Stalled Fermentation- 2 Yeast Packs Later

[ahags]

Hi All!

I am brand new to home brewing and having a frustrating first start. I made a starter kit that was targeting to be a 5 gallon Hazy IPA with Fermentis Safale-04 yeast included. The targeted ABV was 6.8% with an OG target of 1.07 and FG of 1.018.

I did this brew in my Vevor All In One as an all grain brew day. I followed the instructions step by step and the wort came in a bit higher than 5 gallons when all said and done. I believe the higher sparge water (3 gallons) resulted in a slightly less efficient mash and diluted it a bit. I ended up with an OG of 1.051 significantly undershooting my target of 1.07. However, I didn’t want to let this discourage me, a lower 4.5-5% alcohol hazy IPA would still be worth a shot so I moved into the fermenter and pitched my dry yeast packet into the wort. No rehydration or liquid yeast.

Day 1-3 - Extreme airlock activity. C02 releasing as expected and water in the airlock doing its job. After 48 hours I did a quick gravity check and saw it at 1.031 which was on track. I have an Anvil stainless steel fermenter with spigot so I have used the spigot for quick samples to test along way.

Days 3-4 My gravity went up to 1.036 and stalled day over day. My only explanation for how this may have happened was that my refractometer was not reading the alcohol and the SG was actually about flat from the 1.031reading on day 2.

Days 5- still stalled at exact same. I had tried wrapping the fermenter in a towel and temperature in the closet is a consistent 68-70 degrees I’d say, so I don’t see this being the issue. I went to my local store after some advice and pitched a second pack of the same safale-04 yeast.

Day 6- No additional airlock activity and no change to SG

Day 7- No activity and SG still stalled at 1.036. Keep in mind, the fermentation had occurred within 24 hours with this same yeast when I first pitched so I am now convinced the brew is stalled for good. I don’t know what else to do. I have given the fermenter a whirl, even stirred it (was willing to sacrifice the oxygenation just to get an education on trying to reactivate this) and still nada…

I have read a lack of aeration on the front end could be the cause. I did pour the wort straight from the Vevor into the Anvil from about 2 feet in the air causing a lot of splashing and even a nice head on top when done. I thought this meant the aeration was adequate so I didn’t do anything further.

Do I ditch this and start from scratch? Any advice to get it going?

Thanks!
Austin

 

[RM-MN]

Days 3-4 My gravity went up to 1.036 and stalled day over day. My only explanation for how this may have happened was that my refractometer was not reading the alcohol and the SG was actually about flat from the 1.031reading on day 2.

The refractometer is your problem. The alcohol in the beer skews the reading to the high side. When your beer has started fermentation you switch to a hydrometer for accurate readings. There are calculators to adjust the reading of the refractometer to closer to accurate but the hydrometer is the correct tool for this.

Without going through the calculations, my guess is that your beer is now between 1.018 and 1.020, right where is should be.

 

[mac_1103]

I made a starter kit that was targeting to be a 5 gallon Hazy IPA

Posting a link to the kit might improve the quality of advice folks can give you.

 

[ahags]

Posting a link to the kit might improve the quality of advice folks can give you.

https://a.co/d/bsOG76K

 

[camonick]

You need to invest in a hydrometer.

 

[ahags]

I just ordered a hydrometer - https://a.co/d/ibBcpbJ. Will be here tomorrow and I will check the reading both ways.

Out of curiosity, I still checked those calculators and even with the correction factor, I don’t seem to be getting anywhere near the final gravity needed. What math is used to correct the 1.036 SG to FG in a hydrometer equivalent?

If my beer was in fact at the targeted final gravity then I likely just made it taste a lot worse with the second pack of yeast, correct?

Not sure if it will be worth bottling/kegging at this point but open to trying if I can salvage it. The wort still tastes fairly sweet.

 

[ahags]

I just ordered a hydrometer - https://a.co/d/ibBcpbJ. Will be here tomorrow and I will check the reading both ways.

Out of curiosity, I still checked those calculators and even with the correction factor, I don’t seem to be getting anywhere near the final gravity needed. What math is used to correct the 1.036 SG to FG in a hydrometer equivalent?

