Question about soaking and boiling

[bowserm]

Hey Guys and Girls,

Today I did my extract Black IPA. It was my first 10 liter boil and what I did was soaked my grains in 4 liters of water and while they were soaking I poured 6 liters into my brew pot and dumped all the LME into it just before my grains were done the 30 minute soak.

Should I have done this or should I have have just added the remaining water to the brew pot after the soak was finished, then add the LME before the boil started.

I did notice that I was short on the OG compared to what Brewers Friend Calculator told me I should have had.

Could this be why?

Thanks

 

[Conan]

We're the grains specified as steeping or partial mash? By your text I'm assuming steeping, mostly for color and a little flavor, without intending to extract any fermentation sugars. Was this for a 20l batch and how close to your final volume into the fermenter were you to the kit size?
As long as you ended up with all the LME and your 'steep water' in the kettle for your boil you're probably just fine. Kyle

 

[bowserm]

Yes, it was steeping only. After I boiled and cooled I topped up with cold water to 20 liters total.

My estimated OG was supposed to be 1.085 and ended up being 1.078 which isn't a big deal as long as the FG reading goes lower than what was estimated. (1.024) But I won't know that for a couple weeks.

 

[doug293cz]

With a 10 liter boil topped up to 20 liters in the fermenter, the low gravity reading is likely due to incomplete mixing of the high gravity wort with the top off water. Takes a lot of mixing to completely homogenize the final wort.

Brew on

 

[bowserm]

Does that mean that the beer will be different depending on where it sits in the fermenter if it wasn't mixed completely?

I did stir (mix) the crap out of it before I pitched the yeast and had activity about 2 hours after pitching.

 

[flars]

The wort will be mixed as the yeast begins to work on the sugars. Not being thoroughly mixed before pitching the yeast will not affect the fermentation.

 

[unionrdr]

Hm, well, 4L is a hair over a gallon. Steeping could have been done in, say, 2 gallons of water, or some 7 1/2L of water. I like to sparge the grains in enough water to get my boil volume & get more out of the grains. I always thought this to be better than just adding plain water to get to boil volume. My OG's have been better since doing this.

 

[bowserm]

I will try that next time to maximize the grains. I figured if I split the 10L it would cut down on the time it took for the water to boil.

I guess no shortcuts from now on!