It's hard to RDWHAHB when ..

[agentEhrman]

Today, I used my home made chiller for the first time. It was also my first AG batch, my first full boil, and my first time whirlpooling.

To start things off, I have been having issues with efficiency with my partail mashes. Today was no different. I mashed in at 156, and very slowly dropped to 148 over the next 90 minutes. I had only planned on mashing for 60 minutes, but the water was still very cloudy and the wort was still tasting pretty starchy. At 90, it was looking only slightly better but it was time to get on with my brew day. I mashed out 168 for 20 minutes. I BIAB, so I squeezed the crap out of the bag and topped off to 6.5 gallons before bringing to a boil. Judging from the look and taste, I added 1# of DME to keep the beer from being terribly low ABV (so much for AG). I had a tiny boil over on the hop addion, but all went well from there to cooling. Using the new chiller was a walk in the park compared to the ice bath in the sink method. My thermo was giving me inconsistency so I stopped chilling at what I thought was about 73. When I removed the chiller, the outlet hose somehow knocked against the top edge of my kettle, and dropped a couple drops of dirty water into it. That is where I started to get worried. Next, I whirlpooled, and waited 20 minutes. I auto siphoned into my fermenter and found my temp to be about 60. I had been rehydrating my yeast at 80, and it was time to pitch it. This also worries me because I'm guessing it will shock the yeast?

Anyways, I pitched the yeast and now I'm hoping for the best. What do you think about the possible contamination from the chiller? Would you worry about pitching so cold, especially when I rehydrated at 80? I totally feel like this batch is ruined, mainly from the dirty water..

 

[agentEhrman]

I made my OG, taget 1.050, actual was 1.052. I'm glad I made the DME addition. Target OG was calculated with only 65% efficiency, so mine was pretty poor..

 

[iaefebs]

Several times during your brew day you needed to rdwhahb, It's not just an acronym it's a mantra. When things are not working out right you just need to step back, relax, and think your way through what you are doing. Enjoy the hobby.

 

[MrManifesto]

sounds like part of the problem may be having to do all that guesswork. pick up a hydrometer and you won't have to "judge by look and taste" at your OG (if you can tell that by look and taste you're a more talented man than me!)

 

[weirdboy]

60+ minutes and still starchy? Hmm you ought to be getting better conversion than that.
There are a couple things I would suggest:

1. Where and how are you taking your temperature measurements? How well are you stirring your mash before checking the temperature? It is common to get hot spots in the mash. If you are checking only in one spot, especially after not stirring very well, you could be reading way, way off on the thermometer.

2. Make sure you thermometer is both accurate and precise enough in that range that you need for mashing. i.e. 130-170 or so you want to be really sure the temps are accurate. I don't know what you're using, but IMO a good digital instant-read thermometer is worth its weight in gold for doing AG.

3. Again, due to the poor conversion, you ought to be checking your mash pH. You want it to be in the 5.2-5.6 range. You can get test strips for that range, or go high end and get a pH meter. Keep in mind if you get a meter, you will also need to buy a couple of different calibration solutions for it, in addition to a storage solution for the probe.

Finally, I would also recommend getting a ATC refractometer. They sell appropriate ones for brewing on ebay for around $20. It is extremely useful for taking preboil gravity measurements with just a few drops, so you don't have to wait for a hydrometer sample to cool. You get a mid-brew sanity check on how things are going, and it lets you make adjustments during the boil to hit your target gravity more easily.

 

[agentEhrman]

sounds like part of the problem may be having to do all that guesswork. pick up a hydrometer and you won't have to "judge by look and taste" at your OG (if you can tell that by look and taste you're a more talented man than me!)

I do have a hydro, that's how I know my OG. I was trying to judge conversion by look and taste because I don't have or know much about the iodine test..

 

[agentEhrman]

60+ minutes and still starchy? Hmm you ought to be getting better conversion than that.
There are a couple things I would suggest:

1. Where and how are you taking your temperature measurements? How well are you stirring your mash before checking the temperature? It is common to get hot spots in the mash. If you are checking only in one spot, especially after not stirring very well, you could be reading way, way off on the thermometer.

2. Make sure you thermometer is both accurate and precise enough in that range that you need for mashing. i.e. 130-170 or so you want to be really sure the temps are accurate. I don't know what you're using, but IMO a good digital instant-read thermometer is worth its weight in gold for doing AG.

