Brewed a blonde ale last Saturday for my father in law and missed the original gravity by 2 points. Was supposed to be 1.051 but came in at 1.031. Mashed in 3 gallons of water and 10 and a half pounds of grain at 155 for 60 minutes. Batch sparged 5 gallons at 180. Collected 6 gallons, boiled of almost a full gallon. Forgot to take a reading but I did so after I pitched the yeast. My first thought was the crush but after I missed my gravity the week before I double checked before I started this batch and it was fine. Hydrometer reads 1.000 with distilled water. What on earth could cause it to be that off? Bad grains? Taking the reading after pitching? In need of help.
Missed OG bad!
- Thread starter matt2334
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Mashing at 155 might be part of the problem. I do lighter beers at about 148 degrees. Mashing high is usually what you want to do for sweeter/maltier brews. I don't think it would make that much difference though. How long after pitching the yeast did you take the measurement? What volume was the recipe designed for and what did you end up with? If using software, what was the efficiency set for?
If all the above was OK, it leads back to a bad crush.
If all the above was OK, it leads back to a bad crush.
petrolSpice
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Poor grain crush?
That was my first thought. Bad crush. But the crush looked good. We hit the volumes. Called for 6 gallons pre boil, 5 gallons in the fermenter. We ended up with slightly more than 5 gallons. Took a reading right after I pitched and put the airlock in. I even set my brewhouse efficiency low at 68 percent.
Thermometer reading right temps?
I can think of a few things. First, mash temp of 155 isn't the likely culprit. Yes, it will make for a less fermentable wort and higher FG but shouldn't greatly affect the OG.
Crush is a big factor and the most likely culprit. Another issue could be your extraction during mash. It seems your strike water volume is pretty low if you're only getting one gallon of first runnings. You are likely leaving a lot of residual sugars behind in the mash. Try to set your volumes so that you get about half of your preboil volume in first runnings and the other half from the sparge. This should help to maximimize your extraction and efficiency.
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Crush is a big factor and the most likely culprit. Another issue could be your extraction during mash. It seems your strike water volume is pretty low if you're only getting one gallon of first runnings. You are likely leaving a lot of residual sugars behind in the mash. Try to set your volumes so that you get about half of your preboil volume in first runnings and the other half from the sparge. This should help to maximimize your extraction and efficiency.
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