First all grain for me...

[squeekybobo]

Took the plunge today... Brewed the Two Hearted clone from a recipe somewhere on a thread here that had good reviews. Everything seemed to go smoothly too, Mash temp stayed at a constant 150 for an hour, drained rained it to my kettle, then batch sparged according plan. The boil went well, narrowly avoided a boil over... The only thing I'm a little concerned about is the SG I took after transferring to the fermenter... About 70 degrees, before pitching yeast, and I read about 1.045. I may have read it wrong, but it was supposed to be around 1.06. It'll still make beer, I'm not worried about that, but if my read was accurate, it'll be a lot weaker than I had anticipated. Maybe 5% abv vs. 7%. I won't complain as long as it tastes good!

 

[periwinkle1239]

Great job. I've got about a dozen AG batches done myself. As far as the efficiency goes, there are a number of reasons as to why yours was poor. There's some stickies on here to help you that are worth checking out. Or if you post your procedure, people can chime in with advice as well. The more you brew, the better you'll get with your technique and the quality will get that much better. Of course things like yeast pitching rates and temp control during fermentation are still extremely important as well!

 

[squeekybobo]

Thanks. I wasn't going into it totally expecting it to be perfect my first go around, and I know with practice it'll get better .I'll be studying those efficiency stickies ;-). Like I said, it'll still make beer. I pitched the yeast about 5 hours ago, and there's already airlock/blowoff tube activity.

 

[firebirdude]

Sounds like you did pretty good. Bumping your temp up to ~155 might help a bit. And what was your sparge temp?

 

[joety]

Sounds like you did pretty good. Bumping your temp up to ~155 might help a bit. And what was your sparge temp?

That would dramatically change his beer. He should be able to get full conversion at 150. I agree on the sparge temp and I'd consider a mahout.

 

[SamHain]

I thought lower mash temps improved efficiency?

My next brew I was going to mash at 147 for an hour and spare at 170.

 

[kapbrew13]

I thought lower mash temps improved efficiency?

My next brew I was going to mash at 147 for an hour and spare at 170.

Becareful with too low mash temps. There are threads about beer tasting watered down because of lack of body in the beer. Which is caused by really low mash temps. You can increase efficiency by the crush and by the amount of water you add also.

 

[turkeyjerky214]

One of the biggest factors is the crush. Since it's your first all-grain, I'm assuming you don't have your own mill. Some homebrew shops notoriously have their mills set to a less fine crush.

Also your sparge temp. You want the resting temp to be high 160s (I always shoot for 168º). And remember, that's your resting temp, not the temp of the water you're adding.

 

[E-Mursed]

Get the AG process down first and then work on tuning your efficiency.

I had OG issues myself on my last brew and I am still having issues with getting my equipment straight in Beersmith. Like you said, the important thing is that we are both making beer.

If it makes you feel better, call it a "Virgin" Two Hearted Clone.

 

[Stauffbier]

Mash temps don't really have any affect on efficiency. Low mash temps give you more fermentable sugars and a drier, lighter bodied beer. High mash temps give you more unfermentable sugars and a sweeter, heavier bodied beer. Both types of sugar will contribute to specific gravity equally..

 

[squeekybobo]

I'm thinking I screwed up the sparge temps. I think I sparged Around 150 instead of the 168 I was supposed to sparge at... Doh! Oh... And besides this being my first all grain, it was my first 10 gallon batch...

 

[Stauffbier]

I'm thinking I screwed up the sparge temps. I think I sparged Around 150 instead of the 168 I was supposed to sparge at... Doh! Oh... And besides this being my first all grain, it was my first 10 gallon batch...

Sparge temps are debatable. Some people will tell you that it's best to bring the grain bed between 165F-170F, some will say it doesn't really matter if it's only 150F. Some say do a mash-out, and others say a mash-out is a waste of time. Some say single infusion batch sparge, yet others prefer double(or mutiple) infusion batch sparge. I've even heard about people sparging with room temp water. There are many different ways to do it, and people get good results from pretty much all of them.
I think, more importantly you need to make sure you get good conversion during the mash. A few things that determine that are grain crush, water volume, water pH, and time duration of the mash. In most cases the conversion takes place in less than 20 mins, and in other cases it can take longer than an hour. I've had to mash as long as 75-90 mins to get good conversion before, but on my last batch I checked at 25 mins and got possitive results. The best way to check for good conversion is by doing an iodine test (if you don't already do this..).

 

[squeekybobo]

Iodine test for sure next time... The mash tasted pretty sweet, but maybe not sweet enough!

 

[squeekybobo]

Update-- just racked to keg for dry hopping and had a FG of 1.004. By my calculations, it'll be 5.4% ABV. Smelled ok, tasted ok. A week of dry hopping and another of carbonation and I'll be able to tell if it's something worth drinking...

 

[turkeyjerky214]

1.004? Is your hydrometer calibrated? That seems really low. My IPA that finishes pretty dry ends up around 1.012.

1.004 is like cider dry.

 

[firebirdude]

1.004? Is your hydrometer calibrated? That seems really low. My IPA that finishes pretty dry ends up around 1.012.

1.004 is like cider dry.

Agreed.

 

[Benjambo]

I have a question about grain crushing. How fine should the grain be milled. My brew shop crushed mine for my first all grain but it seemed very coarse. Would the grain crushed finer yield more sugars to ferment? I have a coffee grinder at home but that seems like it would take a long time to grind 14lbs of grain. Any ideas?

 

[firebirdude]

I may be wrong, but I believe it's the finer the better....HOWEVER fine crushes tend to give drainage/stuck sparge issues. If I'm also correct, I believe someone on here did some unscientific tests regarding this exact question. The results show a very minimal increase in efficiency after a very basic crush.

In short, just make sure every grain gets cracked, and you're good.

EDIT: Funny. This topic was just posted today..
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/any-real-science-effect-crush-extract-yield-326573/
Basically backs up what I just said.

 

[squeekybobo]

It's entirely possible that my hydrometer isn't calibrated. I will have to calibrate it. There's another 5 gallons in primary right now that didn't get kegged yet. I'll calibrate the hydrometer prior to taking that reading... I bought 1.004 was pretty low, but wasn't too sure.

 

[squeekybobo]

It's entirely possible that my hydrometer isn't calibrated. I will have to calibrate it. There's another 5 gallons in primary right now that didn't get kegged yet. I'll calibrate the hydrometer prior to taking that reading... I bought 1.004 was pretty low, but wasn't too sure.

Thought, not bought. Stupid iPhone...

 

[tre9er]

The crush should have no uncracked grains (no whole grains that don't have endosperm exposed) but shouldn't be so fine as to have a lot of flour and tiny shredded pieces of husks.

My last brew I noticed some whole grains after crushing, possibly 5% of the grain. My MLT was pre-heating so I quick ran most of it back thru on a finer setting. Good thing too. Got my best efficiency yet and that was without re-running all of it back thru the mill.

I use a Corona style mill with SS Braid hose. Honestly I think you can use the Corona's on any type of manifold/braid so long as your holes aren't huge and you vorlauf adequately. Rice-hulls help, too.

 

[squeekybobo]

endosperm... Eww. If I wanted that in my beer, I'd go BMC... ;-)

 

[firebirdude]

Hydrometers should be tested using distilled water. Though I've still never seen a true 1.000. Usually ~1.002 area.

Which makes a 1.004 final gravity even more suspicious.

 

[squeekybobo]

I'm suspicious that both my OG and FG readings were off. I kegged 5 gallons of this on Saturday, dry hopping in the keg. After 3 pints, I'm not feeling like it's less than 6% abv...