Ok so I may be a little west right now but!!!

[mackenziemicro]

So just finished my second all grain batch (bar the clean up) and yes I've had a few brews!! Great IPA and 70 shilling!! Anyway... Despite the happy feeling from the brews I'm a little concerned about my efficiency and boil off .... So it's an Amber ale and I'm guessing my crush was too course target OG from beer smith was 1.052 got 1.044... Mash water was 14.4 litrs and Sparge was 18.5 full boil (I hoped) yielded 15.75 litrs on 75 minute boil was aiming for 19 litrs that's a 5 gallon batch for our cousins over the pond!! I thought from my pre boil volume if be too high in volume so I boiled for 15 minutes before first Hop addition then proceeded with my normal 60 minute boil... But by Mal Calcs and yes I'm a bit west!!! But did I boil off 12 litres plus loss to hops etc!!! I'm brewing in SE Asia with high humidity... I should explain I boiled in two kettles split the first and second runnings and the hops... I know I've made beer just not the way I had hoped!! So next time I'm thinking ...stick to my calc volumes and only boil the 60 min and crush a bit finer??? Sorry for the grammatically errors I blame the ales!!!




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[estricklin]

Hey congrats on the 2nd all grain.

You will get your system dialed in, just keep playing with it!

 

[KepowOb]

You boiled down 3.25 litres more than expected (~3/4 gallon) and still missed your OG by quite a bit... Next time take a pre-boil gravity reading as well perhaps? It could be your crush, or your mashing process... More details would probably help.


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[IslandLizard]

I'm pretty sure your crush is way too coarse. Let them run it through twice or better yet adjust the mill. Look for pix what a good crush should look like, a little flour, no whole kernels, and no bits larger than around 1/16". Depending on your mash tun and methods you could go as fine as you dare.

Brewing in 2 kettles is fine. As a matter of fact, you could boil down your 3rd runnings (2nd sparge) longer to condense it more and add it later, keeping the total gravity up. Then again, energy may cost more than an extra pound of base malt.

 

[flars]

You could also adjust your specific gravity with a DME addition if you wish.