screwed up my first mash

[akimbo78]

mashed too high. efficiency was terrible. gravity was only 1.024 preboil was supposed to be 1.046. added 2 lbs of dme late in the boil. good thing the recipe called for 2 lbs of candi sugar and 1 lb of honey. (belgian dark strong) i will also be adding champagne yeast in the secondary 3 days or so before i bottle. any shot at this thing turning out ok?

 

[jaycount]

Yeah, I haven't done the math but if you added the DME, you are probably pretty close to the OG you were looking for. IF you're still short then no big deal, it'll be a little bit lower ABV and body.

Bottom line, you've still made beer.

FWIW, I've had my efficiency unexpectedly dip close to 55% before (I normally can stay closer to 70-75), the beers came out great. And I didn't even compensate with DME!

 

[H-ost]

How long did you mash for? If you did 60min, had a higher temp, and got your preboil volume before starting the boil I wouldn't think you would be THAT low. Are you sure you mixed all your runnings together VERY thoroughly before taking a hydro reading? It is easy to get an incorrect reading due to not mixing well enough especially on your first mash when everything is new and you don't have your process down yet.

 

[akimbo78]

i did mash for 60 minutes. i was concentrating on the process rather than the readings. i did mix again and take a second reading, but at that point it was already on its way to boiling, and my step towards correction was already decided. i knew from the mash temp that it was going to be lower. i should have corrected in the mash tun rather than proceeding anyway.

 

[akimbo78]

and with my additions i overshot my target og of 1.084. my og was 1.09. is there a way to figure out what it would have been without the 2 lbs of dme?

 

[akimbo78]

doing backwards math my og being 1.09. 18 points for the 2 lbs of dme, 18 points for the candi sugar and 7 points for the honey leaves 1.047, which is only 1 point off the estimated pre-boil gravity. i'm either using beersmith incorrectly or i can't measure for $hit, because none of this is making any sense anymore.

 

[jaycount]

You also have to account for evaporation from the boil.

Your post-boil OG will always be higher than your pre-boil, even if you don't add any fermentables during the boil (water evaporates, the sugar doesn't).

So, your post boil would have been 1.047 (not including the other fermentables: honey, candi sugar, DME). Knowing that your pre-boil was supposed to be 1.047, you still had a lower efficiency than expected.