Too much wort in bucket?

[b4k4]

When I was chilling with my immersion wort chiller I left it alone for about 15 minutes. Found that the input hose for the chiller was leaking, hose clamp failed I guess

Aside from being concerned about the water since the hose for the chiller wasn't sanitized (shouldn't have come in contact with wort) I ended up with about 6 gallons instead of 5 and I've got about 2 inches headroom in my bucket.

Could I be safe to pitch in that, or should I remove some wort?

 

[bigplunkett]

Og? I generly get 3 inches of krusan in my bujets id remove some. Mabe even bring it all up to pasteurize temp just in case. It shouldn't mess with ur ibus much plus u wattered it down a little.

 

[b4k4]

Supposed to be 1.104, waiting for it to cool a little more before taking a reading

 

[b4k4]

I seem to have a different problem. I'm reading 1.04. Must've ****ed something up with the mash? This was my first all grain batch

 

[jekeane]

I seem to have a different problem. I'm reading 1.04. Must've ****ed something up with the mash? This was my first all grain batch

Did you top up with water? Doesn't look like it from your post, that could cause a wonky reading. I would make sure your hydrometer is calibrated. Did you take a pre-boil gravity? That is something you will want to start doing while learning your set up. That's a huge number difference and will need some explanation of your process and recipe/equipment to figure out.

 

[b4k4]

I didn't take a pre-boil gravity. I'll need to start doing that.

Used one of those igloo cooler conversion mashtuns. Held the grains at between 140-150 for 75 minutes. Poured 168 degree water over the grain bed as it drained into the kettle. Brought to a boil for a hour, chilled, and transferred to bucket.

I've never calibrated my hydrometer before.

Any suggestions on how I can salvage this beer? Should I pitch? Should I wait till I can go to my LHBS and get some DME to bump up the gravity and then pitch? Would letting it sit overnight cause any issues?

 

[b4k4]

Recipe was for an imperial stout. 13lbs 2-row, 5.75 lbs other grains

Beersmith called for 6.4 gallons of water at mash in, 2.8 gal for sparging.

 

[b4k4]

Man, I super bummed about this

 

[Brewenstein]

What % efficiency were you shooting for? For large beers like that, and with such a small sparge, you should have used 60-65%. If you sparge more to increase efficiency, then you would need to boil longer to get to your volume and concentrate the wort.

To hit that OG, I usually start with 24-25 pounds of grain. And sometimes add a pound or two of sugar also.

 

[Meyre86]

Temperature, wort + water not completely mixed in your sample, uncalibrated hydrometer, etc. There's a ton of reasons why your OG reading may not be accurate. I'd dump a little bit to give yourself a little more headspace and then pitch your yeast -- worst case, you have a very light stout instead of the imperial you were going for.

You are where you are at this point. Ferment it out, and when you're able to take a final gravity reading, you should be able to calculate at least a range of what your initial gravity was based on the attenuation % of the yeast you used.

To ensure this doesn't happen again, I'd confirm you have all of the brew smith settings properly configured to your equipment and the process you're using for mash/sparge/etc. That should help ensure you use the correct water volumes for future batches.

 

[The_Bishop]

First all-grain, I take it?

Do something like a simple 1.050ish pale ale as a first brew. Use this to hone your skills and learn your system before trying out huge beers.

 

[jbunton]

Don't forget temp correction factor on your hydrometer readings