ParanoidAndroid
Well-Known Member
So Im getting pretty tired of making shi**y beer. Of the 15-20 batches Ive made, only one is something that I could be proud of. Another one was good, but I tried to replicate it and failed. The first ones were Extract, then I did one MiniMash, and then I did my first all grain last week.
I brewed Lil Sparkys Nut Brown for my first AG batch. I hit the OG of 1.054, hit my preboil volume (6.25 gallons) and post boil volume (5.5 gallons). My boiloff rate is about .75 gallons per hour. So everything looked to be dead on. Before transferring to the secondary, I tasted a sample. It had the same off taste that my other batches had, and also had a terrible mouth puckering astringent taste. The only thing that has been common in all the brews is the water. I use publix brand spring water which has been ozonated, micron filtered, and UV light treated.
At this point im basically pouring money down the drain and am considering just going to one of the local breweries and paying one of the brewers a substantial amount of money to just come over my house and watch me brew. That could end up being cheaper at this rate.
Here are some things that I am wondering if it caused it:
1. The water as mentioned earlier. Its the only constant ingredient bw all batches.
2. My mash temp was hit at 152 as opposed to 154. By the end of the one hour mash, it had dropped to 147.
3. My wort collected was about 5.9 gallons. While that amount was trying to get to a boil, I let the wort contnue to drip into the bottom of the mash tun. I connected a silicon hose with a camlock to the output of the MT, i then created some suction on the end of the hose to get another half gallon (+/-) of wort. This brought my preboil volume to 6.25 gallons. Possible tannin extraction here?
4. My first runnings were always cloudy no many how many times I vorloufed. Some particulate was present no matter what. Does this matter or can I filter the wort preboil?
5. My 3.75 gallons of strike water (60 min) was 168, then leveled out to 152 when grains were added and stirred. My 4.25 gallons of sparge water (10 minutes) was 168 and leveled out to 158. Should my sparge be higher?
6. My strike water and grains were an oatmeal type consistency. Soaked grains with enough water to stir. My sparge was like a soup. Good amount of water in there with the grains. Too much sparge, too little strike? These were right on with the recipe.
7. The recipe called for 6.5 gallons preboil and we both had the same grain bill. Since I knew my boiloff was 0.75 gallons, and not the typical 1-1.25 gallons, I didnt adjust the grain weight any.
8. My ferm chamber had a kolsch in there (also sucks btw), sitting at 38, so it took awhile for the chamber to get up to mid 60's. So the carboy read about 58 deg f for a little while before hitting and staying at 64. Notty yeast.
Other notes:
-I thoroughly clean everything with OxiFree and sanitize with starsan. Oxi was in warm water in my fermenter for an hour, rinsed several times, then starsan left in for an hour....swirled several times.
-I dont know what the setting was on my LHBS grain milller. He just said it was an average setting.
-Single tier brewstand, 2 burners, one march pump. MT is keggle with 4 layers of reflectix. Top and bottoms also have 4 layers.
I seems like a couple things were a little off, but at the same time this should have caused my beer to be a little thin. Its just downright undrinkable.
Any help/comments/insults are greatly appreciated.
I brewed Lil Sparkys Nut Brown for my first AG batch. I hit the OG of 1.054, hit my preboil volume (6.25 gallons) and post boil volume (5.5 gallons). My boiloff rate is about .75 gallons per hour. So everything looked to be dead on. Before transferring to the secondary, I tasted a sample. It had the same off taste that my other batches had, and also had a terrible mouth puckering astringent taste. The only thing that has been common in all the brews is the water. I use publix brand spring water which has been ozonated, micron filtered, and UV light treated.
At this point im basically pouring money down the drain and am considering just going to one of the local breweries and paying one of the brewers a substantial amount of money to just come over my house and watch me brew. That could end up being cheaper at this rate.
Here are some things that I am wondering if it caused it:
1. The water as mentioned earlier. Its the only constant ingredient bw all batches.
2. My mash temp was hit at 152 as opposed to 154. By the end of the one hour mash, it had dropped to 147.
3. My wort collected was about 5.9 gallons. While that amount was trying to get to a boil, I let the wort contnue to drip into the bottom of the mash tun. I connected a silicon hose with a camlock to the output of the MT, i then created some suction on the end of the hose to get another half gallon (+/-) of wort. This brought my preboil volume to 6.25 gallons. Possible tannin extraction here?
4. My first runnings were always cloudy no many how many times I vorloufed. Some particulate was present no matter what. Does this matter or can I filter the wort preboil?
5. My 3.75 gallons of strike water (60 min) was 168, then leveled out to 152 when grains were added and stirred. My 4.25 gallons of sparge water (10 minutes) was 168 and leveled out to 158. Should my sparge be higher?
6. My strike water and grains were an oatmeal type consistency. Soaked grains with enough water to stir. My sparge was like a soup. Good amount of water in there with the grains. Too much sparge, too little strike? These were right on with the recipe.
7. The recipe called for 6.5 gallons preboil and we both had the same grain bill. Since I knew my boiloff was 0.75 gallons, and not the typical 1-1.25 gallons, I didnt adjust the grain weight any.
8. My ferm chamber had a kolsch in there (also sucks btw), sitting at 38, so it took awhile for the chamber to get up to mid 60's. So the carboy read about 58 deg f for a little while before hitting and staying at 64. Notty yeast.
Other notes:
-I thoroughly clean everything with OxiFree and sanitize with starsan. Oxi was in warm water in my fermenter for an hour, rinsed several times, then starsan left in for an hour....swirled several times.
-I dont know what the setting was on my LHBS grain milller. He just said it was an average setting.
-Single tier brewstand, 2 burners, one march pump. MT is keggle with 4 layers of reflectix. Top and bottoms also have 4 layers.
I seems like a couple things were a little off, but at the same time this should have caused my beer to be a little thin. Its just downright undrinkable.
Any help/comments/insults are greatly appreciated.