If my beer was in fact at the targeted final gravity then I likely just made it taste a lot worse with the second pack of yeast, correct?

Not sure if it will be worth bottling/kegging at this point but open to trying if I can salvage it. The wort still tastes fairly sweet.

 

[mac_1103]

To get the OG down to 1.051 just by dilution would mean that you overshot your volume by almost two gallons. More likely your efficiency is lower than what the kit instructions assume. That doesn't necessarily mean you did something "wrong." It's just the way things work out sometimes.

But if your actual OG is lower than predicted, then your expected FG will also be lower - probably around 1.013 for this recipe (right around 5% ABV). RM-MN is right - if you're reading 1.031 with a refractometer then you're probably really at 1.018, maybe a tad lower. So possibly a touch under-attenuated but not drastically so.

If you don't have a hydrometer, ignore the SG scale on your refractometer. Read the Brix scale and use a calculator like this one.

 

[ahags]

To get the OG down to 1.051 just by dilution would mean that you overshot your volume by almost two gallons. More likely your efficiency is lower than what the kit instructions assume. That doesn't necessarily mean you did something "wrong." It's just the way things work out sometimes.

But if your actual OG is lower than predicted, then your expected FG will also be lower - probably around 1.013 for this recipe (right around 5% ABV). RM-MN is right - if you're reading 1.031 with a refractometer then you're probably really at 1.018, maybe a tad lower. So possibly a touch under-attenuated but not drastically so.

If you don't have a hydrometer, ignore the SG scale on your refractometer. Read the Brix scale and use a calculator like this one.

Even using these calculators, I had a Brix/OG of 12.5/1.051 and now have a 1.036 SG /9.0 Brix. Using this calculator with a 1.04 wort correction, I still show well over the targeted final gravity and even further off your adjusted diluted FG above. What am I doing wrong here?

 

[mac_1103]

Sorry, I saw 1.031 in your first post and was going off of that and using a WCF of 1. Did you use 1.04 because you actually determined yours, or just because it was suggested by someone somewhere?

 

[ahags]

Sorry, I saw 1.031 in your first post and was going off of that and using a WCF of 1. Did you use 1.04 because you actually determined yours, or just because it was suggested by someone somewhere?

Just something I saw online. It actually makes my issue worse if I use the 1.0 adjustment. Any other ideas? Is it possible that it has completely stalled and won’t budge? I was shocked the second yeast pitch Friday didn’t do anything.

 

[RM-MN]

When you brew all grain beer you have a lot of control or lack of control during the brewing process. Getting an OG substantially lower than expected can be from adding too much water thus diluting the wort or it can be a poor crush of the grain which gives you a lower mash efficiency.

Getting a higher FG than expected can be caused by the yeast you use or it can be from mashing at a higher than predicted temperature which will then denature the beta amylase and leave you with more unfermentable dextrines.

 

[ahags]

When you brew all grain beer you have a lot of control or lack of control during the brewing process. Getting an OG substantially lower than expected can be from adding too much water thus diluting the wort or it can be a poor crush of the grain which gives you a lower mash efficiency.

Getting a higher FG than expected can be caused by the yeast you use or it can be from mashing at a higher than predicted temperature which will then denature the beta amylase and leave you with more unfermentable dextrines.

Looking back, I think my off OG came from 1) Dilution and 2) Impatient Sparging. Regarding point 1, I started with 5 gallons for my mash over 60 min. I set the bucket to around 172 in anticipation of a cold grain basket and grain bringing temperature down (it landed right into the 152-155 range for the 55-60 min mash) so my temps seemed good and were controlled well by the all in one kettle. However, the recipe called for 3 gallons of spare water which I did with spring water from Walmart. I waited for the grain basket to drain almost all the way before adding my first gallon of sparge water and then repeated that process 3 times total. I do think I probably could have been more patient as I added the sparge water fairly fast and the grain was probably not fully drained before each iteration which could have lowered my efficiency a bit. As for the dilution, I didn’t know exactly how many gallons I ended up with because while the grain basket is in my Vevor brew kettle the etched marks for the volume are not visible. However, I do recall ending with more than the 5 gallons. Probably closer to 5.5 gallons. The preboil target was 6.5 gallons with a final of 5 gallons. My guess is I was closer to 7 gallons with a final of 5.5.

