Mash is upstairs in the tun on my first AG brew day...

[tamoore]

... I missed my temp, and nothing I did to correct it worked. I'm going to have to work on that.

I had 3.5 gallons of strike water, 11lbs of grain at 62 degrees, air temp at 66 degrees, and the program gave me a target of 168 degrees for a mash of 154 degrees. I hit 169 in the kettle, just to make sure I had an extra degree to warm the tun up a bit before adding the grains.

I poured in the strike water, waited a minuted with the lid closed, added the grains, gave a good stir, put in the temp probe, and saw I was sitting at 152.

I had a boil going on a gallon of water to try to add some heat in case I came in to low, so I added about a quart, stirred it in, and I actually lost ground down to 151. I added two more quarts, and got it back up to 152, and decided that was good enough.

It's been about a half hour, and I've lost less than a half a degree. I'm going to have to figure this out for my next batch.

Is it ever advisable to strike over 170?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wellshooter]

You'll be alright, you missed the X ring but you didn't miss the target altogether. Score it about a 9. You'll be fine, and you learned something and will do better next time.

 

[gtpro]

1 degree is no big deal at all, I mashed my first grains at about 170

 

[Yambor44]

I use these calculators and so far they have been pretty much dead on for my system. Each system is different and the more you brew the more you learn how it "breaths". If my target was 154 and I hit 152 I would be happy with that. Great job I'd say!

 

[Yooper]

I have to preheat my cooler MLT with water in the high 170s to keep my temperatures steady. I preheat for about 15 minutes, then strike when the water in the cooler is 11 degrees hotter than my mash temperature. The cooler absorbs LOTS of heat!

 

[tamoore]

Thanks for the words so far. Appreciated.

Ok, I'm in the boil pot, about 10 minutes into a 70 minute boil, first hop addition made. I waited for my pre-boil sample to cool to 65 degrees, and took a hyrdometer reading;

I'm quite a bit off. Supposed to be 1.047, and I'm somewhere around 1.038.

I have about a half pound of ultra light DME here... Would you guys add some of this in an attempt to make up the difference, or just boil extra long to get rid of extra water?

Or, just RDWHAHB?

Thanks.

 

[KevinW]

Your pre-boil gravity will always be lower than post due to the loss of volume during the boil. As long as your water volumes were close to target than your post boil should be OK. I had a Nut Brown with a pre-boil(extraction) gravity at 1.050 that boiled out to 1.060.
I would not add anything.

 

[IceFisherChris]

I wouldn't add ANYTHING until you take a hydrometer reading AFTER your boil. Are you doing a 6 gallon boil?? During my boil, I started with 6 gallons of 1.051 and then after the boil I was left with 1.061, which is only a few points off of what I wanted.I

But then again, it won't hurt anything at all to add some more fermentables
Basically what I am saying is that don't start changing your plan of action because you have a hunch. Stick to your game plan. There really isn't much to beer that can't be fixed later on (not saying you're screwing up now, just sayin')

 

[fishkid]

Someone get this man a homebrew quick! You're worrying too much. Have fun, use your numbers after this batch to adjust the next. This will still turn out to be a great brew.

By the way, hows the weather up there? Lakes still frozen?

 

[tamoore]

Thanks. Yea, it is a six gallon boil. The thing that throws me is that it is that the software gives a pre boil gravity, and that's the number I'm missing by almost a full point - I assume I'll be missing the OG by about the same.

I just cleaned out my mash tun, and I noticed what could be the cause of the efficiency issue... Dang grain got under the manifold (while I was stirring, no doubt) and it was pushed up about an inch and a half off the bottom. I need to figure out how to keep that thing wedged in there better, or how to stir less.

 

[tamoore]

By the way, hows the weather up there? Lakes still frozen?

It's been nice, but it got a bit colder over the past couple of days....

Not sure about the lakes, to tell you the truth. I bet there's still some ice on them....

 

[Shooter]

Hey, I'm doing my first AG today as well. It's long overdue. I was off by about a degree and a half on the mash temp, but, no worries there. RDWHAHB! Here's to your beer!

 

[tamoore]

Hey, I'm doing my first AG today as well. It's long overdue. I was off by about a degree and a half on the mash temp, but, no worries there. RDWHAHB! Here's to your beer!

Congrats on your frist AG day! Man, I feel totally drained after my day...

 

[tamoore]

I ended up almost exactly .01 off from my targeted OG, but I think I understand why.

As was said earlier, even thought I made some mistakes, it'll still be beer, and I'll still be happy with it (the sample I tasted before I pitched the yeast was pretty damn tasty), and I've learned a lot for next time.

Thanks for the help!

 

[tamoore]

First signs of fermentation already... (3 hours from pitch).

Here are some photos of my day....

Starter on my new stir plate. Really nice product by Stir Starters....

It made me a nice little colony to pitch.

Strike water.

Adding grains.

Mixing it up.

Mash tun covered by two sleeping bags, reading 152 - missed it by two degrees.

Waiting for the clear up.

Vorlauf.

Sparge.

 

[tamoore]

Boil on!

Cleaning out the mash tun, this is what I saw... One end of the manifold (right side in picture) had grain under it, pushing it up about 1-1.5 inches. I bet that's where my efficency problem lies. Any ideas for keeping it down? Do I really need to stir up the grist so much near the bottom, or just near the top?

Another new toy; Oxygenation stone. I like this better than dumping between two buckets over and over.

O.G. Not what I was shooting for, but I'll take it, learn, and move on from here.

 

[Yambor44]

Looks great!!

 

[Shooter]

Looks really good!