HELP with all grain brewing!

[invmgmt]

Ok I bet your mash was just fine. Did you get an original gravity before pitching the yeast? At about what temp? And an approximate quantity of wort transferred to the fermentor?

The post boil gravity was 1.043, temp about 75, just under 5 gallons into the fermenter

 

[40watt]

Right. If anything goes wrong with your fly sparge, batch sparging ends up being far more efficient. I didn't want to worry about channeling so I went with batch sparging. I get 80%. I don't need to be any more efficient than that.

 

[invmgmt]

A couple of things I picked up on:

1. The original gravity specified in the recipe always refers to the post-boil gravity at roughly room temperature. Your gravity was still low, but not as bad as you made it out to be.

2. 45 isn't terribly long for a mash conversion. Most recipes call for 60 - 90 minutes including a mash-out period. This could result in incomplete conversion.

3. I've only done fly sparging a handful of times, so I am certainly no expert. That being said. I feel like 30 minutes for fly sparging is awfully fast. If your grain bed is not properly set you could end up with some channeling. This means the sparge water is running down the same path through the grain bed rather than filtering through the grain bed uniformly. This could result in a large volume of unrinsed grains, leaving precious sugars behind.

I hope this helps! You may want to switch to batch sparging, as it's easier, faster, and the drop in efficiency really isn't much at all. I consistently get 75% efficiency batch sparging with a 60 mash. Best of luck.

I should have let it sit longer in the mash but the iodine test seemed to imply it was done. I will let it sit longer

As for the fly sparge taking 30 minutes, it was quite slow at the start, and I was surprised that it was done with 5 gallons in that 30 minutes. I will try to slow it down. I did make sure that there was always some water on top and the rotating arm should prevent channeling.

How do I calculate efficiency? What little there is...

 

[eric19312]

http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-5.html


You did not specify your grain bill. Worst case 9 pounds 2-row....if your 9 pounds included anything else you would have fewer fermentable sugars and your efficiency would be a bit higher than calculated below 2-row contributes 37 points per pound....
37 x 9 lbs = 333 points
You ended up with a bit less than 5 gal in the fermentor, lets call it 5 gal even at end of boil.
333 / 5gal = 66.6. Meaning with 100% efficiency you would get 1.067 beer.

Assuming your hydrometer is calibrated at 60F, your corrected SG was 1.045

45 / 67 = 67% efficiency

This seems to be on low side of normal but not a disaster. Especially for first AG batch. Now you have a number to work against. Next recipe plan for 70% efficiency for a beer, and estimate target SG. Say you target 1.050. Then see what you would get if efficiency hits 80% and 85% and even 65%.. If those all sound drinkable, brew a batch, take better notes on your gravity and volume measurements, recalculate efficiency, and use that number as your basis for next batch.

In reading posts I think most homebrewers do see so variability in their efficiencies some of that is a result of planned changes...I'm going no sparge this batch or going to try a decocotion mash, others are just uncontrolled variables... So I think it makes sense to think about target original gravity when designing a recipe, but to also then look at the expected OG at high and low ends of the possible efficiency range. Once you have a few batches brewed and recorded you will be able to tighten your range.

 

[invmgmt]

http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-5.html


You did not specify your grain bill. Worst case 9 pounds 2-row....if your 9 pounds included anything else you would have fewer fermentable sugars and your efficiency would be a bit higher than calculated below 2-row contributes 37 points per pound....

How do I look up points per pound? I used 8 lbs of 2-row, 1 lbs of Caraaroma, 1/2 lbs of Carafoam amd 1/2 lbs of Melanoiden...So, 10 lbs not 9

 

[csboehm]

I also looked at the link for your mash tun build and I saw that it uses a stainless braid. From what I understand, fly sparging with a stainless braid is generally not recommended as it does promote channeling.

 

[40watt]

OP has been out of the game for 17 years. Back then fly sparging was the way. Batch sparging with the braid works wonferfully.

Homebrew practices have evolved to better suit the homebrewer by dropping comercial practices like the secondary ferment and fly sparging.

Do some research on batch sparging, and I think you will be pleased.