So yes, lesson learned for next time around on the dilution. In the mash temperature, the one thing I did to save time was that as the wort was draining and I was sparging, I started getting the temperature heating to 212. I’d say the temp was steadily climbing from 155 to probably 185-190 by the time I had pulled the grain basket out. Keep in mind, the mash itself had been completed and the grain basket was no longer in the wort. This wouldn’t have a negative impact on mash temperature right? As it was done with the wort that would be getting boiled as is and the grain itself never was overheated.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[ahags]

This is the position the grain basket was in while draining and the kettle underneath was starting to get hotter for the boil

 

[ahags]

 

[mac_1103]

An extra half a gallon is not going to take the gravity from 1.070 to 1.051; it would take an extra 1.8-1.9 gallons to do that.

 

[ahags]

An extra half a gallon is not going to take the gravity from 1.070 to 1.051; it would take an extra 1.8-1.9 gallons to do that.

I could open the fermenter and try to get a read on the level- but it should definitely be under 6 gallons. So sounds like the dilution is not the main issue. Can rapid sparging vs a slow and patient sparge have a big contribution to lower OG? Or also pretty nominal?

 

[mac_1103]

Can rapid sparging vs a slow and patient sparge have a big contribution to lower OG?

I won't comment as I'm not familiar with your system in particular or AIO's in general. I BIAB and batch sparge.

 

[camonick]

It would behoove you to download some brewing software and do some testing with plain water on your system. As stated earlier, mash temp, water volume, grain crush, boil off rate, etc. can cause the biggest swings in efficiency. Not all recipes work for all systems. It takes a lot of trial and error to dial in a brewing rig.
Meticulous record keeping and measurements are crucial.

 

[ahags]

At this point- in terms of fermentation, should I still wait on it or just scrap it and try again? Let’s assume I did get to 1.025 or so with hydrometer, it still would be a sub 4% hazy ipa and seems to have stalled. Not much I can do about the brew day process except adjust for next time, but in terms of the 5-6 gallons of wort sitting in the closet, do I hang on for further fermentation or is it likely done? Thanks all!

 

[mac_1103]

Way too soon to give up on it IMO. See what the hydrometer says and go from there.

 

[ahags]

Way too soon to give up on it IMO. See what the hydrometer says and go from there.

Yea- I just gave it an open to check the volume. I have taken some samples which maybe amount to at most 1/4 of a gallons but likely less over the past week. It is just a hair over the 5 gallon mark. So the idea of dilution is even less likely now. Seems I’ve just had a stalled fermentation for whatever reason. There is no Krausen so I assume the second yeast pitch has finished as well. Guess I could aim for a session IPA

 

[hotbeer]

At 68 - 70°F and pitching US-04, your actual fermentation may well have been over on day 3. So that might explain why it's not bubbling anymore.

If when your hydrometer comes in, you find that it's still not at the predicted FG or within 2 or 3 points, then something else is up. Throwing more yeast is seldom the answer, IMO.

While we call the vessel a fermenter, that isn't it's only job for a homebrewer. We also use it as a commercial brewery uses a bright tank. Most of my APA's and IPA's ferment out fully in 3 to 4 days. But it takes longer for the beer to clear. Yeast also clean up unwanted flavors/aromas created during fermentation during that period afterward. That's one of the reason most instructions say to leave it in the FV for 2 to 3 weeks.

 

[camonick]

Continuously opening the fermenter is incredibly detrimental to a hoppy beer.

 

[ahags]

At 68 - 70°F and pitching US-04, your actual fermentation may well have been over on day 3. So that might explain why it's not bubbling anymore.

If when your hydrometer comes in, you find that it's still not at the predicted FG or within 2 or 3 points, then something else is up. Throwing more yeast is seldom the answer, IMO.

