First AG. Think I screw up!

[tlthom]

This past weekend I brewed my first AG, NBSs La Petite orange. I mashed and fly sparged in accordance with info from brewsmith.
Once the wort cooled, I used the technique from my NB starter cd and added 2 gals of cold water to my carboy and then poured in my wort. Well that 2 gal resulted in me having to pour out some of the wort from my boil as I didn't have another vessel to ferment the remaining wort. Will this have any effect on my beer?

I am just starting to understand the calculations but here is what I recall:

7lbs of grain
2.33gal strike water
5.95gal sparge water
sparge temp 149
strike temp 161
60 minute boil w/hop & sugar additions
made a starter yeast with West 1214 Belgian Abbey.
post boil OG 1.040

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

[MrFancyPlants]

well, it will make your beer weaker by however much you poured out.. Did you take a gravity reading prior to pitching your yeast; That will tell you whether you missed your target or not? Depending on how much you poured out, your beer should still be fine, but that will teach you to save the "top off" water until last next time.
Also next time, never just dump wart, that is a major party foul even if the beer is not fermented yet. Put it in a bottle in the fridge and save it for your next batch or for making starters.

 

[Psylocide]

Why would the instructions tell you to top off an AG brew with water?

 

[chickypad]

Yes it's going to affect your beer. If you had 5 gals at 1.040 then replaced 2 gals of it with plain water your beer is going to be about 1.024, so at best you'll probably be in the 2.3-2.5% ABV range. While you can top off with AG - I do it when I want to make a 5 gal batch on my 3 gal sized equipement - you need to account for it in the recipe. Much more commonly with all grain you adjust your volumes to hit your target post boil so there is no top off.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

I have that same starter DVD, that is for doing partial boil extract batches if I recall correctly.

 

[tlthom]

Yes the gravity reading prior to pitching yeast was 1.040 but that was on about 6 gal as after sparging and prior to boiling I had about 6.5 gals.

I was using the info from the starter DVD that came with my starter kit. I now know, as pointed out by BrewrBrad82, that those instructions are for extracts. So that won't happen again.

I am making a batch of Hefeweizen this weekend so I will definitely use this advice on this batch.

And I will NEVER dump wort again!

I guess you live and learn.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

All-grain is a bit of a different beast, it can take a few batches to nail down the technique and get a feel for the volumes, boil intensities, and etc. Welcome to all-grain brewing, you will be knocking out great beers in no time flat!!

Cheers!

 

[tlthom]

Thank you all for the info and advice.

Ok, I am going to get a head start on this weekend's brew and go in prepared instead of trying to figure it out on the fly.

I have plugged in the values (Batch Size and Grain Bill) into brew65.com (everything else is the default) for the Bavarian Hefeweizen and the Honey Kolsch and here are the results. Please let me know if you see any issues.

Bavarian Hefeweizen

Variables
Batch Size (gal)- 5
Grain Bill (lbs.) - 9.5
Boil Time (hrs) - 1
Trub Loss (gal.) - .5
Equipment Loss (gal.) - 1
Mash Thickness (qts/lb.) - 1.33
Grain Temperature (deg.) - 70
Target Mash Temperature (deg.) - 152

Constants
Wort Shrinkage (pct) - 4
Grain Absorption Constant (gal/lb) - 0.13
Percent Boiloff per Hour (pct/hr) - 10

Results
Total Water Needed (gal.)- 8.60
Mash Water Needed (gal.) - 3.16
Sparge Water Needed (gal.) - 5.44
Strike Temperature (deg.) - 164.33
Pre-Boil Wort Produced (gal.) - 6.37

Honey Kolsch

Variables
Batch Size (gal)- 5
Grain Bill (lbs.) - 8
Boil Time (hrs) - 1
Trub Loss (gal.) - .5
Equipment Loss (gal.) - 1
Mash Thickness (qts/lb.) - 1.33
Grain Temperature (deg.) - 70
Target Mash Temperature (deg.) - 152

