Piraat clone mistake..

[BitterBomz]

So i followed this recipe to the letter, here is the link:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/piraat-clone-48910/

Problem is I had a really low starting gravity - about 1.076. I believe it should have been much higher, around 1.104 and dried its way down to about 1.0244, leaving the expected 10.5% ABV.

Instead, I started at 1.076 and ended up at 1.008, which is wayyy too dry. Piraat is sweet, smooth, not very spicy at all. Mine came out super dry, hardly sweet, and very spicey.

So I mashed 18lbs of grain in 20 quarts of water for 90 minutes (per recipe), sparged with 3 gallons of water, bringing the pre-boil to 7.5 gallons total. Did a 60 minute boil. (this is where I think I screwed up).. I noticed the I had about 6 gallons left when the boil was done and after I chilled the wort.. I'm thinking I didn't evaporate enough water out from the boil, which is why my OG was so low. I'm thinking it needed to be more "concentrated", because I'm pretty sure the water is the only thing that leaves the pot when boiling. Not sure if boiling out an extra gallon would have sustained a 1.104 OG as opposed to 1.076..

How does this sound? Is this where I went wrong? I want to do this again but hopefully with better results next time.

Also, if you look at the recipe, it calls for WLP500. Is there something else I could use that wouldn't leave the batch as spicy? The recipe called for 1 oz of Brewer's Gold (5 AAU) but the brewstore stocked HopUnion Brewer's Gold, and their AAU was 9.9%! So the LHBS owner told me to use only 1/2 oz, which makes sense. Is the yeast making it spicy? Or the hops?

 

[deepcdan99]

What was your mash temp? Mashing really low can make a highly fermentable wort and cause it to dry out. Absolutely the boil loss will have an effect on the gravity. Everyones set up is different. I lose about 1 gallon per hour as a general rule so when calculating my pre boil volumn I want about 6.5 gallons to get down to 5.5 in my fermenter, minus some for trub loss, i usually end up ~5.25.

 

[deepcdan99]

Plugged that recipe into beertools an got an original gravity of 1.136 ending at 1.034. With an ABV of 13.75% ABV for a 5gal post boil volumn.

The Candi sugar could be what dried it out as well, I am not sure though I have never used it. You also wouldn't want to just boil it longer if you did not end up with the correct volumn. That would mess up your IBU's.

 

[deepcdan99]

Here is a pic

 

[deepcdan99]

Sorry too small cant see it

 

[BitterBomz]

What was your mash temp? Mashing really low can make a highly fermentable wort and cause it to dry out. Absolutely the boil loss will have an effect on the gravity. Everyones set up is different. I lose about 1 gallon per hour as a general rule so when calculating my pre boil volumn I want about 6.5 gallons to get down to 5.5 in my fermenter, minus some for trub loss, i usually end up ~5.25.

Mashed at exactly 152.4 for exactly 90 minutes. You say that your preboil volume is 6.5? I have never started with anything less than 7.5 gallons, being that I mash with so much grain, I tend to stay with my grist ratio. Technically, I should be using 9 gallons to sparge (1/2 gallon per pound of grains, 18 lbs of grain = 9 gallons sparge), but I can't conceive that idea. If you start off with 6.5 gallons preboil, then I take it that you don't do high gravity batches very often. I'm kinda confused...

 

[deepcdan99]

Preboil volumn is just the amount of wort in the kettle before the boil. Not to be mistaken for total water used. For instance, a 18lb grain bill, I would mash in with about 7.5 gallons, and collecting about 3.5 gallons, then I would sparge with the amount of water needed to bring me up to what my pre boil volumn should be. In my case, I would sparge with 3 gallons bringing my preboil volumn to a total of 6.5 gallons. Then after my hour boil, I would lose 1 gallon with my set up, ending with 5.5 gallons in my fermenter. Total water used ~10.5 gallons.

 

[BitterBomz]

Preboil volumn is just the amount of wort in the kettle before the boil. Not to be mistaken for total water used. For instance, a 18lb grain bill, I would mash in with about 7.5 gallons, and collecting about 3.5 gallons, then I would sparge with the amount of water needed to bring me up to what my pre boil volumn should be. In my case, I would sparge with 3 gallons bringing my preboil volumn to a total of 6.5 gallons. Then after my hour boil, I would lose 1 gallon with my set up, ending with 5.5 gallons in my fermenter. Total water used ~10.5 gallons.

That seems odd, but I'm still new not sure how you could mash 7.5 gallons and ONLY collect 3.5. Seems as your grain would be very retentive of water. But, if you use a false bottom then that kinda (sorta) makes sense. I have a circular mesh collection manifold on the floor of my tun. It collects a very good amount of runnings. I usually recirculate once, then sparge. But hey, to each is own.

Anyways I pretty much had it troubleshot from the start, I just wanted to double check for other possibilities.