First BiAB Attempt, missed the OG by a mile

[El Nino]

Here's the recipe I followed - https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/360082/deschutes-fresh-squeezed-ipa-clone

Everything I thought went well until I took the OG reading, and whoops, I got a 1.050 reading, which was way off than the target 1.069. The mash went well, but I think I miscalculated my boil-off. I was supposed to end up with 2.5 gallons, but ended up with 3. So I ended up with weaker beer, but more

Question though, when this happens, is the beer still good taste wise? That's what matters to me more, although getting a more bang for your buck buzz would be nice too. But with the first attempt at AG, the process went smooth and I'm already happy about that (no cursing this time around!)

 

[RM-MN]

The beer will still taste good but it might take a bit more to get buzzed.

If you ended up with 3 gallons and expected 2.5, you should still have gotten 1.057 for your OG. This tells me that your mash efficiency was low. Don't blame yourself unless you own the mill that milled the grain. The biggest factor in mash efficiency is the crush and you probably got a relatively poor crush so not all the starch became gelatinized and converted. You will do better next time. You can compensate a bit for a poor crush by mashing longer, perhaps 90 minutes or even more. Now that you know that you don't boil off as much as the recipe planned for, you can either start with less water or boil longer.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Question though, when this happens, is the beer still good taste wise?

It'll be fine - it's still stronger than most British beer! And don't worry too much about missing your target OG, it seems to be pretty normal that people get below-target efficiency on their first all-grain brew. Without working out in detail, the original assumes 70% brewhouse efficiency and it looks like your 3 gallons of 1.050 represents just under 60% efficiency. Which is about normal for a first time - your efficiency will improve over your next 2-3 brews just as you gain experience, regardless of your crush. It's just things like stirring in the malt more thoroughly so there's no clumps, squeezing the bag more firmly if you're BIABing, that kind of thing.

You will get better efficiency with a smaller crush, but that's a separate thing from just learning to do AG.

 

[youngdh]

Assuming you hit your end of mash SG, you did state you missed your end of boil volume on the high side. When that happens to me and/or my gravity at end of boil is well below my target gravity I just boil longer to bring gravity up. I do small 3G batches, so, if I’m at my end of boil volume and still have low SG it becomes a trade off of boil longer for target SG but have less beer or “let it ride” and have lower than planned ABV. If I’m doing an IPA of >50 IBUs I need to hit target gravities as a low ABV beer with high IBU will be overly bitter. If I hit my volumes into and out the boil and find I significantly undershot my SG it means my SG out of the mash was off. I monitor that too and will mash longer if needed to hit target SG. Missing mash SG is due to inefficient mash due to poor grain crush, mash pH being way off, and/or recipe grain bill miscalculation.

 

[Tarpon87]

Did you check the gravity after the mash but before the boil? I'm sure your beer will taste fine, just a lower abv, not always a bad thing. If you have your post mash gravity, you can figure out your mash efficiency, then you can either work on better mash efficiency (which with biab usually means a finer crush) or you can just roll with you efficiency and use that number to scale other recipes so that you will hit your target numbers. Adjust the grain bill to your efficiency, and the boil off rate to yours and you should hit your numbers pretty close.
Where did you get your ingredients from? Can you ask them for a finer or a double crush?

 

[Morrey]

First and foremost....welcome to the fun world of all grain BIAB brewing. The main focus is that you took this step to give BIAB a try, and you did a darn good job in the process!

IF you want your Original Gravity going into fermenter to hit the nail on the head, and you find your post boil volume is too high, you can always add in a spot of DME to bump up the gravity if you find yourself a bit low like you did. An alternate adjustment is to boil off some more of the water to lower your volume, then you'll find your gravity will go up a bit from that too. I prefer the additional boil off since it keeps your hop bitterness in balance as was designed in your recipe....or you can do a combination of both of these adjustment techniques.

A big tip: STIR your wort like you are mad at it before taking a reading. The layers of sugars in the kettle tend to stratify meaning they may not be mixed well. If the top of the kettle holds more watery wort, and you sample from that top layer, your reading may not be accurate as would be the case if stirred thoroughly.

Very few times does a first time all grain BIAB brewer hit the nail on the head since there are multiple variables to juggle as previous posts are suggesting. Keep plugging away since you'll learn from each brew day. Enjoy!

 

[auburntsts]

Also get some DME and if your OG comes in low, you can compensate by adding in the DME.

 

[Pappers_]

My experience is that when starting a new process or changing my process, it takes me a few batches to get it dialed in so that I can accurately predict my numbers. Sounds like you had less boil off than anticipated, next time adjust your pre boil volume to compensate. Using software like Beersmith helps with this dialing in process a lot, I've found.

