DCBrewer
Active Member
I would appreciate anyone's thoughts on a bad mash day today. 5.5 gallon pale ale batch into the carboy. Used 4 lbs US 2 row, 4 lbs German pils, 1 lb Munich and .5 lbs wheat. My OG should have been 1.050 but was 1.040 (and see refractometer issues below).
I typically get 78% efficiency on my system but changed a couple of things today in hopes of improvement of the beer (not efficiency but wasn't trying to lower it).
I use a barley crusher mill. I haven't changed it from the factory setting, which is supposed to be .38 or .39. though I haven't measured it. That said, my crush tends to be more powdery than what I think it should be, so I ran the drill slower today hoping to have a better crush. The crush looked the same.
Also, I used distilled water instead of my tap, which is pretty hard though should be good for brewing based on taste and chemical report (but my beers aren't tasting great so thought I'd change it up). My recipe was based largely on a Gordon Strong recipe where he uses 15 gallons of distilled with .75 teaspoon of phosphoric acid to adjust pH. I used 12 gallons and added .5 teaspoon of phosphoric as I didn't want to overshoot. I have cheap pH strips from my LHBS with a small range (though just ordered the 4-7 strips!) and the pH showed 4.8, though the water was hot so, as I understand it, that should mean 5.1.
I added 1/2 teaspoon each of gypsum and CaCl (per Gordon's recipe). I mashed at 149 for 75 minutes and my mash pH likewise showed 4.8 on the strips (meaning 5.1?). I did not perform an iodine test.
I batch sparged and probably added about a quart or so too much water.
The recipe called for .5 ounce of Galaxy first wort hop, which I did. My pre-boil gravity was 1.036 on the hydrometer, which I measured just after the boil started. I monitored the gravity with the hydrometer during the boil -- taking up a dropper full, letting it cool for a minute or so, then testing. I boiled for about 110 minutes trying to get the OG up. I was going to be a little short, so added .25 lbs of Belgian candy syrup at 15 hopes hoping to eek out the remaining OG point or two I was missing.
After cooling, I took a hydrometer sample and was at 1.040. Tested with two hydrometers and the refractometer, and the refractometer agreed with the hydrometers at this point.
Not really sure what happened but here are a few questions:
(1) Does hop matter mess with refractometer readings? In addition to the first wort hops, the recipe has a lot of hops. Because of first wort hops, maybe this was a problem from the start? (I tried to make sure the drops looked pretty clear and I took 3 readings each time which were close.)
(2) Did I perhaps not let the wort in the eye dropper cool enough before taking the hydrometer reading (1-2 minutes)? I'm assuming that could be an issue.
(3) If my water pH was actually below 5, would that have this much of an effect on efficiency? Do I also have to worry about attenuation (which would really such given the low OG)?
(4) Any other ideas of what might have happened other than just a bad brew day (for example, could be efficiency be that dependent on the water)?
(5) Any suggestions on what to do now that it's in the fermentor (for example, adding more candy syrup or other sugar)? I'm using the San Diego super yeast and if I get 75-80% attenuation, I'll end up with a low 4 ABV which I can live with but if my attenuation suffers, yeesh.
Sorry for the long post and appreciate any thoughts.
I typically get 78% efficiency on my system but changed a couple of things today in hopes of improvement of the beer (not efficiency but wasn't trying to lower it).
I use a barley crusher mill. I haven't changed it from the factory setting, which is supposed to be .38 or .39. though I haven't measured it. That said, my crush tends to be more powdery than what I think it should be, so I ran the drill slower today hoping to have a better crush. The crush looked the same.
Also, I used distilled water instead of my tap, which is pretty hard though should be good for brewing based on taste and chemical report (but my beers aren't tasting great so thought I'd change it up). My recipe was based largely on a Gordon Strong recipe where he uses 15 gallons of distilled with .75 teaspoon of phosphoric acid to adjust pH. I used 12 gallons and added .5 teaspoon of phosphoric as I didn't want to overshoot. I have cheap pH strips from my LHBS with a small range (though just ordered the 4-7 strips!) and the pH showed 4.8, though the water was hot so, as I understand it, that should mean 5.1.
I added 1/2 teaspoon each of gypsum and CaCl (per Gordon's recipe). I mashed at 149 for 75 minutes and my mash pH likewise showed 4.8 on the strips (meaning 5.1?). I did not perform an iodine test.
I batch sparged and probably added about a quart or so too much water.
The recipe called for .5 ounce of Galaxy first wort hop, which I did. My pre-boil gravity was 1.036 on the hydrometer, which I measured just after the boil started. I monitored the gravity with the hydrometer during the boil -- taking up a dropper full, letting it cool for a minute or so, then testing. I boiled for about 110 minutes trying to get the OG up. I was going to be a little short, so added .25 lbs of Belgian candy syrup at 15 hopes hoping to eek out the remaining OG point or two I was missing.
After cooling, I took a hydrometer sample and was at 1.040. Tested with two hydrometers and the refractometer, and the refractometer agreed with the hydrometers at this point.
Not really sure what happened but here are a few questions:
(1) Does hop matter mess with refractometer readings? In addition to the first wort hops, the recipe has a lot of hops. Because of first wort hops, maybe this was a problem from the start? (I tried to make sure the drops looked pretty clear and I took 3 readings each time which were close.)
(2) Did I perhaps not let the wort in the eye dropper cool enough before taking the hydrometer reading (1-2 minutes)? I'm assuming that could be an issue.
(3) If my water pH was actually below 5, would that have this much of an effect on efficiency? Do I also have to worry about attenuation (which would really such given the low OG)?
(4) Any other ideas of what might have happened other than just a bad brew day (for example, could be efficiency be that dependent on the water)?
(5) Any suggestions on what to do now that it's in the fermentor (for example, adding more candy syrup or other sugar)? I'm using the San Diego super yeast and if I get 75-80% attenuation, I'll end up with a low 4 ABV which I can live with but if my attenuation suffers, yeesh.
Sorry for the long post and appreciate any thoughts.