While we call the vessel a fermenter, that isn't it's only job for a homebrewer. We also use it as a commercial brewery uses a bright tank. Most of my APA's and IPA's ferment out fully in 3 to 4 days. But it takes longer for the beer to clear. Yeast also clean up unwanted flavors/aromas created during fermentation during that period afterward. That's one of the reason most instructions say to leave it in the FV for 2 to 3 weeks.

Yes, this was my suspicion too. I assumed it was done by day 3 as the SG stopped moving. However, given how high it ended I couldn’t help but wonder if I had a bad yeast pack or some had died on the pitch so I tried a second pack.

 

[ahags]

Continuously opening the fermenter is incredibly detrimental to a hoppy beer.

Yes, I understand that but feel at this point, this is a bit of an experiment. I doubt I’ll be bringing this to bottling given all the gravity issues

 

[camonick]

I would let it ride for another week or so at this point and package it then. That’s a lot of money to pour down the drain. Decide whether or not to dump it after you taste it in another few weeks. Have you tasted any of the samples up to now. Are they sweet, bitter, watery,?

 

[mashdar]

S-04 finishes in 2-3 days for most batches I've used it in. It's a beast, but doesn't attenuate as much as most yeasts.

Have you used the hydrometer yet? I may have missed the result.

How did you mill the grain? Perhaps take a photo pre-mash-in next time.

 

[ahags]

I would let it ride for another week or so at this point and package it then. That’s a lot of money to pour down the drain. Decide whether or not to dump it after you taste it in another few weeks. Have you tasted any of the samples up to now. Are they sweet, bitter, watery,?

Ok- will give this a try. Yes it seemed a bit sweet and little watered down. I am used to drinking full on IPA’s so I may also be a poor test subject for appreciating a lighter hazy IPA. I thought the sweetness was a good sign there are still sugars in fermented. But it didn’t taste too bitter.

 

[ahags]

S-04 finishes in 2-3 days for most batches I've used it in. It's a beast, but doesn't attenuate as much as most yeasts.

Have you used the hydrometer yet? I may have missed the result.

How did you mill the grain? Perhaps take a photo pre-mash-in next time.

Ordered it an hour ago- will test tomorrow and revert back with results. The grains I bought were all pre-milled. Here is a video of the supplies

 

[camonick]

Ok- will give this a try. Yes it seemed a bit sweet and little watered down. I am used to drinking full on IPA’s so I may also be a poor test subject for appreciating a lighter hazy IPA. I thought the sweetness was a good sign there are still sugars in fermented. But it didn’t taste too bitter.

The advertised specs only list 24.5 IBUs, which is quite low even for a hazy (NEIPA). I would expect it to be pretty sweet.
It’s a good learning experience, but there are much better kits available from other online vendors.

 

[ahags]

The advertised specs only list 24.5 IBUs, which is quite low even for a hazy (NEIPA). I would expect it to be pretty sweet.
It’s a good learning experience, but there are much better kits available from other online vendors.

I’m open to other kits out there. I wanted to get an easy pre packaged one under my belt before trying to buy my own grains and hops but maybe that’s the best route next time.

 

[AlexKay]

A few comments, mostly incidental:

• Outside of just a few particular yeast strains, stalls don’t happen. Or certainly, people worry about them way, way more often than they actually occur.
• If you do have a “stall,” you could raise your fermentation temperature a few degrees. Anything else you do is unlikely to help things. Raising the temperature won’t help either, but it won’t hurt anything.
• In most cases, putting it in the fermenter and letting it be for a week (or two) is going to get you the best results.
• Aeration is not necessary when pitching dry yeast.
• “Missing your numbers” is really a commercial brewer’s problem. If you want to improve your brewing, focus on batch-to-batch consistency. Nobody drinks a beer and says, “this tastes like it missed its FG.”
• A refractometer is a great tool, and much harder to break than a hydrometer. When you have stable sequential readings, you’re done. Knowing how dense your beer is, is not so necessary. Calculating ABV is again really an issue for commercial brewers. (But yes, if you do want the actual density, the refractometer needs a calculator once fermentation has started.)
• If you have the budget for toys, you sound like the sort of person who would enjoy a Tilt.

