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What am I missing?

justinopolis

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Hello all,
I tried a recipe using 1kg of wheat malt, 1kg of pale marris otter and 0.25kg of crystal malt. It was for a 12L batch size. Beersmith had the SG at 1.04. When I read the gravity post boil I got 1.004! I adjusted for the temperature. What could have gone so wrong?

Could it be that I mashed in one step. Do you always need to do rests if using wheat malt? I don't have much experience..
 
need more info. how did you mash. I.E. temp, water volume, time of mash. and are you sure that you are reading the hydrometer correctly? 
 
I added 5.87L of water at 71 degrees C, which gave 64 degrees C when added to the mash tun. I kept it there for 75 minutes, then batch sparged with 6.4L and 10L of 75 degree water.

I definitely read the hydrometer correctly - I checked again when it went into the fermentor..

Any help would be much appreciated as I can't work out how it could have gone so wrong.
 
ok when I do wheat I will steep the wheat at 130 for 15, 20 min to brake it down a bit before adding to main mash. now some M.O. has 120 d. powder and some has 140 add to that a bad crush on all the grain you should still get more S.G then .004 .
all I can say is that's some bad efficiency. if your mash ph was way off it could hurt your efficiency some too . this all said, I think you said that you mashed in 5.87 l, then added 6.4l to it for the sprage. what is that 10L after that? did you use a total of 22 litters or what was the total water you ended up with after the sprage. how much went into the kettle?
 
Thanks for the reply. The 10L was for the second sparge. I used 22L, and ended up with 18.76L for the boil.

I've pasted the brew steps below. maybe i should just have another go! I'd very much appreciate thoughts on the recipe. Does it seem like it has the potential to make something drinkable? I'll try steeping the wheat first - what temperate water would you use?


Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 11.89 l
Boil Size: 17.25 l
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 14.55 l
Final Bottling Vol: 10.00 l
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage


Date: 26 Feb 2014
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: Justin's equipment
Efficiency: 67.20 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.1 %
Taste Rating: 30.0


Taste Notes:


Prepare for Brewing

◯ Clean and Prepare Brewing Equipment
◯ Total Water Needed: 22.30 l


Mash or Steep Grains

Mash Ingredients


Amt

Name

Type

#

%/IBU

1.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (4.5 EBC) Grain 1 44.4 %
1.00 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (4.4 EBC) Grain 2 44.4 %
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt (100.0 EBC) Grain 3 11.1 %

Mash Steps


Name

Description

Step Temperature

Step Time

Mash In Add 5.87 l of water at 70.6 C 64.4 C 75 min
◯ Batch sparge with 2 steps (6.41l, 10.02l) of 75.6 C water

◯ Add water to achieve boil volume of 17.25 l
◯ Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.033 SG

Boil Ingredients


Amt

Name

Type

#

%/IBU

7.00 g Amarillo [10.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 14.7 IBUs
10.00 g Amarillo [10.90 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 10.4 IBUs
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 6 -
5.00 g Sea buckthorn berries (Boil 10.0 mins) Flavor 7 -
12.00 g Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 2.5 IBUs
◯ Estimated Post Boil Vol: 14.55 l and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.040 SG

Cool and Transfer Wort
◯ Cool wort to fermentation temperature
◯ Transfer wort to fermenter
◯ Add water if needed to achieve final volume of 11.89 l

Pitch Yeast and Measure Gravity and Volume

Fermentation Ingredients


Amt

Name

Type

#

%/IBU

1.0 pkg Belgian Wheat Yeast (Wyeast Labs #3942) [124.21 ml] Yeast 9 -
◯ Measure Actual Original Gravity _______    (Target: 1.040 SG)
◯ Measure Actual Batch Volume _______    (Target: 11.89 l)
◯ Add water if needed to achieve final volume of 11.89 l

Fermentation
◯ 26 Feb 2014 - Primary Fermentation (14.00 days at 19.4 C ending at 19.4 C)



Dry Hop and Bottle/Keg
◯ Measure Final Gravity: _________  (Estimate: 1.008 SG)
◯ Date Bottled/Kegged: 12 Mar 2014 - Carbonation: Bottle with 58.82 g Corn Sugar
◯ Age beer for 30.00 days at 18.3 C
◯ 11 Apr 2014 - Drink and enjoy!

Notes



 
ok before I add any more to this we have got to figure out something here. the grav reading you took was @1.004 after the boiling of 18L wort and that is almost imposable. that reading is about what warm water is from the tap. now was the grain crushed!, was this a kit or did you get it from LBS. my gut tells me the reading you got after the boil was 1.040. but of course I was not there. have you done any batches before this one?
  well any ways if you try again I would steep the wheat in 130 water for 20min. it will fall to about 120 in that time but it seamed to work for me when I used to do wheat in some of my beers. 
 
wheat malt shouldn't really require a protein rest (130 steep).

I would have added the first batch sparge water as part of the strike.

so something like

mash in with ~10 liters water (I don't know what the strike temp would be because I don't have beersmith in front of me)
75 minute rest
lauter and sparge with ~10 liters.

you should see ~ 1 liter per kg grain absorption so you will get ~8 liters out of that first runnings. spargeing with 10 liters get's you your 18 liter preboil.

to sparge add the hot water (near boiling is fine if your pH is in line and will possibly help with extraction efficiency), stir well, let settle for say 10 minutes and then vorlauf again till runnings are pretty clear (again, if your pH is in line it's not the end of the world is some grain ends up in the kettle. too much and you might get some starch haze but a little won't hurt anything), then run that off into the kettle.

you can even make it simpler. Mash in with as much water as it takes to hit ~4 liters/lg. run that off into your kettle or another container and measure. add the difference between your desired preboil volume and what you already have in sparge water.
 
I have an, ahem, admission to make. I've just double-checked the reading, made sure that the grain was crushed and suddenly realised that the water-like hydrometer reading was because I used 100g of grain instead of 1000g! What a fool!!!


 
justinopolis said:
I have an, ahem, admission to make. I've just double-checked the reading, made sure that the grain was crushed and suddenly realised that the water-like hydrometer reading was because I used 100g of grain instead of 1000g! What a fool!!!
Well that would do it! lesson learned!
 
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