Newbie, making one gallon all grain beer

[drsue]

I decided one gallon was the way to go as my husband makes 5 gallon batches (usually partial mashes) and I find it too difficult to manipulate the 5 gallon carboys by myself. Plus, if I find a great recipe, he can brew it in larger quantities and it allows me to experiment.

That being said, I've made two beer kits (IPAs) and today a hefe, following recipes found online. In all three cases, my extraction efficient is horrible! The first one was a waste (yeah, I drank it as a "session IPA" Tasted fine). The second one, with a low OG, I added DME at my husband's suggestion, and it came out good. This time, he suggested I check the specific gravity during the boil "just in case", and sure enough is was low (1.040). DME added again.

What am I doing wrong?!

 

[chickypad]

We need lots more info to help you out. What was your grainbill and volumes (mash water, sparge water if applicable, boil volume, final volume). What OG measurements did you take at what times. Did you calibrate everything like hydrometer, thermometer and did you take your OG measurement at room temp? What was your process - how did you mash, what temp and how long, etc. How was your crush? Did you manipulate your water at all?

 

[AkTom]

I would check your grain crush.

 

[RM-MN]

I decided one gallon was the way to go as my husband makes 5 gallon batches (usually partial mashes) and I find it too difficult to manipulate the 5 gallon carboys by myself. Plus, if I find a great recipe, he can brew it in larger quantities and it allows me to experiment.

That being said, I've made two beer kits (IPAs) and today a hefe, following recipes found online. In all three cases, my extraction efficient is horrible! The first one was a waste (yeah, I drank it as a "session IPA" Tasted fine). The second one, with a low OG, I added DME at my husband's suggestion, and it came out good. This time, he suggested I check the specific gravity during the boil "just in case", and sure enough is was low (1.040). DME added again.

What am I doing wrong?!

The most likely thing you are doing wrong is letting someone else control the crush of the grain. Poorly crushed grain never leaves you with a stuck mash or sparge but it also gets you poor conversion so your efficiency is way low. A Corona mill is cheap and lets you choose how finely you want your grain milled and used in conjunction with BIAB you can mill the grain extremely fine without a stuck mash or sparge. Be careful, my first experience with this was a beer that should have had an OG of 1.050 and mine ended up 1.070. Oh, the horror of having to drink a beer that was higher in alcohol than expected.

 

[mtnbrwr]

I found with my system the biggest things that effected my mash efficiency were grain crush and water to grist ratio. I go pretty fine with my grain crush and no less than 1.5 qts/lb.

Other information that would help us is knowing how you sparge. Do you fly sparge, batch sparge, no sparge? And what efficiency are you getting and what are you targeting?

 

[drsue]

When I said "newbie", I mean a REAL NEWbie!

I'll try and answer chickpads questions first but I suspect it is a crush issue.

I used 2.5# of grain (a mix of wheat and pilsner) that I bought "crushed" as I don't have a mill (yet). I used 2 quarts to mash (140 for 20". 150 for 40", and 160 for 30") I drained off the wort, and sparged with 1 gallon of 170 degree water (batch). No water manipulation. I took a sp gr while it was heating (hops had been added). It was hot, so from what I read, the sp gr was only going down. The OG at that time was 1.040 so I added 8 ounces of wheat DME.

The issue I have with all the sp gr testing when you are only making a gallon is it takes 150cc each time so if you keep checking frequently, you don't have much beer left.

I think I need to go back and read more.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[jschein]

Also get a refractometer, you only need a drop

 

[ba-brewer]

Jschein beat me to it, A refractometer is very useful for saving beer. Also handy for checking your conversion progress during the mash.

Small losses add up quick with small batches and will bring down your efficiency. Do you best to get all of the wort you can.

What are you using for a mashtun?

BIAB works very well for small batch brewing to help improve your efficiency.

 

[mtnbrwr]

What temperature was the liquid when you took your gravity readings? Also, it sounds like you took them before you boiled? If the liquid is hot then that will actually tell you a lower SG reading then what you actually have. Also, if you haven’t boiled or are boiling when you take a sample for your SG then throw it back in (as long as it gets boiled!) Just never throw a sample back in after your boil has completed!

And it may be just me, but I think your mash is a little thick and you may not be getting the full activity from your enzymes that you need.

