JetSmooth
Well-Known Member
I posted a more complete "narrative" of my first AG brew day on my blog. But I want some experienced eyes on the data I collected to help me figure out where I went wrong and improve.
I used BrewTarget to scale BM's Centenniel Blonde up to seven gallons and also swapped out the Cascade hops for Czech Saaz. Here's the export from BT.
Since I was shooting for a nearly eight gallon boil, and my target mash was 3.828Gal, I started with eight gallons of water. It heated it to 175°F and recirculated it to preheat the system. Once the thermometer on the kettle settled into 170°F. I pumped all but four gallons up into the MLT. I figure I got my strike volume correct based on what would have been in the hoses and pump. I checked the strike water until it hit 165°F and doughed in. I laid several layers of aluminum foil on top and stuck in a meat thermometer to monitor the temp. Not ideal, but that's what I had to work with this time. 15 minutes in, temp was 150°F, so I added a kettle of boiling water and it came back up to 155°F, which was my target according to BrewTarget. I just noticed BM's recipe calls for 105°F. I figure I was hovering between the two for the hour in average.
Toward the end of the mash, I brought the kettle up to around 170°F and begin slowly recirculating the system to "sparge". This was 15 minutes.
I collected 6.75 gallons in the kettle after draining the MLT. A cooled sample at 70°F read a gravity of 1.050. A loss of 1.25 gallons post-mash.
The boil proceeded as normal with hop additions on time. The scale I bought apparently only gave me one decimal place, so I rounded up the hops to the next tenth of an oz. That should push the IBUs up somewhat, but I wasn't too concerned.
After the hour-long boil, my sight-gague told me I only had 5 gallons once the hop bag was removed.
Is it possible that I lost a 1.75 gallons in an hour long boil? I expected a gallon an hour. Did the pellet hops suck up three-fourths of a gallon? I tried to let them drain, but didn't squeeze them out.
My OG was 1.048, which was almost spot on for this recipe. I'm concerned that I collected two-gallons end-product less than I hoped.
Looking back, I think I didn't quite account for the grain-loss water. But does that account for all of my loss?
Can anyone help me determine what my efficiency was? I planned for 60%. I'm betting it was around that, since I hit my target OG with less water. If I had the extra two gallons of water, it would have been lower, right?
Pitched the yeast at 60°F and put it in the space under the stairs in the basement, which was been at 60°F+/-. I used a carboy cap and clamped on a vinyl hose with the end in a jar of StarSan. No visible bubbles or anything yet, but I'll give it time before I freak out. The foam from shaking the carboy is almost all gone now.
Next brew, I hope to have a thermowell in the MLT, to enable better temp control. Also will hopefully have a plate or CF Chiller.
I used BrewTarget to scale BM's Centenniel Blonde up to seven gallons and also swapped out the Cascade hops for Czech Saaz. Here's the export from BT.
I have a RIMS setup as seen below:
Since I was shooting for a nearly eight gallon boil, and my target mash was 3.828Gal, I started with eight gallons of water. It heated it to 175°F and recirculated it to preheat the system. Once the thermometer on the kettle settled into 170°F. I pumped all but four gallons up into the MLT. I figure I got my strike volume correct based on what would have been in the hoses and pump. I checked the strike water until it hit 165°F and doughed in. I laid several layers of aluminum foil on top and stuck in a meat thermometer to monitor the temp. Not ideal, but that's what I had to work with this time. 15 minutes in, temp was 150°F, so I added a kettle of boiling water and it came back up to 155°F, which was my target according to BrewTarget. I just noticed BM's recipe calls for 105°F. I figure I was hovering between the two for the hour in average.
Toward the end of the mash, I brought the kettle up to around 170°F and begin slowly recirculating the system to "sparge". This was 15 minutes.
I collected 6.75 gallons in the kettle after draining the MLT. A cooled sample at 70°F read a gravity of 1.050. A loss of 1.25 gallons post-mash.
The boil proceeded as normal with hop additions on time. The scale I bought apparently only gave me one decimal place, so I rounded up the hops to the next tenth of an oz. That should push the IBUs up somewhat, but I wasn't too concerned.
After the hour-long boil, my sight-gague told me I only had 5 gallons once the hop bag was removed.
Is it possible that I lost a 1.75 gallons in an hour long boil? I expected a gallon an hour. Did the pellet hops suck up three-fourths of a gallon? I tried to let them drain, but didn't squeeze them out.
My OG was 1.048, which was almost spot on for this recipe. I'm concerned that I collected two-gallons end-product less than I hoped.
Looking back, I think I didn't quite account for the grain-loss water. But does that account for all of my loss?
Can anyone help me determine what my efficiency was? I planned for 60%. I'm betting it was around that, since I hit my target OG with less water. If I had the extra two gallons of water, it would have been lower, right?
Pitched the yeast at 60°F and put it in the space under the stairs in the basement, which was been at 60°F+/-. I used a carboy cap and clamped on a vinyl hose with the end in a jar of StarSan. No visible bubbles or anything yet, but I'll give it time before I freak out. The foam from shaking the carboy is almost all gone now.
Next brew, I hope to have a thermowell in the MLT, to enable better temp control. Also will hopefully have a plate or CF Chiller.
