Low gravity of wort. Ways to increase?

[aldricmeints]

Hello all,
Was attempting a 1 gallon biab weizen style "honey" wheat.
Recipe as follows.
1lb crushed pils malt.
1lb wheat malt.
.10 lb crushed gambrinus honey malt.
.2 ounces hallertau hop pellets
Danstar munich yeast.
2 gallons strike water. (Spring water)

Mash at 153F for 60 mins.
Squeeze bag mash out 170F.
.2 Hallertau at 60 mins.
Boil for 60.

Cool wort to 70F. Siphoned to 1 gallon glass fermenter. Also siphoned to hydrometer beaker and got a reading of 1.028. Seems quite low. Mistakes?
Anyways, I pitched the yeast (half packet) after activating it for 15 mins at 80F in sanitized (pre boiled) water.

If I am correct this will turn out to be quite low ABV. Is there anyway to keep it styled like a weizen but up the alchohol content.
Maybe rack to a secondary and add honey or sugar?

Thanks for any guidance,
Aldric

 

[noggins]

Corn sugar? ..Honey!! ....Vodka?

What was your strike temp? What'd you mash in? Did you maintain 153 the whole hour? I'd say one of 3 things happened...either:
1) Terrible efficiency
2) Grain measurements off or
3) Misread hydrometer?

I've never had much luck with 1 gallon brews myself, I always miss something because if I mess up it's just a gallon...

 

[njpatg]

I keep dry malt extract around and in the event i am short on my gravity use the dme to bump it up to spec

 

[eadavis80]

You could add some honey in there now and it should up it some. 1 pound will up the ABV of a 5-gallon batch about 1%, so adjust for your 1-gallon brew. It will dry out the beer some, but honey wheat is always good. In fact, I have a 5-gallon honey wheat going now.

 

[aldricmeints]

The mash only lost a degree or so. My strike temp was 160F. I then moved my kettle off the burner and in to an oven that had been heated to 170F. I turn the oven off as soon as I put the mash in.

 

[noggins]

So you mashed with 2 gallons and boiled down to 1 gallon exactly?

 

[chickypad]

Yeah that's pretty bad efficiency, even if your final volume was a little over target. How did you crush the grain? Was the bag big and loose so that the grain was free in the water and did you stir it up really well?

 

[aldricmeints]

I ended up with over 1/4 of a gallon that I did not siphon into the fermentor. Pre crushed grain from nothern brewer.

 

[aldricmeints]

The muslin bag was pretty full/tight. I did stir and squeeze.

 

[pdxal]

How long did you mash?
How sure are you about your temperature readings?
Did you crush the wheat malt? Your post says crushed pilsner and honey malt, but not for the wheat malt.
Did you measure gravity at 70 and correct, or could it have been warmer?
Works out to just under 55% efficiency, which is crummy. I'd also look at the crush, which can seriously effect efficiency.

 

[chickypad]

Even with the 1/4 gal over I think that's still under 40% efficiency. You may want to get a 5 gal paint strainer bag and use that for your mash, if the grains were tight in the bag that might be the problem. Here's a pick of one of my small mashes. Also just checking, that was wheat malt and it was crushed too, right? Not flaked or unmalted wheat? (in which case you could have had a problem with diastatic power with only about 37% base malt).

 

[aldricmeints]

All was crushed. I had a small boil over. Probably contributed to inefficiency

 

[noggins]

I ended up with over 1/4 of a gallon that I did not siphon into the fermentor. Pre crushed grain from nothern brewer.

All was crushed. I had a small boil over. Probably contributed to inefficiency

mystery solved

Throw some honey into your primary and pay more attention next time. RDWHAHB!!

Welcome to HBT!

 

[MadHomebrewer]

I use a 5 gallon paint strainer bag for one gallon biab. Give the grain some room. I have a second pot of sparge water mashing out at 170 for ten min stirring. Hit my target gravity last time. My previous was pretty low without these steps. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1438018980.070624.jpg