3. Again, due to the poor conversion, you ought to be checking your mash pH. You want it to be in the 5.2-5.6 range. You can get test strips for that range, or go high end and get a pH meter. Keep in mind if you get a meter, you will also need to buy a couple of different calibration solutions for it, in addition to a storage solution for the probe.

Finally, I would also recommend getting a ATC refractometer. They sell appropriate ones for brewing on ebay for around $20. It is extremely useful for taking preboil gravity measurements with just a few drops, so you don't have to wait for a hydrometer sample to cool. You get a mid-brew sanity check on how things are going, and it lets you make adjustments during the boil to hit your target gravity more easily.

1. I am stirring a bit, and then I check throughout the pot occasionally. I guess I could maybe do a better job of both, but unless me themos are just that far out of whack...

2. I have a cheap digial probe, as well as a large metal meat thermo. They read about the same at mashing temps, so I thought that they must be accurate.

3. I used 5.2 PH stabalizer (sp?) right before mashing in. I did not test and actually have no clue, just used the stuff hoping it would solve the partial mash efficiency issues I've been having.

4. I do need to get one, I think I'm making one of those, as well as a lab thermo my next investments for brewing. Brewing has just been a non stop purchase since I started.

Thanks for the replies, so do you think the batch got infected for sure?

 

[JoyousRuction]

I do have a hydro, that's how I know my OG. I was trying to judge conversion by look and taste because I don't have or know much about the iodine test..

Iodine turns purple/black in the presence of starch, so the test is super simple - take a drop of liquid from the mash, put it on a white plate, add a drop of iodine. If you see people black flecks, you have starch (conversion if not done). Try it at the beginning of a mash to see what it looks like with starch, at the end the iodine should stay almost perfectly yellow orange.

You should be able to find iodine at any pharmacy.

 

[weirdboy]

3. I used 5.2 PH stabalizer (sp?) right before mashing in. I did not test and actually have no clue, just used the stuff hoping it would solve the partial mash efficiency issues I've been having.

I wouldn't use 5.2 stabilizer without knowing anything about your underlying water. I'm not necessarily saying it's a bad product, but it is certainly not a universal product. What you might try next time is starting with distilled or RO water and building up a water profile according to the guidelines in this primer. In the long term, it would be useful to at least do a little searching on your local water company's website and/or send a request to obtain your water quality report. Long term it is worthwhile to order a testing kit from Ward Labs, and send in water from your tap for a lab workup.



I wouldn't worry about infection. If you pitch a healthy amount of yeast, the yeast are going to be pretty good about making a hostile environment for the other nasties that can infect your beer. I most certainly would not just dump it out of hand because of a few drops of questionable water.

put it on a white plate

Any white surface is OK, but don't use paper or paper plates.

 

[mvcorliss]

If your conversion is really bad after even 90 minutes I think I might be looking at my grain crush. You are crushing your grain, right?

 

[prrriiide]

I do have a hydro, that's how I know my OG. I was trying to judge conversion by look and taste because I don't have or know much about the iodine test..

blackish-blueish-purpleish = mash longer
yellowish-brownish-orangeish = proceed to boil

 

[agentEhrman]

If your conversion is really bad after even 90 minutes I think I might be looking at my grain crush. You are crushing your grain, right?

Yes, I use a Victoria hand mill, I have it set to crush pretty well. Nice and small pieces, husks broke open/off, some powder but minimal. Does that sound about right?

 

[agentEhrman]

I wouldn't use 5.2 stabilizer without knowing anything about your underlying water. I'm not necessarily saying it's a bad product, but it is certainly not a universal product. What you might try next time is starting with distilled or RO water and building up a water profile according to the guidelines in this primer. In the long term, it would be useful to at least do a little searching on your local water company's website and/or send a request to obtain your water quality report. Long term it is worthwhile to order a testing kit from Ward Labs, and send in water from your tap for a lab workup.



I wouldn't worry about infection. If you pitch a healthy amount of yeast, the yeast are going to be pretty good about making a hostile environment for the other nasties that can infect your beer. I most certainly would not just dump it out of hand because of a few drops of questionable water.





Any white surface is OK, but don't use paper or paper plates.

I used 5.2 solely based on a recommendation from a brewer in my local home brew club. He makes great beer, and he told me to pick some up so I figured that I might as well.

The beer wort tasted pretty good when I took the hydro sample, I guess waiting a couple weeks and tasting again is about all I can do..