 

[redrocker652002]

I may have missed it, but did you ever do a hydrometer reading? I have a refractometer I use before I put the wort in the fermenter. Once it goes into the fermenting bucket, I only use my hydrometer (that is actually a bit of a lie, I use my refractometer just to see if I can get the same reading for both). LOL

 

[ahags]

A few comments, mostly incidental:

• Outside of just a few particular yeast strains, stalls don’t happen. Or certainly, people worry about them way, way more often than they actually occur.
• If you do have a “stall,” you could raise your fermentation temperature a few degrees. Anything else you do is unlikely to help things. Raising the temperature won’t help either, but it won’t hurt anything.
• In most cases, putting it in the fermenter and letting it be for a week (or two) is going to get you the best results.
• Aeration is not necessary when pitching dry yeast.
• “Missing your numbers” is really a commercial brewer’s problem. If you want to improve your brewing, focus on batch-to-batch consistency. Nobody drinks a beer and says, “this tastes like it missed its FG.”
• A refractometer is a great tool, and much harder to break than a hydrometer. When you have stable sequential readings, you’re done. Knowing how dense your beer is, is not so necessary. Calculating ABV is again really an issue for commercial brewers. (But yes, if you do want the actual density, the refractometer needs a calculator once fermentation has started.)
• If you have the budget for toys, you sound like the sort of person who would enjoy a Tilt.

This was great feedback- I suppose I get your point that knowing gravity isn’t important for home brewers but for me, it is important to know if I made a 3% beer when my goal was 6.8%. Ultimately, I can’t imagine a hazy IPA at 3% watered down will be any good so that’s why I was paying attention on this first batch to the numbers. I’m also a numbers guy in general and find the whole process very interesting. The tilt looks pretty cool. Fortunately, budget isn’t really the issue but it’s the same thing for me when I first started golfing… just because you shank all your drives off the tee does not mean you need a new driver. Sometimes it isn’t the club… Point being, I’d like to get to a good skill level with what I have before investing further. In all honesty, I was having some beers googling about home brewing one night watching Thursday night football and 5 hours later of YouTube videos and researching, I had a bunch of gear at my door a week later and kept learning through searches, forums like this one, etc I’ll get there! Appreciate all the advice thus far to everyone on the thread!

 

[Bramling Cross]

A few comments, mostly incidental:

• “Missing your numbers” is really a commercial brewer’s problem. If you want to improve your brewing, focus on batch-to-batch consistency. Nobody drinks a beer and says, “this tastes like it missed its FG.”

I'd like to amplify this point because it is an excellent point.

You mentioned that you had a "frustrating start," so I assume that this is your first brew? You can't possibly miss your numbers on your first ever brew! Sure, you have your kit's suggested OG--kits are always highly optimistic regarding their OG predictions for any number of reasons (some innocent, some less than innocent). The most likely cause of a low OG from a kit is a very course grind. The last thing a kit maker wants is for you to have a stuck mash, so they tend to mill quite course while advertising a theoretical OG that can't actually be accomplished with that course grind.

And that gets us into software. Your software is making certain assumptions about your rig that you don't know yet because this is your first brew. The only way forward is to take it on the chin, carefully record your readings, plug them into your software, and refine your software model. Brewing is slow, miserable, expensive work. I can't emphasize that enough. You're a new brewer and you're going to suck for a while. I can also tell you that it's worth it to stick with it. It's an amazing, rewarding hobby--but it demands that you put the work in. And some money...always a bit more money. I've been brewing for thirty years and I'm still adding a bit more money. That said, there is a hump. My "a bit more money's" these days are of the $10 variety.

Chill and learn your system's baseline for now. Enjoy any beer flavored beverages your system happens to produce and keep taking scrupulous records while your learn.

 

[ahags]

I'd like to amplify this point because it is an excellent point.

You mentioned that you had a "frustrating start," so I assume that this is your first brew? You can't possibly miss your numbers on your first ever brew! Sure, you have your kit's suggested OG--kits are always highly optimistic regarding their OG predictions for any number of reasons (some innocent, some less than innocent). The most likely cause of a low OG from a kit is a very course grind. The last thing a kit maker wants is for you to have a stuck mash, so they tend to mill quite course while advertising a theoretical OG that can't actually be accomplished with that course grind.

