How does this read?

[beerenstein]

How does this hydrometer scale read? It doesn't seem to have a great scale , really. .. do I have the wrong kind?

 

[chickypad]

The first pic is the scale you read for beer. Each line is .002. The angle isn't great but it looks like you're sitting around 1.012.

 

[beerenstein]

Thanks. Also, strike temp- around 170f should be ok, right? I know it's been discussed over and over on here, but I'll be mashing in a minute... or was it 170 for strike temp and 160 for mash temp?

 

[alane1]

niether, you want the strike water to be around 165 to mash at 152

 

[beerenstein]

Thanks. I'll keep yall updated if yall want. Seems you guys like updates.

 

[MindenMan]

If you mash @ 160, you will potentially have a very thin beer. I believe you are referring to the temperature of the mash water before adding grain to it, shooting for 152-154*F after stirring in the grain. Sparging @ 170 to stop grain conversion, may have been the other thing you were discussing. If you need any more help, we are here for you.

 

[beerenstein]

Ok, I'll be shooting for 152-154.

 

[beerenstein]

After stirring , temp was 140. Should I boil a half gallon and pour in? There's room for it in the recipe...

 

[beerenstein]

I boiled 1 gallon and added it. It only raised the temp by 2 degrees. .. so I'm mashing at 142*f

 

[beerenstein]

Is mashing at 142*f going to be ok? Or is there a way to heat it up easily ?

 

[monkeyman1000]

are you doing this on a stove top? or a burner or are you mashing in a cooler or something?

 

[beerenstein]

I am using a propane burner outside, but mashing in a cooler.

 

[monkeyman1000]

I may not be much help here since I mash on the stove in my brew pot so I can always add heat if I need to. I suppose you could treat it like a decoction mash of sorts by taking out some of your wort and heating it up and adding that back to your mash. If it has already been sitting in the mash tun for awhile already conversion might already have happened. Worst case scenario is your beer would be a bit thin (I think). I had a mash that I didn't watch close enough and the temp dropped to 138 by the end of the mash. I remember it being very thin bodied. Sorry I can't be of more help. Next time you will know you need to heat your strike water to a higher temp.

 

[beerenstein]

Yes. There's always next time. ..it's been in there for 30 minutes now . Thanks for replying though. I don't mind a dry beer at all, actually. I like for it to have alcohol in it though, lol.

 

[beerenstein]

I realize now that my strike water should have been 170 so that it would have been bout 150ish for mashing.

 

[beerenstein]

Here is my hydrometer in some wort I pulled off the spigot. Also, thermometer reads around 125*f. Should I give up and throw it all out?

 

[beerenstein]

Sorry, here's the pic.

 

[beerenstein]

I got tired of sitting around worrying, and re-kettled and got it back up to mash temp. I'm going to let it mash an extra 30 minutes. Next time I will start everything in the kettle.

 

[rodwha]

My strike water at ~165* will usually put me right about where I want (low-mid 150's).

Until you have this better figured out you could mash a bit thinner (~1 qt/lb) leaving you with the ability to add more hot water to bring the temp up. And if it's just fine where it's at you can just heat the water to the desired temp and add without changing the temp.

I prefer to mash at 1.5 qts/lb as I like to easily stir, and I feel that the greater my volume the greater thermal mass I'll have with less temp drop (my system is fairly poor as I generally lose 2-3* after 35 mins).

 

[beerenstein]

Thermal mass may be my problem also I'm mashing in a 72qt cooler, and it's only bout halfway filled up. I rigged up a secondary strainer you guys might like. Will post pic shortly.

 

[beerenstein]

Yep, duct tape... this should be interesting, lol.

 

[alane1]

I am using a propane burner outside, but mashing in a cooler.

Important detail there, you want to preheat your cooler or use water 10deg above strike temp and let it settle for 10-15 min and adjust as needed +/- to get a strike temp of 165

 

[beerenstein]

Important detail there, you want to preheat your cooler or use water 10deg above strike temp and let it settle for 10-15 min and adjust as needed +/- to get a strike temp of 165

Thanks for the information. I'll take notes for next time. I think I've avoided disaster for today so far though, lol.

 

[beerenstein]

Important detail there, you want to preheat your cooler or use water 10deg above strike temp and let it settle for 10-15 min and adjust as needed +/- to get a strike temp of 165

Thanks for the information. I'll take notes for next time. I think I've avoided disaster for today so far though, lol.

 

[beerenstein]

Well, I definitely extractd all of the sugars ... the grain bed isn't sweet at all...

 

[TipsySaint]

also your hydrometer is calibrated for around 70 degrees F. It needs to be read when the wort is at that temp. It makes a pretty big difference.

 

[beerenstein]

Aah, I see. Well I just took a sample and stuck it in the fridge. Maybe that'll help.

 

[beerenstein]

So, I ended up with 7.5gallons instead of the 5-6 gallons the recipe called for. Should I cook it down to 6 gallons, or just brew it normally?

 

[TipsySaint]

If you get more beer it will be less boozy, as you haven't concentrated the sugars as much. the problem here is hops.... are they in bad? Can you take them out? If so then yes take the hops out and boil it down more. If no, then just deal with what you have....because the the extra boil time will make your beer super bitter because the hops will be boiled for longer....

The reward for making good beer is drinking good beer. The punishment for making bad beer is drinking bad beer.

 

[beerenstein]

I have not added my hops yet. I'll just boil it all down, then.

 

[TipsySaint]

you need to add hops at the correct intervals to get the correct bitterness, so ya boil again and add your hops to boil....before you brew again figure out your boil off rate....as in how many gallons per hour do you send packing to the skies....this will help you know your sparge volumes....Like I make 5.5 gal batches and have a boil off rate of 2 gallons per hour so I need to have 7.5 gallons in my pot pre boil...

 

[beerenstein]

Yea, it was definitely a learning experience for me. I boiled it all down and finished the recipe off nicely. Here is my first AG beer happily fermenting away.

 

[beerenstein]

How would this read ? 1.04ish OG? It's at the orange spot on the scale at the 40 line...

 

[chickypad]

If when reading it level it's at that 40 line then yes, it's 1.040.

 

[TipsySaint]

so you ended up adding your hops during your boil right?

 

[beerenstein]

Yeah, I boiled it down to 6.5gallons, then added my first hops, 2nd addition 30 minutes later , and last fuggles 55 minutes in. Ended boil at 60 minutes.