First all grain boiling...and first boil over out of the way...oops.
BrewPilot74 said:Congrats on the first all grain! Don't stress the boil-over, happens to me about half the time.
RM-MN said:I'll bet your boilover was when you were at hot break. If you have a spray bottle you can spray it and it will settle down. I just kill the heat for a few seconds and it drops back into the wort.
According to Brewsmith, I had an efficiency of 62.6%. Also ended with half a gallon less beer than expected.
Was mash temp too high if this was the efficiency? Not too concerned, as I didn't want this to be a really high ABV beer, and I hit 4.7% expected ABV, based on Beersmith. Just want to know if I should do something different in the future.
EDIT: related to the boil over? I did not lose 1/2 gallon in the over boil, though...but obviously some if that.
Thanks. I added sparge water to get to my expected pre-boil volume. Looking back at my notes, I noted that Beersmith only called for 0.7 gallons of boil off, which I thought was low...and then the boil over. So, that's the volume issue, I suppose. I guess I need to do more to get all the wort pulled out of my grains.
RM-MN said:If you sparged even a little and didn't get better efficiency than that, look hard at the crush. BIAB allows a very fine grind or crush. I have a Corona style mill and before I put any grains in the milling plates rub when I turn the crank. The grains come out looking like coarse cornmeal with ripped up husks. My efficiency runs from 80 to near 90% depending on how much I sparge to get my preboil.
RM-MN said:Many homebrew stores aren't very familiar with BIAB brewing and their mills are set so the typical brewer won't get a stuck sparge from grains being milled too fine. You can ask for double milled which will help or you can ask for the mill clearance to be set tighter (this may be refused) or spend about $30 for a cheap mill like I have and mill your grains when you want to brew.
Spinrathen said:I'm surprised you didn't lose the whole batch when you were cooling it. From the picture it looks like your tote is hanging over the edge a good ways and your kettle is sitting against that edge.
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