 

[GrogNerd]

OP has been out of the game for 17 years. Back then fly sparging was the way. Batch sparging with the braid works wonferfully.

Homebrew practices have evolved to better suit the homebrewer by dropping comercial practices like the secondary ferment and fly sparging.

Do some research on batch sparging, and I think you will be pleased.

same situation as me, 18 years between brews

 

[invmgmt]

OP has been out of the game for 17 years. Back then fly sparging was the way. Batch sparging with the braid works wonferfully.

Homebrew practices have evolved to better suit the homebrewer by dropping comercial practices like the secondary ferment and fly sparging.

Do some research on batch sparging, and I think you will be pleased.

any recommended link to an article on Batch sparging?

 

[Jon73]

any recommended link to an article on Batch sparging?

I used to use 1.25 qts of water per pound of grain to mash, then I would batch sparge with the exact same volume. I've since purchased the Beersmith program and use those volumes, but the first method works just fine for getting your feet wet.

 

[Mr_Pear]

Gogogo Denny! http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

 

[sikkingj]

Sorry guys I am basically a newbie on this. I say basically a newbie instead of completely a newbie because I did make a couple brews AG about 17 years ago with my Phil's Lauter Tun. I am ready to get back into AG and I am building a setup with Rubbermaid coolers, which should retain the heat better than the old Phil's buckets.

Here is my challenge, I went to the LHBS to inquire about getting the grain for a batch and they looked at me like I was an idiot. This store has a bunch of employees that are quite condescending when you are not an "expert". They informed me that they could not even begin to give me any guidance since the know nothing about the efficiency of the system. How am I supposed to know the efficiency until I actually sparge?

I know that there is a bit of math involved in this process, but can someone get me a good starting point here that I can build from?

The important thing is that you brewed some beer. Most likely you took you hydrometer reading at a higher temperature. Some of the posts have been very informative, but I want to know how your brew turns out. I've had a few low efficiency brews that turned into easy drinking favorites.

The most important thing is that you are back after a 17 year sojourn.


-John

 

[csboehm]

any recommended link to an article on Batch sparging?

I'll make it real simple. After mash out, stir up the grain, then vorlauf until the runnings are clear. Then open up the spigot and drain the mash tun. Measure the liquid drained, calculate how much more wort you need to reach your goal pre-boil volume, then add that volume of water to the tun. The water should be at 170F (although this is debatable), and wait 10 minutes. Vorlauf again until the runnings are clear, then drain your mash tun once more. Voila! You have successfully batch sparged.

An easy way to measure your wort volume is to get a dowel rod from your local hardware store and saw notches in the rod to mark off each half-gallon. My brew pot was quite convenient in that every 0.75 inches of liquid was a half-gallon.

Good luck!

 

[eric19312]

Im also back after about a 20 year hiatus. Just planning batches 16 and 17 since my return so not that far ahead of OP really.

Have to say that batch sparge and forgoing secondary fermentation are really a big change from what I did before. I've been moving around my nice collection of 5 gallon glass carboys for 20 years and now that I am back into brewing I find they are just not all that useful anymore.

Now I am hearing a lot of discussion about no sparge. Wow what is the world coming to...

 

[GrogNerd]

Im also back after about a 20 year hiatus. Just planning batches 16 and 17 since my return so not that far ahead of OP really.

Have to say that batch sparge and forgoing secondary fermentation are really a big change from what I did before. I've been moving around my nice collection of 5 gallon glass carboys for 20 years and now that I am back into brewing I find they are just not all that useful anymore.

Now I am hearing a lot of discussion about no sparge. Wow what is the world coming to...

still need secondary if you're adding fruit or wood chips.

OR,... BETTER IDEA

start doing 3½ or 4 gallon batches, then POOF! your secondaries are now primaries so GET BREWIN'!

 

[eric19312]

I've got 6+ gal barleywine split between 2 of them right now. Needed to make more than I was going to be comfortable with in my bucket as this will secondary in 5 gal oak barrel. Need to make sure I have full 5 gal plus a few bottles for the angels share when I rack it over.