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RE: Diastetic Power

SplitHop

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After an un-sucessful batch of Russian Imperial Stout, which by the way was from the brewers book of recipes form the 1st place National home brewers recipes, names not stated to show respect for the process, has come up short on gravity big time.  A proposed fermentation gravity of 1.078 was way short form the start coming in at 1.065 leaving me wondering if my efficiency was off due to my sparging methods, or mashing techniques or because I just plain followed the recipe?  It appears it has something to do with Diastetic power of my grain bill.

So for those of you out there that have never considered this little calculation, read the article now, really will save you from wishing for the right gravity.  So you can see the math, this was my grain bill for this beer.

Munich Breiss 10L 28 lbs. (28 x 10L = 280)
Pilsner German 2 Row 110L 8 lbs. (8 x 110L = 880)
Caramel Munich 60L 4 lbs. (4 x 60L - 240)

Add them all together and you get 1400 and divide it by the total grain bill of 35lbs give you a whopping 40.  Ugh.

Anyway thought you all would at least find this entertaining, laugh all you want, next time will be a crusher batch.

 
You have plenty of diastatic power for conversion.  Caramunich 60L is already converted and should have a diastatic level of 0.  Are you sure you are not confusing the malt color (L = Lovibond) with the diastatic power (oL = degrees Lintner) in your calculation below?  Breiss Munich malt has a diastatic power of around 40 degrees L. 

For efficiency issues, I would recommend first looking at your crush.  You want to make sure that you have no or very, very few intact kernels of grain.  When it comes to diagnosing efficiency issues, crush is the answer 9 times out of 10.

After that, it may be influenced by your sparging technique or mash tun configuration.
 
Greetings SplitHop - I have experienced the same result when brewing a big beer....and a Russian Imperial Stout is a BIG beer.  If you are so inclined, Brad sent a newsletter some time ago about efficiency and brewing big beers.  I highly recommend reading this article. It explains in great detail the downfall you and I have both experienced when brewing high gravity beers.....and yes, it is the efficiency and sparging that are the culprit.

Good luck!

Check it out:
http://beersmith.com/blog/2016/03/03/adjusting-your-brewhouse-efficiency-for-high-gravity-beers-beer-brewing-quick-tip/
 
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