TheHalfDime
Active Member
OK, so I am a bit of a newbie to partial mash and just made a MLT from a 2 gallon Rubbermaid cooler and took a shot at my first PM batch tonight. I took the precaution of padding my recepie a bit in the event that I had some issues and it was a good thing that I did. Currently, I am rehashing all the steps and notes to see where I went wrong. Here is the bill:
5lb Wheat LME
1.25lb Red Wheat
1.25lb German Pils Malt
0.5lb Cara Pils Malt
+ 1lb 2-Row German Pils (Pad)
OK, so I started with heating up 4qts of water to 170 to prime the MLT and let it stand for 5 min or so. I also have been reading that the ratio of strike water to grain should be between 1-1.5qts per lb, so it hit it in the middle.
Strike water was 165 and settled to 155 and held for at least 20 min. At the end of the 45min mash the temp was down to 145-147. I sparged with 4qts at 170, which really just pooled up on top of the grainbed and I just drained it out through the bulkhead.
I added this to 2.5 gal of hot water in the boil pot and brought to a boil and added the LME. I did have a little bit of a boil over at first, but I didnt think that it would have a huge effect. It may have been 4-5oz at most. (~3.5 gal in boil at this point).
Finished the hoping and cooled. Added water to reach 5.25 gal and pitched.
Just before I pitched I measured 1.0475 OG which is lower than what I expected. The guide from the LHBS showed a target of 1.05, but that was without a 1lb pad.
Theory:
Boil over coupled with too little sparge volume or should have started with a higher strike temp.
Any thoughts aimed at theory or practice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
5lb Wheat LME
1.25lb Red Wheat
1.25lb German Pils Malt
0.5lb Cara Pils Malt
+ 1lb 2-Row German Pils (Pad)
OK, so I started with heating up 4qts of water to 170 to prime the MLT and let it stand for 5 min or so. I also have been reading that the ratio of strike water to grain should be between 1-1.5qts per lb, so it hit it in the middle.
Strike water was 165 and settled to 155 and held for at least 20 min. At the end of the 45min mash the temp was down to 145-147. I sparged with 4qts at 170, which really just pooled up on top of the grainbed and I just drained it out through the bulkhead.
I added this to 2.5 gal of hot water in the boil pot and brought to a boil and added the LME. I did have a little bit of a boil over at first, but I didnt think that it would have a huge effect. It may have been 4-5oz at most. (~3.5 gal in boil at this point).
Finished the hoping and cooled. Added water to reach 5.25 gal and pitched.
Just before I pitched I measured 1.0475 OG which is lower than what I expected. The guide from the LHBS showed a target of 1.05, but that was without a 1lb pad.
Theory:
Boil over coupled with too little sparge volume or should have started with a higher strike temp.
Any thoughts aimed at theory or practice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks