first all grain / very low gravity

[stratslinger]

Volumes aside, Schol-R-Lea does have a good point - it is possible that arictaylor was confusing vorlaufing with sparging, and that may indeed explain that part of his original sparge. Depending on what instructions he was going by, I could see that mistake being made very easily.

 

[arictaylor]

Glynn, my efficieny in beersmith was at 72%. I adjusted it to 65, and it calculated init gravity of 1042. I then bumped up my grain 1lb, and got it back to 1049. So the recipe I am using could use a bit more next time!

stratslinger, I am using a self made mashtun made out of a cooler.

Do any of you have a picture of what you crushed grain looks like? I think this is where my last big problem is. At the stoor, as I was putting the grains through the mill, I was not happy with the results so I put everything through again. The end result is not what you describe (flour like). A picture would be awesome if one of you have handy.

So steps for next time - more grain, better crushed crain, and a lower mash temp.

Thanks again for all the input!

 

[jflongo]

It should not look like flour, but the grains should be cracked open.

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

Agreed. As I understand it, the ideal crush is one that has two properties: a) the hulls have been separated from the kernels intact (or nearly so), and b) the kernels are broken open just enough to expose a maximum amount of starch while producing a minimum amount of loose powder. The reason for A is because you will, in most cases, be relying on the hulls to to form the grain bed that you then filter the sugar solution through during vorlauf and sparging (this is less critical with BIAB, but still a factor). The reason for B is that you want to expose the starches in place to the enzymes, so that they go into solution as sugars rather than being suspended as starches (which can gum up the sparge, causing it to stick).

Does your cooler use a manifold, a braid, or a false bottom? Each of these approaches has advantages and disadvantages, and you'll need to take the type into consideration when running the sparge. Also, even with batch sparging, you want to run the sparge rather slowly, maybe a liter per minute, in order to reduce the compaction of the grain bed. You want to refill the tun equally slowly when you add the water for the second runnings, for the same reason, even if you are going to stir it before running off.

I personally do a fly sparge, using a grant and a 1qt. Pyrex measuring cup. I set the cooler spigot to flow into the grant at just below a quart per minute (about 0.9 L/min., I would say), and take turns filling the measuring cup from the HLT and carefully floating the water into the top of MLT, then filling the cup from the grant to add to the boiler. It's a slow and painstaking procedure, and I've made my mistakes with it in the past, but it does work fairly well for me.

 

[MattGuk]

This sounds like a silly question, but are u from the uk?
Something sounds off by I may have some information that may help a little if u are from the uk

 

[Ondori]

My question to you is, what kind of strainer are you using in tun? If you are using a braid, your style of sparging could be getting a lot of channeling. You would be better off doing a batch sparge if you don't have a false bottom or manifold.

 

[jCOSbrew]

If I punch your grain bill into a calculator like brewersfriend, you would need 90% brewhouse efficiency to hit your target SG which is not realistic. It looks like your actual efficiency was <50%

Your mash was also pretty thick, try 1.5 qt water per pound of grain and make sure you are holding temp for 60 minutes for good conversion.

 

[ajf]

This sounds like a silly question, but are u from the uk?
Something sounds off by I may have some information that may help a little if u are from the uk

I think you're right.

9 lbs grain with an average extract of 36 points per lb per US Gallon yields would give a gravity of 1.049 at an efficiency of 75% when making 5 US Gallons or 19 liters, but he stated 23 liters which is ~5 Imperial Gallons

arictaylor, you need to realize that the recipe is using US gallons which is only 0.8327 times the size of an imperial gallon.

-a.

 

[gibrigg]

I can confirm that sparging with your wort actually lowers the gravity of the wort. I lost .006 when I tried it. Not much, but significant.

 

[MattGuk]

I think you're right.

9 lbs grain with an average extract of 36 points per lb per US Gallon yields would give a gravity of 1.049 at an efficiency of 75% when making 5 US Gallons or 19 liters, but he stated 23 liters which is ~5 Imperial Gallons

arictaylor, you need to realize that the recipe is using US gallons which is only 0.8327 times the size of an imperial gallon.

-a.

+1
I was about to say the same thing.
I had this exact same problem, I brew 5 imperial gallon but all the calculators presume im working with 5 US gallons, which means my gravity is way off, just adjust your calculator to 6 gallons and your problem will most likely be solved.

 

[MattGuk]

I just punched your number into a calculator I use, upped yhe batch size to 6 US gallons, which is equivilant to 5 UK gallins and you should have an OG of 1.040-1 with a 75% efficiency.
however if I leave it at 5 US gallons it says 1.049-50.

 

[tonybaloni]

Don't forget that British Gallons are larger than American gallons also when using a recipe from this site.
One British Gallon is 1.2 American so use approx 4.2 gallons of water to an American 5 gallon recipe.
Looks like somebody beat me to it.

 

[ajf]

As a point of interest, your efficiency from the session mentioned in post 21 would be about 65% if the US to imperial gallons problem was sorted out.

That's a little bit low, but quite acceptable for starting out. I'm sure your efficiency will increase as you get more familiar with the process.

-a.