First All Grain Batch Complete

[rlynge]

Well, I brewed my first all grain batch yesterday and of course like most I had a problem of sorts. For my first batch I designed my beer around an efficiency of 68%. My pre-boil gravity should have been around 1.041 but I overshot that by quite a bit. It was 1.079. My pre-boil volume was around 6.5 gallons. I mashed at 154 with the following grain bill

8 lbs 5.5 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) 72.4 %
14.4 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) 7.8 %
12.2 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) 6.6 %
8.1 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) 4.4 %
8.1 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) 4.4 %
8.0 oz Rice Hulls 4.3%

Can someone tell my what my efficiency was? I had to dilute the wort so that could get to my estimated pre-boil gravity. I need to know what to plan for next time around so that I don't waste an hour trying to dilute my wort and get the right gravity.

 

[Conan]

I just put your grainbill into BeerSmith and it gave an estimated OG of 1.053 at 68% efficiency. Using the eff calculator and your 1.079 pre-boil it gave an efficiency of 131.98%. For other checkers, this was under "efficiency details", "efficiency into boiler". The estimated OG into boiler is listed as 1.043 on this screen. I have to think something was wrong with your gravity measurement. What was your mash process, and when did you measure the gravity? I brewed an IPA yesterday, 2 sparge, mash at 150 and my first runnings were 1.102 or something absurd. Second runnings were much lower, and the final into fermenter was 1.070. What I'm saying is, the point at which you measure makes a difference- unless you took it basically from the boiler as you lit the burner. Kyle

 

[rlynge]

I just put your grainbill into BeerSmith and it gave an estimated OG of 1.053 at 68% efficiency. Using the eff calculator and your 1.079 pre-boil it gave an efficiency of 131.98%. For other checkers, this was under "efficiency details", "efficiency into boiler". The estimated OG into boiler is listed as 1.043 on this screen. I have to think something was wrong with your gravity measurement. What was your mash process, and when did you measure the gravity? I brewed an IPA yesterday, 2 sparge, mash at 150 and my first runnings were 1.102 or something absurd. Second runnings were much lower, and the final into fermenter was 1.070. What I'm saying is, the point at which you measure makes a difference- unless you took it basically from the boiler as you lit the burner. Kyle

I mashed for one hour at 154 with 15qts of water. I drained the wort and then sparged twice. The two sparges were equal volumes at 2.17 gallons. I took the gravity reading on my refractometer after the second sparge. It read 12.25 brix. I thought something was way off. When I checked my refractomer with RO water it was calibrated correctly. I have no clue what went wrong.

 

[HomebrewMTB]

Yeah, something's not right there. You can't get gravity up that high with the grain bill listed. Your measurement must have been off somehow. Was it stirred up evenly? Have you used the refractometer before? What o.g. did you end up with at the end into the fermentor?

 

[rlynge]

I am pretty sure that I had it stirred up....it went into the fermentor at a 1048. But if I messed up by diluting my running then who knows what it is. I have used to refractometer before and had no issues. I can't figure out what went wrong. The only way for sure is to go pick up a hydrometer and test the current gravity. The color looks right in the fermentor though.

 

[HomebrewMTB]

I am pretty sure that I had it stirred up....it went into the fermentor at a 1048. But if I messed up by diluting my running then who knows what it is. I have used to refractometer before and had no issues. I can't figure out what went wrong. The only way for sure is to go pick up a hydrometer and test the current gravity. The color looks right in the fermentor though.

1.048 og seems a little low (~63% efficiency). Did you end up with more volume than anticipated?

 

[rlynge]

1048 is actually not to far off from what I was expecting...I was expecting 1052 in the fermentor. It was my pre-boil reading that screwed me up. My reading was to high (1079). So I diluted it to my estimated pre-boil of 1041. It is probably a combo of equipment malfunction and higher than expected efficiency.

1048 in the fermenter will give me a sessional ambler ale. It is starting to take off now so we shall see what happens. I just really wish I knew what happened.

 

[jetmac]

12.25 brix is not 1.079. 12.25 is around 1.050-1.053

If you are using software to convert brix, make sure you have it set on "unfermented wort"

SG of 1.079 of unfermented wort is closer to 19 brix

The good news is you should be fine. I don't know how much water you added to dilute but if you still boiled down to 5 gallons it should be okay.

