DancingBull
Active Member
Hello,
I've been all grain brewing since February and the last two batches I have been .0010 off (low) on my OG. (1.050 vs. 1.060 for example)
Note: Two things different from my previous brews, I am increasing the final volume from 10 gallons to 13 gallons (I increased the grain bill size) and I have begun folding the mash during sparging, more on that later.
Here is the latest recipe: (13 gallons final volume, 14 gallon pre-boil) Porter, supposed to have an OG between 1.062 and 1.059
Grain (crushed at the brew store for me)
16 lbs Rahr 2 Row
4.5 lbs Weyerman Rye Malt
4.5 lbs German Dark Munich Malt
2.5 lbs English Medium Crystal
1.5 lb English Black Malt
(29 pounds total)
Hops
1 oz Nugget hops 60 min.
2 oz US Fuggle 30 min
3 oz Cascade 5 min
We mash at 153 degrees F for an hour, using 7.5 gallons of water (1 quart per pound of grain), mashout at 170 degrees F (about a gallon of water) for 10 minutes and then circulate the wort with 2 small sauce pans for about 15 minutes. Finally the iodine test shows we have fully converted.
While the mash was resting, I heated 14 gallons (2 quarts per pound of grain) to 180 degrees F and after mashout transfer this between 2 10 gallon Igloo coolers,, lids on them after transferring. (I heat to 180 as i anticipate heat loss during the transfer to my igloo coolers.)
Next I fly sparge using the Northern Brewer Siphon Sprayer and sparging takes me about an hour to get my volume of 14 gallons pre-boil. While i am sparging, I am keeping the sprayer about 2-3 inches above the grain bed, and my brew partner gently folds the grain. I notice as the wort is coming out of the mash tun into my brew kettle, the color changes from darker, to lighter, and back to darker.
Something else to note is once we hit our 14 gallons of pre-boil, we continue to sparge and still come up with another 2 gallons of wort collected in another bucket, it's pretty consistent colorwise with the 14 gallons. I haven't taken a gravity reading on the pre-boil wort, FYI.
Finally we boil for an hour, add hops accordingly, and we still ended up with an OG of 1.050.
Any advice or thoughts on what might be the issue?
Thanks for reading.
I've been all grain brewing since February and the last two batches I have been .0010 off (low) on my OG. (1.050 vs. 1.060 for example)
Note: Two things different from my previous brews, I am increasing the final volume from 10 gallons to 13 gallons (I increased the grain bill size) and I have begun folding the mash during sparging, more on that later.
Here is the latest recipe: (13 gallons final volume, 14 gallon pre-boil) Porter, supposed to have an OG between 1.062 and 1.059
Grain (crushed at the brew store for me)
16 lbs Rahr 2 Row
4.5 lbs Weyerman Rye Malt
4.5 lbs German Dark Munich Malt
2.5 lbs English Medium Crystal
1.5 lb English Black Malt
(29 pounds total)
Hops
1 oz Nugget hops 60 min.
2 oz US Fuggle 30 min
3 oz Cascade 5 min
We mash at 153 degrees F for an hour, using 7.5 gallons of water (1 quart per pound of grain), mashout at 170 degrees F (about a gallon of water) for 10 minutes and then circulate the wort with 2 small sauce pans for about 15 minutes. Finally the iodine test shows we have fully converted.
While the mash was resting, I heated 14 gallons (2 quarts per pound of grain) to 180 degrees F and after mashout transfer this between 2 10 gallon Igloo coolers,, lids on them after transferring. (I heat to 180 as i anticipate heat loss during the transfer to my igloo coolers.)
Next I fly sparge using the Northern Brewer Siphon Sprayer and sparging takes me about an hour to get my volume of 14 gallons pre-boil. While i am sparging, I am keeping the sprayer about 2-3 inches above the grain bed, and my brew partner gently folds the grain. I notice as the wort is coming out of the mash tun into my brew kettle, the color changes from darker, to lighter, and back to darker.
Something else to note is once we hit our 14 gallons of pre-boil, we continue to sparge and still come up with another 2 gallons of wort collected in another bucket, it's pretty consistent colorwise with the 14 gallons. I haven't taken a gravity reading on the pre-boil wort, FYI.
Finally we boil for an hour, add hops accordingly, and we still ended up with an OG of 1.050.
Any advice or thoughts on what might be the issue?
Thanks for reading.