What will I end up with?

[linusstick]

So had my first brew day disaster with my first BIAB beer. Luckily I just did a gallon batch so dumping this won't hurt. I think I know what I did wrong but would like suggestions. Used Beersmith default of 72% efficiency and .5 gallon boil off. My mash was 6.75 quarts at 173 to get to 152. Grain bill was 1lb 7oz German wheat,9oz Pilsner, .8oz aromatic and .5 acid malt. Temp went up to mid 160s and added ice cubes to get it down to 152. Sat for 20 minutes then started falling to the 130s. Added heat and it jumped up to high 150s again. I realized the cheap probe digital thermometer I have wasn't very accurate because I used a mercury one during the chill and it was more than 5 degrees off. Anyhow after the boil I was left with less than a gallon (about .75) and a starting gravity of 1.18. I had 1.5 gallons preboil so I'm assuming I need to adjust my boil off rate. Not sure there was anything else that went wrong other than keeping the mash temp constant. I

 

[doug293cz]

So had my first brew day disaster with my first BIAB beer. Luckily I just did a gallon batch so dumping this won't hurt. I think I know what I did wrong but would like suggestions. Used Beersmith default of 72% efficiency and .5 gallon boil off. My mash was 6.75 quarts at 173 to get to 152. Grain bill was 1lb 7oz German wheat,9oz Pilsner, .8oz aromatic and .5 acid malt. Temp went up to mid 160s and added ice cubes to get it down to 152. Sat for 20 minutes then started falling to the 130s. Added heat and it jumped up to high 150s again. I realized the cheap probe digital thermometer I have wasn't very accurate because I used a mercury one during the chill and it was more than 5 degrees off. Anyhow after the boil I was left with less than a gallon (about .75) and a starting gravity of 1.18. I had 1.5 gallons preboil so I'm assuming I need to adjust my boil off rate. Not sure there was anything else that went wrong other than keeping the mash temp constant. I

For a post-boil volume of 0.75 gal and OG of 1.18, your pre-boil 1.5 gal would have needed a pre-boil SG of 1.090. However, for 1.69 gal of strike water with 2 lb of grain, the maximum possible pre-boil SG is only about 1.039. Something doesn't add up here. If the 1.18 is a typo and should have been 1.018, then your pre-boil SG would only have been 1.009. This is basically a total mash failure. If you mash was way too hot initially, you could have denatured all the enzymes before significant saccharification could occur.

Brew on

 

[linusstick]

I was trying to get a gallon post boil. Everything in Beersmith said I would get a gallon but after the vigorous boil it came in at under a gallon. I took the gravity reading before I put it in the fermentor because I figured it was ruined anyway. The 1.18 is not a typo. It said 1.18 and line up with 10% on the hydrometer. Obviously very much higher than I wanted. I'm thinking bigger volume batches are easier to control because there is more room for deviations than a small one gallon batch. Oh well I pitched the yeast and am anxious to see what comes of it. I knew eventually I would have a failure but nothing as extreme as this

 

[doug293cz]

I was trying to get a gallon post boil. Everything in Beersmith said I would get a gallon but after the vigorous boil it came in at under a gallon. I took the gravity reading before I put it in the fermentor because I figured it was ruined anyway. The 1.18 is not a typo. It said 1.18 and line up with 10% on the hydrometer. Obviously very much higher than I wanted. I'm thinking bigger volume batches are easier to control because there is more room for deviations than a small one gallon batch. Oh well I pitched the yeast and am anxious to see what comes of it. I knew eventually I would have a failure but nothing as extreme as this

Sorry to be a pain, but 1.18 SG from slightly over 2 lbs of grain in 0.75 gal post-boil, is just not possible. 0.75 gal of 1.18 SG wort weighs 0.75 gal * 1.18 * 8.33 gal/lb = 7.37 lbs. 1,18 SG converts to 40.1˚Plato, meaning the wort would have to be 40.1% sugar by weight. That works out to 7.37 * 0.401 = 2.956 lb of sugar. No way you could possibly get almost 3 lbs of sugar from 2 lb of grain. Are you sure you're not reading some other scale on the hydrometer? Can you post pics of your hydrometer showing the different scales on it, and point out which one you used?

Brew on

 

[wilserbrewer]

173 strike to mash at 152 sounds way high...160 would be about my guess.

Warm oven next time once you get to a proper mash temp

Sorry to hear your struggling

 

[kh54s10]

I don't know the math, but to get 1.18 OG would be very difficult even with a really big grainbill. For my 5 gallon batches I would need at least 25 pounds of grain. 25/5 would be over 5 pounds of grain he would have needed. Or to boil off even more, like less than 1/2 gallon in the end. Something is off. Even when I try to get over 1.100 OG I have only been able to get around 1.090 -1.095

 

[linusstick]

Thanks all. Rookie mistake. I WAS reading the hydrometer wrong. It was 1.080 not 1.18. As I'm replaying things in my head more and more of this process is coming back to me. Im ready to buy the same ingredients and do this again.

 

[doug293cz]

Thanks all. Rookie mistake. I WAS reading the hydrometer wrong. It was 1.080 not 1.18. As I'm replaying things in my head more and more of this process is coming back to me. Im ready to buy the same ingredients and do this again.

Ok, 1.080 is perfectly reasonable for your grain bill, strike water volume, pre-boil volume, and boil off.

Brew on