The reason I say this is because if your reading of 1.079 was wrong and you actually had 1.041 in 6.5 gal that would be 266 gravity points. Diluting that to say 7.5 gallons just spreads your gravity points out amongst more water. Your SG changes to 1.035 but your gravity points stay at 266. Now you boil down to 5 gallons and you get the 1.053 you were looking for. (make sense?)

What I'm saying is..when you boil, you are evaporating the water not the sugar. So adding water, you increase the volume and lower the SG. If you boiled down to 5.5 gallons, the results are the same.

 

[rlynge]

12.25 brix is not 1.079. 12.25 is around 1.050-1.053

If you are using software to convert brix, make sure you have it set on "unfermented wort"

SG of 1.079 of unfermented wort is closer to 19 brix

The good news is you should be fine. I don't know how much water you added to dilute but if you still boiled down to 5 gallons it should be okay.

The reason I say this is because if your reading of 1.079 was wrong and you actually had 1.041 in 6.5 gal that would be 266 gravity points. Diluting that to say 7.5 gallons just spreads your gravity points out amongst more water. Your SG changes to 1.035 but your gravity points stay at 266. Now you boil down to 5 gallons and you get the 1.053 you were looking for. (make sense?)

What I'm saying is..when you boil, you are evaporating the water not the sugar. So adding water, you increase the volume and lower the SG. If you boiled down to 5.5 gallons, the results are the same.

Fuuuuuccckk!!!!! ****! I am a dumb mother****er. I spent so much time planning this brew and I didn't even realize I had the setting wrong on my calculator. With that said, and the correct setting found...the wort that I put into the fermenter was only 1029.....it is only going to be like 3% abv.

With that said....since my pre-boil gravity was 1048 and volume was 6.5 gallons....can anyone tell my what my mash efficiency actually was. Thanks.

****!

 

[rlynge]

Also....any suggestions on how to fix the problem or should I enjoy my amber near beer?

 

[eltorrente]

....With that said, and the correct setting found...the wort that I put into the fermenter was only 1029.....it is only going to be like 3% abv.

With that said....since my pre-boil gravity was 1048 and volume was 6.5 gallons....can anyone tell my what my mash efficiency actually was. Thanks.

****!

Wait a second.. If your pre-boil gravity was 1.048, than your gravity going into the fermenter would be higher, not lower (1.029).

 

[DannPM]

just roll with it, it'll be a good session beer.

 

[rlynge]

Wait a second.. If your pre-boil gravity was 1.048, than your gravity going into the fermenter would be higher, not lower (1.029).

It was a 1079 (wrong reading) but in reality it was really at 1048...but I thought it was 1079 so I diluted it quite a bit to get it to 1041(wrong reading). Hard to explain...you have to read the whole thread!

 

[rlynge]

just roll with it, it'll be a good session beer.

You think so? I was thinking about re-brewing it on Friday if I had time to.

 

[jetmac]

After diluting, if you boiled it down to the 5.xx gallons you wanted, the gravity should be okay. Now if you had added water after you put it in the fermenter that would change the Specific Gravity. I know you checked it and it was 1.048, but maybe the last time, you calculated correctly. Either way, it will be beer, just maybe not the ABV you were after.

Don't feel bad. My first batch, I did some adjusting to the water profile. I accidently set the scale I was using for salts, to ounces instead of grams. So for every 1 gram I wanted I actually added 28 grams. Needless to say, the yeast didn't survive the salty brew.

 

[HomebrewMTB]

That was exactly my point. It should have worked out if you ended up with the correct volume. At this point, I'm not sure what you did or even if you know what you did. But whatever it is, it is. Live and learn.

What to now is carefully review your notes, plan out the changes to your process, and re-brew it on Friday. You should be aware of the numbers you can expect, and know what's completely out of range (e.g. 10% or 150% efficiency). This seems to be the case of what happened last time.

Take special note of the volumes, how you will be measure your runnings, as well as the hopefully correct conversions on your refractometer. You should plan out what you're going to do if you end up above your target as well as if you come out low on side. For example, if you come out high, you can bump up the hops and brew more volume or just end up with a stronger brew at the original volume. If you can come up on the low side, you can add DME, lower your volume (adjusting hops) or again just roll with it. Anyway you slice it, stuff happens and the more you are prepared for it the better off you'll be. And when it happens, don't do anything drastic. It will be fine. RDWAHAHB

 

[rlynge]

True...thanks for the word!