Constants
Wort Shrinkage (pct) - 4
Grain Absorption Constant (gal/lb) - 0.13
Percent Boiloff per Hour (pct/hr) - 10

Results
Total Water Needed (gal.)- 8.41
Mash Water Needed (gal.) - 2.66
Sparge Water Needed (gal.) - 5.75
Strike Temperature (deg.) - 164.33
Pre-Boil Wort Produced (gal.) - 6.37

 

[chickypad]

The gallon and a half "equipment loss" plus trub loss seems high - not sure what they are including there. Do you have deadspace in your tun? If so I'd do something to eliminate that like a diptube. Also % per hr for boil off is not a good way to do it, the boil off remains the same for the same pot whether there are 2 gallons or 10 gallons in it. I would make sure that matches the rate per hr, or see if you can set it that way.

 

[tlthom]

As I am new to home brewing this is the first I've heard of deadspace but just did some reading on it and I will test my 10 gal igloo cooler mash tun w/false bottom tomorrow. Unfortunately, the calculator on brew365.com does not allow any modifications to the variables. I will fill my boil pot with 2 gallons of water tomorrow, measure the boil off and then try to find a calculator that will allow me to input that variable.

 

[chickypad]

You can figure out what boil off percentage to use if you know the boil off per hr, you'll just have to adjust it every time you change the boil volume.

 

[BeatnikTom]

I'd recommend making something other than hefe for a new brewer. Or Kolsch for that matter. Neither of those are particularly easy brews, the hefe can have lautering problems and the Kolsch has some particulars around the fermentation process.

I'd recommend trying something more basic like a British or American ale the first few times unless you just like jumping in the deep end.

 

[rlmiller10]

The gallon of equipment loss may be OK depending on process. I lose close to that by losing about a quart that is left in the mash tun and then I don't pour everything our of the boil kettle into the fermenter. I leave some of the break material which, if I have a good break can leave a half gallon or slightly more in the kettle. So depending on mash tun dead space and process on transferring from kettle to bucket or carboy you can have a gallon of equipment loss.

 

[tlthom]

I will experiment tomorrow and see what conclusions I can draw. I don't mind jumping off into the deep end, plus I have already purchased both of the kits so I have to brew them. The transfer process I use seems to be about the same. Again, I will play around with my equipment tomorrow and see what I come up with

 

[tlthom]

Ok, I have tested my equipment and here are the results:

Mash tun dead space (started with 3 gal and test conducted with transfer hose/no tilting) - Dead space - 2.48l/.65gal/2.6qt

Boil off - Started with 3gal ended with 1.7 gal/6.8qt (not a very aggressive boil).

 

[rlmiller10]

Are you planning on dumping the entire kettle, break and all, into the fermenter? It is fine if you do, but if not, if you are going to siphon off the wort and try to leave most of the break material you need to include the amount you leave behind in your equipment loss.

 

[tlthom]

No, I had planned to siphon it and leave the break. I am using beersmith right now and the numbers and information there seem to be simpler to understand. The data seems to be simpler to input as well.

 

[rlmiller10]

If you are using Beersmith just go to your equipment profile and put the 2.6 quarts you found earlier in the Lauter tun deadspace field. Then put the amount you plan to leave behind in the kettle (.4 gal is what I have found for me) in the trub and chiller loss field.

Since you have tested it I would also put boil off of 1.3 gallons, boil time of 60 min, and check the "use boil off as an hourly rate" box

 

[tlthom]

I will make those mods when I get home today. I definitely appreciate the assistance.

 

[tlthom]

I would like to thank you guys for all of the advice given. attached is a pic of my current brews. The far left is a Honey Kolsch, (Brewed Friday night 7/17), Middle is a Bavarian Hefeweizen (Brewed yesterday 7/18) and far right is a La Petite Orange (day 2 of a 2wk ferment in secondary).

Missed OG by a small bit but added DME to get me there.