Second AG brewday. Feeling awesome

[checo78]

Hey guys, Ive just completed my second AG brewday and all I can say is that Im hooked.

It took me about a year to study, buy and finally make the plunge to AG. My first brewday was great just before I let the SS bucket valve open and had all my wort in the floor.

This time around I have almost 5 gallons of pale ale in my SS bucket. I was running around all the time, either preparing sparge water, getting the hops or simply reminding myself to close all valves before tragedy struck again. So now I have some questions I know many of you can answer in flash.

First of all, I did not get the FG correct. I was shooting for 1.056 and got 1.044 instead. Since I wanted to cool the wort rapidly I figured for my second try that would be it. So my first question is, was my preboil wort to diluted? I did a batch sparge. First runnings where great, but I had to do 2 more sparges to complete my 6 gallons before boiling. I noticed the last runnings where very thin. I drained my first running after an hour, and the second and third just 15 minutes after (maybe I should have let that sparge water sit for more time in the grain bed)

So I boiled the wort, but since I use a converted keg, and my valve is not at the bottom, I tilted the keg at the end to get more wort. I know I dragged a lot of trub and stuff to the fermenter. Is this common practice? Is it advisable or should I target more than 6 gallons accounting for that wasted wort that will not be collected?

I pitched my wyeast starter, gave it a 1 1/2 min pure oxygen aeration and sent the bucket to my fridge to 68f. Airlock activity began less than 10 hours. Five days later no airlock activity and I collected some beer to test for FG. I got 1.009. Was shooting for 1.014. Will the beer have more alchohol? that was 2 days ago, I checked an hour ago and still 1.009. So I guess fermentation is done. My question is why did I get a lower FG. Should I had to check sooner and when getting 1.014 just drop the temp so fermentation stops? or should it go all the way?

I tasted the beer and it actually tastes great, I know its still green and has no CO2, but I was amazed that it did not taste bad. Recipe calls for secondary ferm in other vessel and dry hopping. So I have to wait a couple of days and do the transfer.

Anyhow, thanks for all your help. this forum has been my school for the past year. Happy brewing!!!

 

[number40fan]

First off, since your OG (not the FG which I am sure was a typo) was lower, your FG would end up lower. You didn't mention your mash temps and with that info, more people could help.

Getting anything from the boil kettle into the fermenter isn't a big deal.

Won't have more alcohol because of the lower OG.

 

[checo78]

Sorry, my target og was 1.054, got 1.044 and the targeted fg was 1.014 got 1.009

This is a pale ale kit I bougth online, single infusion @154f 5 gallon batch. My question is, if my og would have been 1.054, would the yeast do their magic and stop at 1.014 by them selves? Or should every brewer check regularly and lower temp once at targeted fg?

I guess my question is, will yeast keep on lowering the gravity until stopped?

 

[JMSetzler]

If your OG was lower than you expected, it was probably too diluted. Your recipe would be useful so we could calculate what you should have gotten.

The yeast won't keep on working. It will only consume what it can and no more. Your beer should still be good. My guess is that if you had started at 1.054 instead of 1.044, you still would have finished at 1.009. IMO, 154 is a little hot for what you were mashing. Warmer mash makes more unfermentable sugar so the finishing gravity will be higher because of that.

 

[number40fan]

Yeast has a % value. That means that they will convert a certain % of the sugar. There isn't a way for the yeast to tell what the FG is and it will just keep doing their work until they are done.

You could stop the fermentation by cold crashing, but letting them do their job until everything has completed (2+ weeks) should end up with better beer.

Even though your numbers are off, you should end up with drinkable beer. Time to start another brew day.

 

[JMSetzler]

BTW- I'm looking forward to trying out the SS Brew Bucket! Mine should be here Tuesday. Ultimately I want two of them so I can use one for secondary.

 

[chickypad]

Congrats on your move to AG! The FG listed on a recipe is always an estimate, you don't know the actual FG until the yeast finish. You can try to manipulate the FG by mash temp, recipe, yeast strain, etc. but ultimately it is what it is. As mentioned in this particular case your FG was lower than expected likely because your OG was lower. You'll want to try to dial in your measurements and figure out your actual efficiency so you can adjust recipes accordingly.

As far as ABV the original recipe was targeting 5.5%, you'll have 4.5%. There are different ways to handle kettle trub, I'm in the camp that just dumps everything in the fermenter and lets it settle out. As for the secondary you only have to include that step if you want to. Many of us dry hop right in primary, you'll find a crap ton of arguments for and against if you search.

 

[checo78]

SS brew bucket is great, very light but sturdy construction, plus it fits great inside my kegerator! Easy to clean and setup

Recipe
8.5 lbs pale 2 row
10oz 20L crystal malt
5oz 80L crystal malt
5oz caravienna malt
7oz wheat malt

.4oz nugget 60min
1oz cascade 5min
.4oz nelson 5min
1oz cascade dry
1oz nelson dry

Mash 154f - 1 hr
Batch sparge 168f
Boil for 1hr
Chill wort to 68f
Primary ferm 9 days
Secondary ferm 9 days
Dry hop @ secondary for 9 days
Wyeast 1056

 

[JMSetzler]

Did you measure your water volumes accurately? If you use too much water in the mash/sparge process, you will dilute your wort. Also, if you end up with more than 5 gallons after the boil, you are more dilute also. If you got 5 gallons in your fermenter and had a good bit left behind in the boiler, that is part of the reason your OG is lower than expected. Not because there was wort left behind in the fermenter but because that wort should have boiled off and concentrated the wort.

You need to know how much water your kettle boils off in an hour to help calculate the amount of water you need in your mash process. Knowing where your water loss occurs is important. If you want to end up with 5 gallons in the fermenter, you have to consider these things:

5 gallons in the fermenter
1.5 gallons boil-off in MY kettle over 60 minute boil
.1 gallons per pound of grain in the mash (roughly 1 gallon in your case)
Left behind in mash tun dead space (maybe a pint or two)

So that means you needed roughly 7.5 to 7.75 gallons of total water in the brew process. More than that would dilute your wort and create a lower OG.

 

[checo78]

Much obliged! Stands to reason that I have some math and more brewing to do. Thank you for your pointers! Ive read a lot of stuff, all very useful, but none will rarely talk about debugging your own system, or even go thru some basic noob mistakes, so I guess a lot of more brewing is necessary to correctly learn this magical trade. Thanks for all your help!