibbad]

The Sparge sounds like it went fine, so my initial question is did you adjust your gravity reading for temp? or where they 60F when you took them. Also how well calibrated is your hydrometer?

 

[Yooper]

If you want less wort in the brewpot, you can sparge with less water. Until you know your system well, the easiest way is to heat up plenty of sparge water. Measure the first runnings when you drain the mashtun, and then add the correct of sparge water to the MLT to make up your boil volume.

For example, you want 6.5 gallons in the boil kettle. So, you drain your first runnings and you get 3.75 gallons out. That means you would just add 2.5 gallons to your MLT for the sparge. Stir it well, vorlauf, and drain. You should have the correct amount in your boil kettle.

In the mash, the grains will absorb some of the water (usually about .1 gallon per pound of grain) but not in the sparge. For the sparge, whatever water you put in will come out as wort since it won't absorb any more liquid.

 

[amrmedic]

I did not adjust for temperature. I will admit I never heard of adjusting to temperature. My hydrometer is a run of the mill one I got when I bought my first "kit". I did learn that I want to add a weldless valve to my kettle and I want to get a digital thermometer. My set up is that I use a round bevcerage cooler with a ball valve for my HLT and a igloo cooler (40qt) with a ball valve and a CPVC manifold inside for the MLT. Should I preheat the cooler I use as a MLT before pouring in my strike water and grain?

Also, when sparging do I just collect enough wort I need and dispose of the rest or do I collect it all and just boil for as long as needed to reduce the volume?

Thanks

 

[lumpher]

sage advice, but for this brew, you'll just have to drink more to get the same effect. if you measure your mash, though, you'll know how much more to add. i'd stop when i got to my 6.5, though

 

[Chuck_Swillery]

As long as you had sparge running without getting stuck you're sparge sounded like it went fine. I suppose you could have ended up with channelling that pulled less sugar than you could have but I think that would be a stretch. I can tell you this, once I started stirring my grain in the mash tun ever 20 minutes during a 90 minutes mash my efficiencies have gone WAY up. I also sparge slow and have no problem recirculating during the process to pull as much sugar as possible. It really drags out the process but I'm having great results.

 

[Benjibbad]

There are some good conversion charts out there for temp correction but if you took it right out of the boil kettle assuming ~120 you were probably over 1.070 and closer 1.080 (according to palmers book)!! To check your hydrometer, test it in 60F distilled water it should read 0. If it doesn't be sure to adjust for the rest of your brews. As far as preheating the MLT, if you put your hot liquor into the MLT before adding the grains you should be fine. The MLT will absorb the heat. I normally add ~2F to my strike water calculation to adjust for MLT absorbtion.

 

[BA_from_GA]

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/hydrometer.html

use that link to adjust for temp. I just collected a sample that was 110*F, read 1.056 grav, adjusted it was actually 1.064 (the number i was trying to hit for my targeted 70% efficiency).

You really will have to get used to your system, my first 4 or 5 brews AG were all over the charts on efficiency, and over sparged leading to long boil off time. The crush on your grain will hugely impact your efficiency each time too, I didn't get consistent efficiencies until i got my grain mill dialed in just where i wanted it.

Good luck! hope that helps