And that gets us into software. Your software is making certain assumptions about your rig that you don't know yet because this is your first brew. The only way forward is to take it on the chin, carefully record your readings, plug them into your software, and refine your software model. Brewing is slow, miserable, expensive work. I can't emphasize that enough. You're a new brewer and you're going to suck for a while. I can also tell you that it's worth it to stick with it. It's an amazing, rewarding hobby--but it demands that you put the work in. And some money...always a bit more money. I've been brewing for thirty years and I'm still adding a bit more money. That said, there is a hump. My "a bit more money's" these days are of the $10 variety.

Chill and learn your system's baseline for now. Enjoy any beer flavored beverages your system happens to produce and keep taking scrupulous records while your learn.

Appreciate the words of encouragement- do you have any suggestions for what software I should use and what data points to collect? Someone else suggested doing a dry run with the system with water only. What exactly should I be testing doing that? I’m definitely open to trying but imagine boil off rate would be different with wort vs water right? The mash process is not able to be replicated with just water so what exactly would I be checking for on a water run through?

Also, one last question is around the mash temp. I started my temp of the AIO at 172.9 using a calculator to target 152-155 mash temp once a non preheated grain basket and grains were added. Indeed the temp did get down to 153-155 but wondering if the first 5 min or so at that higher temp when I first dropped the grain in could have caused some issues? Is it better to heat the water to your mash temp and if it drops on the initial grain addition, heating it up to temp. Sounds like the latter is less detrimental than starting high and dropping temp. Thoughts?

 

[Bramling Cross]

Appreciate the words of encouragement- do you have any suggestions for what software I should use and what data points to collect? Someone else suggested doing a dry run with the system with water only. What exactly should I be testing doing that? I’m definitely open to trying but imagine boil off rate would be different with wort vs water right? The mash process is not able to be replicated with just water so what exactly would I be checking for on a water run through?

Also, one last question is around the mash temp. I started my temp of the AIO at 172.9 using a calculator to target 152-155 mash temp once a non preheated grain basket and grains were added. Indeed the temp did get down to 153-155 but wondering if the first 5 min or so at that higher temp when I first dropped the grain in could have caused some issues? Is it better to heat the water to your mash temp and if it drops on the initial grain addition, heating it up to temp. Sounds like the latter is less detrimental than starting high and dropping temp. Thoughts?

In terms of software, I use Beersmith. Its competitor, Brewer's Friend, has a reputation for being very user friendly and subsequently is gaining market share. I've mucked around with Brewer's Friend and think it's a bit of a toy, but reasonable brewers can reasonably disagree about that point. Personally, I prefer Beersmith because I think it's a much more powerful tool, but it takes more effort to get it running. I coach new brewers with some regularity and I steer them toward Beersmith because it forces them to really learn their systems. It's painful at first, but it quickly pays dividends. That said, they're both quite good. You can't go wrong with either--but it should be noted that Beersmith is written for and used by actual breweries. But I suppose Brewer's Friend has been around long enough that I'm sure there are a few breweries that use it.

The dry run with water does not include the mash, that simply establishes your boil off rate. To do that, you use a trusted vessel/method to place your target pre-boil volume into the kettle. You then boil for your target time, then cool the water to ~room temp and measure the difference. You then plug those numbers into your software and you have a raw approximation of your boil off rate. That's a big help, it allows your software to figure out what your pre-boil gravity needs to be to achieve your target post-boil gravity. In turn, this allows your software to predict the amount of malt you'll need to achieve your target OG. This is good because, as a new brewer, the bulk of your inefficiencies will be found in your mash tun and it will allow you to focus your efforts toward becoming more efficient on that critical point. Going forward you're going to spend the bulk of your time trying to figure out why your pre-boil gravity/volume doesn't match your predicted pre-boil gravity/volume. Once you have that sorted, you're actually brewing. To isolate that, though, you first have to establish your boil off rate. Everything is connected and it's infuriatingly complicated--get used to it.