 

[JKenshi]

I'm only a few batches into BIAB so relatively new at it myself. A lot of people will probably criticize my process, but I'll share it anyway. For a number of reasons, I really don't want to get into all the fiddly details and do all the math... I feel like it will raise my anxiety and ruin the magic for me.

I plan my recipe, decide about where I want to be at the end, then I get started. I do what I do and get what I get at the end. I keep some clean water and some DME on hand, so if I end up short on the OG, I add a little DME to get where I want to be (or corn sugar if I don't want to mess with the flavor). If my OG is high, I add a little water to bring it down a bit.

So far I haven't ruined any beers.

 

[El Nino]

Thanks for the advice guys

I got the grains for the LHBS, they have you crush the grains yourself. I asked the store owner about milling them twice if I'm doing BiAB and he said it shouldn't matter much. Next time I'll run em through 2 times, and try the 90 min mash.

Also my stirring might have been too gentle, I think I was concerned about vigorous stirring ripping the bag, which probably wouldn't happen haha. How often do you stir during the mash if at all? I took the cover off at 20 and 40 mins to give it a quick stir, but I don't know how much good that was doing.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

The important thing is to avoid lumps to start with - although you really need about 5 hands, I tip in a bit, then stir until there's no obvious lumps, then tip in more and so on.

 

[LittleRiver]

As others have mentioned, a good crush is key to efficiency in BIAB. When I got my own mill and set it to .025 my efficiency took a huge leap. So invest in your own grain mill as soon as you can.

The (free) Priceless calculator will give you water volumes and depths for various points of the process. On my long spoon I put a strip of masking tape and mark starting depth, post boil (hot) depth, and final (chilled) depth. The post boil (hot) depth is important, because it lets you see if you need to boil longer to hit your target volume.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

The important thing is to avoid lumps to start with - although you really need about 5 hands, I tip in a bit, then stir until there's no obvious lumps, then tip in more and so on.

I had major issues with the "mash paddle" that came with my original kit and trying to break up lumps. Someone here suggested a large whisk, so I got a 18" stainless steel whisk and dump the grain into the bag through the moving whisk. Haven't had lumps since then and efficiency rose nicely.

 

[El Nino]

I had major issues with the "mash paddle" that came with my original kit and trying to break up lumps. Someone here suggested a large whisk, so I got a 18" stainless steel whisk and dump the grain into the bag through the moving whisk. Haven't had lumps since then and efficiency rose nicely.

Nice I'll have to try that as well.

Thanks for all the tips, planning to brew again next Friday so I'll hope to be getting increased efficiency! Going to try the same recipe again, especially since I bought the hops for this recipe in bulk

Also I didn't know you had to give it a stir before measuring the OG, i was trying to do whatever I could to not disturb the wort, so I wouldn't be siphoning what should be trub. Perhaps that gave me a lower reading as well.

 

[El Nino]

Well today I was determined to get at least 70% efficiency, and... I got closer, but not quite. I took a journal of things, and here's what I did differently this time:

- Double crushed the grains
- Stirred as I was pouring (just dunked the bag last time with grains poured into it)

Last time I got a 1.050 reading, this time it was 1.060. Not quite there yet, but better. The wort tasted a lot sweeter than last time (yeah i taste the wort, idk if that's weird or anything lol)

To increase efficiency should I just finally break down and do a sparge? I was trying to avoid that since the whole thing about BiAB is getting the end result in less steps Though 1.060 will give me a more similar ABV to the actual fresh squeezed IPA than the actual recipe, granted my FV hits its target (6.3%)

 

[RM-MN]

Well today I was determined to get at least 70% efficiency, and... I got closer, but not quite. I took a journal of things, and here's what I did differently this time:

- Double crushed the grains
- Stirred as I was pouring (just dunked the bag last time with grains poured into it)

Last time I got a 1.050 reading, this time it was 1.060. Not quite there yet, but better. The wort tasted a lot sweeter than last time (yeah i taste the wort, idk if that's weird or anything lol)

To increase efficiency should I just finally break down and do a sparge? I was trying to avoid that since the whole thing about BiAB is getting the end result in less steps Though 1.060 will give me a more similar ABV to the actual fresh squeezed IPA than the actual recipe, granted my FV hits its target (6.3%)

Are you willing to put a little money and work into this? Get a Corona style mill, set it really tight. The biggest factor in efficiency is the milling of the grain. If you already own your own mill, set it tighter. Small grain particles will allow the starch to gelatinize quicker and more fully. That will also get you faster conversion.