You can ask you homebrew shop to double crush while you save up for a mill.

Also, +1 on the refractometer.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

The issue I have with all the sp gr testing when you are only making a gallon is it takes 150cc each time so if you keep checking frequently, you don't have much beer left.

An alternative approach for "small batch" brewing is to define the desired yield (say twelve bottles) and size the wort and fermenter (two gallon food grade bucket?) to account for the the beer / wort needed for hydrometer measurements, extra trub due to hoppy beers, etc. Also, anything with a wide mouth opening is much easier to clean than a carboy. I'm not opposed to refractometers - I have and use one. But it's also rewarding to get the desired outcome (a 12 pack) with almost every batch.

 

[AkTom]

I’m the black sheep in my family. Sanitizer your tube and hydrometer. Add it back to your carboy. I know, I know. The world will end, and 22 generations of your family will never be born. Salt. Take a pinch with everything you read. Sorry to offend the easily offended. ( not really ).
Cheers and here’s to many happy batches of beer

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I agree with the above posters that your mash is too thick. For a mash then sparge process a very minimum of a quart per pound is needed but 1.25 or 1.5 quarts per pound is better. I think you should try more mash water and less sparge water first and then if your efficiency is still low, go for the finer crush on a different batch. That way you’ll know how much each factor affects your efficiency, but I would still mash thinner. Also, it seems to me like your collected wort after sparging would be too low for a 1 hour boil. When I do 1 gallon batches, I start with 1.75 gallons collected and boil off about half a gallon, then I lose that last quart to hop trub left in my pot. That’s fine if you don’t do a one hour boil, but the step mash is IMO unnecessary. You will do fine with today’s grains mashing for an hour at 150 degrees.

 

[RM-MN]

When I said "newbie", I mean a REAL NEWbie!

I'll try and answer chickpads questions first but I suspect it is a crush issue.

I used 2.5# of grain (a mix of wheat and pilsner) that I bought "crushed" as I don't have a mill (yet). I used 2 quarts to mash (140 for 20". 150 for 40", and 160 for 30") I drained off the wort, and sparged with 1 gallon of 170 degree water (batch). No water manipulation. I took a sp gr while it was heating (hops had been added). It was hot, so from what I read, the sp gr was only going down. The OG at that time was 1.040 so I added 8 ounces of wheat DME.

The issue I have with all the sp gr testing when you are only making a gallon is it takes 150cc each time so if you keep checking frequently, you don't have much beer left.

I think I need to go back and read more.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

The highlighted is probably the problem area. Most mills are set and left at that setting which is OK for barley but wheat kernels are smaller and harder so without resetting the mill tighter they can pass through nearly whole. The wheat needs to be fully crushed to get the maximum conversion and the highest efficiency. Next on the list is the amount of water to grain. You need the mash to be loose enough to stir easily or you can end up with "doughballs" where a ball forms with wet grains on the outside but dry in the middle. I'd have reversed the two quantities and mashed with the gallon and sparged with 2 quarts.

 

[balrog]

What @RM-MN says about wheat. I use a cheap $20 corona mill, BIAB so I mill as small as possible, and when I do wheat beers the efficiency drops 5-10% over recipes done with all barley.

 

[drsue]

Thank you for all the suggestions! I'll report back on future progress with the next batches.

 

[drsue]

I used your suggestions with a new beer: "Re-milled" my grain in my food processor and mashed with 3 qt and sparged with 3 at. My book was a little too hard at the end because I got 2 1/2 at which I had to dilute. Bought a refractometer (which I love). OG prior to dilution was 1085 but a perfect 1050 after. No complaints here about efficiency!

Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

[El Nino]

I had problems with that at first. Now I double crush my grain, and I mash for 90m instead of 60. Brought my efficiency up from 55% to 75ish and have been doing it that way ever since.

 

[cactusgarrett]

Bought a refractometer (which I love). OG prior to dilution was 1085 but a perfect 1050 after.

Don't know if you've come across it yet, but make sure you're using a converter for the refractometer once fermentation has started. Hydrometers work fine in the presence of alcohol, but a correction is needed for refractometer readings. Something like this.

 

[drsue]

Thanks. I saw that and am looking forward to this batch!