Regarding your strike (that is, mixing your grains with water), don't worry too much about high heat while you're striking. Yeah, you're going to kill a few enzymes, but you'll have more than enough available to get the job done. You don't need to worry about that unless you wildly overshoot your mash temp--160F+. Just keep gently stirring. The more you keep mixing the water with the grist, the more even the heat transfer will be. There's a lot more to it than that, and many more techniques, but you'll be fine if you just do it slow and keep stirring. Back in the olden days I used to heat up my strike volume to ~180F and literally just dumped it into my mash tun, then started stirring. Frankly, I'd never do that today! But I made some rather pasable beer with that butcherous technique. Just remember, the malt desperately wants to become beer and you've gotta really screw the pooch to keep that from happening. Whatever you're doing is likely perfectly fine.

Lastly, here are a few screenshots of the data I collect in my Beersmith notes tab--I appologize about any naughty language, but this is my mind while brewing. My primary concerns revolve around pH, gravity, and volume. My system is very much dialed in, so my notes are quite short. As a beginning brewer, you might have a lot more to say. Mark any questions you have, mark any frustrations you may have, and certainly congratulate yourself for any triumphs you achieve! It's a slow, frustrating hobby. Be certain to celebrate your wins, no matter how small!

I hope you found that useful, feel free to hit me up if you have further questions.

Stick with it! It's worth it.

 

[Bobby_M]

Appreciate the words of encouragement- do you have any suggestions for what software I should use and what data points to collect? Someone else suggested doing a dry run with the system with water only. What exactly should I be testing doing that? I’m definitely open to trying but imagine boil off rate would be different with wort vs water right? The mash process is not able to be replicated with just water so what exactly would I be checking for on a water run through?

Also, one last question is around the mash temp. I started my temp of the AIO at 172.9 using a calculator to target 152-155 mash temp once a non preheated grain basket and grains were added. Indeed the temp did get down to 153-155 but wondering if the first 5 min or so at that higher temp when I first dropped the grain in could have caused some issues? Is it better to heat the water to your mash temp and if it drops on the initial grain addition, heating it up to temp. Sounds like the latter is less detrimental than starting high and dropping temp. Thoughts?

You may have started with a bit of a high mash temp with that level of preheat. Put the basket in during the heating to eliminate one variable and only heat to about 160. Let the unit ease UP into the target. Yes, a hot mash will convert fast and be less fermentable.

An all in one is always going to come up a bit short on any kit or recipe target OG as it's less efficient than the average system. Order an extra pound of whatever base grain is used in the kit and you'll get pretty close.

 

[redrocker652002]

Appreciate the words of encouragement- do you have any suggestions for what software I should use and what data points to collect? Someone else suggested doing a dry run with the system with water only. What exactly should I be testing doing that? I’m definitely open to trying but imagine boil off rate would be different with wort vs water right? The mash process is not able to be replicated with just water so what exactly would I be checking for on a water run through?

Also, one last question is around the mash temp. I started my temp of the AIO at 172.9 using a calculator to target 152-155 mash temp once a non preheated grain basket and grains were added. Indeed the temp did get down to 153-155 but wondering if the first 5 min or so at that higher temp when I first dropped the grain in could have caused some issues? Is it better to heat the water to your mash temp and if it drops on the initial grain addition, heating it up to temp. Sounds like the latter is less detrimental than starting high and dropping temp. Thoughts?

First off, let me say that I am no pro, weekend warrior at best, so take what I am about to say with a grain of salt. You mention starting your mash water at 172? I use a propane burner and a 10 gallon kettle with a brew in a bag setup and I have never gone much over say 160 when I mash in. I have found, and I am sure I am the exception, that my mash temps don't drop that much when I add my grain. Maybe 5 or so degrees if that. I can mash in at say 160 and I am usually at about155 or so when I get everything mixed in. Now, with that said, I don't have any of my notes here at work to prove any of this, but that mash in temp seems really high. But, if you are dropping down to the 152 to 155 within the first few minutes I am sure you are good. I have been told by others that most of the conversion happens within the first 20 to 30 mins of the mash but again, I have no proof of that at all. Just what I remember being told. Just my two cents worth, and believe me, that is about all it is worth. LOL. Rock On!!!!!