A sparge will increase the efficiency farther yet but is another step in the process. That step can be small, just hang the bag of grains above your boil pot and pour water over it.

 

[daveMN]

Are you willing to put a little money and work into this? Get a Corona style mill, set it really tight. The biggest factor in efficiency is the milling of the grain. If you already own your own mill, set it tighter. Small grain particles will allow the starch to gelatinize quicker and more fully. That will also get you faster conversion.

A sparge will increase the efficiency farther yet but is another step in the process. That step can be small, just hang the bag of grains above your boil pot and pour water over it.

I think a double crush from the LHBS should be ok. I'd suggest checking your thermometer for calibration and look into testing your mash pH.

 

[RM-MN]

I think a double crush from the LHBS should be ok. I'd suggest checking your thermometer for calibration and look into testing your mash pH.

No, a mill with the gap set too wide will never equal a mill with the gap set correctly nor will a double crush equal a tight crush. When the grains can fit through without being well crushed a second trip through may not get enough of them crushed well enough.

 

[LittleRiver]

...To increase efficiency should I just finally break down and do a sparge? ...

Yes, or buy yourself a good grain mill.

When I got my mill my efficiency jumped into the 80's (no sparge).

 

[ullrotta]

Before you try anythingelse, you must sparge. It's practically free, and your results will sky-rocket. If you BIAB, just hoist the bag up a bit, and pour correctly heated water over it. You are so close! Just go for it!

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Lower expected OG is Better than higher than expected OG.
I jumped into the deep end of BIAB.
Got my own corona mill and took a few batches to dial it in.
When my OG's ended up 10 to 15 points higher you could taste it in the beer.
it's not a good taste.

I think you have to up the hops to balance things out or let it sit in room temp for a while to mellow.

But I learned to scale basemalt.

 

[El Nino]

Thanks guys, I'll try sparging first to see if that works. And I do plan to eventually get a grain mill.

 

[El Nino]

Well the results from Batch #1, it turned out ok but definitely doesn't taste like the beer I was aiming for. Flavor is close, but it lacks a bit of the 'fullness' tastes a little dry? Maybe it'll be better once it's carbonated. OG and FG is way off from what an IPA should be (OG: 1.050 FG: 1.006). Really was surprised that the FG hit that low. Attenuation is a bit high for Safale US-05 (packet says 70-80%, this one attenuated at 87.5%), which surprised me a little bit.

If anything it seems like it'll be decent beer that's a little stronger than I anticipated haha. I do hope the 2nd attempt comes out better. I'm guessing my FG might be more on point since the 2nd batch's fermentation isn't nearly as aggressive (1st one almost blew over, 2nd one is much more mellow). Assuming fermentation activity is an indicator of attenuation? That and instead of shooting for a mash temp of 150, I went for 152 on the 2nd attempt.

 

[stodds]

The wort tasted a lot sweeter than last time (yeah i taste the wort, idk if that's weird or anything lol)

Umm. . . Not tasting the wort would be weird.

 

[brew703]

I never sparge and my efficiency is regularly in the 80% range. I hoist the bag, let it drain and squeeze until i get my target preboil volume.

If you are brewing 2.5 gal how much strike water are you using?
Are you brewing 2.5 gal batches to get 2 gal to a fermenter?

On your next batch, take your pre-milled grain and run it through a food processor. That will give you a finer crush and should increase your efficiency.

 

[El Nino]

Hey guys, I feel a bit retarded now, I think more than a few of my readings might have been inaccurate lol. I just tried a hydro reading on my tap water, and it gave me .990, so some of my readings were thrown off by 10 points :O

No idea what caused it to get that far out of calibration? It's not broken or anything. Either way, using a refractometer from now on and will see if that changes anything. At least it's easier to calibrate

 

[stodds]

Hey guys, I feel a bit retarded now, I think more than a few of my readings might have been inaccurate lol. I just tried a hydro reading on my tap water, and it gave me .990, so some of my readings were thrown off by 10 points :O

No idea what caused it to get that far out of calibration? It's not broken or anything. Either way, using a refractometer from now on and will see if that changes anything. At least it's easier to calibrate

Sounds like a hydrometer calibrated for 160ish. My friend had one. Drove him nuts until I pointed out that it was a "mash temp" calibrated hydro. Look on the scale where you take the readings. Some where on there it should state to what temp it is calibrated.

 

[stodds]

Did you ever check the temperature to which you hydrometer was calibrated?