First All Grain Brew - Issues

[SmokyPinesBrewing]

Good morning fellow brewers,

Upon attempting my first all grain recipe, I ran into a few issues.

Things I know I did poorly:
1. Malt Crush - First time crushing grain/using my mill
2. Sparge Speed/Amount - Way too fast of a fly sparge

Estimated Gravity Readings
OG 1.059
FG 1.012

Actual Gravity Readings
OG 1.047
FG 1.021

Fermentation took off great, gravity dropped to 1.024 after first couple days then stalled out. Raised temp back up since it dropped a decent amount and airlock activity stopped.
After temp was raised, activity continued and gravity went to 1.021 which it has been at for 3 days.

Is the lack of efficiency causation for the high FG reading?
Should I chalk it up, keg, carb and drink or is there still some saving I can do?

Any tips or suggestions would be helpful so I can improve my skills. Thank you in advance.


Recipe:
4 lb - Pilsner 1.8 °L (58%)
1 lb - No19 Floor Malted Maris Otter M...
10.2 oz - Oats, Flaked 1.3 °L (9.2%)
10.2 oz - Rye, Flaked 2 °L (9.2%)
10.2 oz - Wheat Flaked 1.7 °L (9.2%)

Hops (4 oz)
15 min - 0.6 oz - El Dorado - 13.4% (21 IBU)
0 min - 1.4 oz - El Dorado - 13.4%
Day 2 - 1 oz - Citra - 12%
Day 2 - 1 oz - El Dorado - 13.4%

Yeast - Lallemand (LalBrew) Voss Kveik -- Pitched dry @ 90F

Batch Size : 3 gal
Boil Size : 3.8 gal
Post-Boil Vol : 3.4 gal
Mash Water : 3.41 gal -- 152F for 60 min
Sparge Water : 1.53 gal -- 170F
Boil Time : 30 min

 

[DBhomebrew]

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[DBhomebrew]

Mash Water : 3.41 gal -- 152F for 60 min

Did you add 152F water to the grain? Or when all mixed up the water and grain all together was at 152F?

With what tool do you measure gravity? A refractometer? If so, did you use a calculator to arrive at FG?

 

[SmokyPinesBrewing]

Did you add 152F water to the grain? Or when all mixed up the water and grain all together was at 152F?

With what tool do you measure gravity? A refractometer? If so, did you use a calculator to arrive at FG?

Strike water was around 165F and after added to grain it was at 152F
Measured with refractometer and I did not know about the calculator nor to ignore SG readings and go only with brix.
Going to check on that calculation and reassess.

 

[SmokyPinesBrewing]

I don't have access to a hydrometer so I can say for certain what my wort correction factor would be, so I'll be generous and use 1.04.

Original Brix reading from a shaky picture that I have was around 11.8 Brix -- calculated to 1.046
Current reading is roughly 5.8 Brix -- calculated to 1.008 this would put me at an estimated ABV of 5%

Going to cold crash, keg, carb and get final impressions. Hopefully with the few changes and taking things slow and smooth, I can get closer to my expected numbers.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Measured with refractometer and I did not know about the calculator nor to ignore SG readings and go only with brix

Extremely common issue. Finishing 1.020-025 is the tell tale.

Enjoy what's going to be a great beer!

 

[kevin58]

" I did not know about the calculator nor to ignore SG readings and go only with brix. "

You do not need to ignore SG and go only with brix. What you need to know about using a refractometer is that by itself it is not useful for calculating FG because the alcohol present throws off the readings. That is why you need to run your FG numbers through a conversion/correction tool of some sort to get a more accurate FG.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Many refractometer calculators require Brix inputs. Calculators at BrewersFriend.com and NorthernBrewer.com come to mind.

Practically, I like to use Brix for all pre-calculator uses. That way all SGs in my notes are known to be corrected and calculated. Any Brix figure is known to need some processing.

 

[jerrylotto]

If your recipe is for 3 gal and your post boil volume was 3.4 gal, you OG will be more that10% too low.

 

[doug293cz]

If your recipe is for 3 gal and your post boil volume was 3.4 gal, you OG will be more that10% too low.

Depends on whether or not the 3 gal target was for post-boil or in-fermenter volume, and if the transfer losses (presumably 0.4 gal here) were properly included in the recipe calculator.

Brew on

 

[hotbeer]

After temp was raised, activity continued and gravity went to 1.021 which it has been at for 3 days.

Is the lack of efficiency causation for the high FG reading?
Should I chalk it up, keg, carb and drink or is there still some saving I can do?

Hitting FG isn't a sign to immediately bottle/keg your beer. And it might just be that your ferment stalled and hasn't gotten back to work yet even after three days.

I've got a beer in the fermenter now that hit FG over 5 days ago. However it's just now started to clear up and look... ah... dead for lack of a better word. So if I check again Friday or Saturday when I might bottle it and it's still at the 1.010 that it was on two other occasions, then I'll be bottling.

Time after ferment finishes frequently get rid of off tastes, or so I've read. And for certain, it doesn't fill my bottles with murky looking beer. Or require me to resort to cold crashing, gelatin or other means. Though if you wish to do that, I'm fine with that. I'm lazy!

 

[micraftbeer]

Plugging your refractometer into a calculator that takes into account alcohol presence in your FG reading shoes you hit 1.010 FG.

https://www.petedrinks.com/abv-calculator-refractometer-hydrometer/
So not a total disaster, just missed your OG which is common when starting all grain at first.