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Low Original Gravity (2nd time)

Everyone has been super in responding. I just talked to a guy in a local brewery who mentioned that the place I buy my grain at has a "lousy" mill and he goes 40 miles north to another establishment due to that fact. How the heck do I know if my local brew emporium is setting the mill correctly? Thank you all.
 
Measure the SG of your first runnings.  Compare to this chart: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=File:First_wort_gravity.gif

You should be getting 90% of the available points as indicated in the table.  The primary driver for first running gravity is your crush.  Temperature and pH play a role too...but, they aren't near as important as crush. If you are below 90%, try having the LHBS double crush your next batch.  If your extraction goes up (especially if it gets above 90%)...then you know the issue is their mill.  It would be good to repeat that a couple of times to be sure it wasn't a fluke. 
 
jaybird789 said:
Everyone has been super in responding. I just talked to a guy in a local brewery who mentioned that the place I buy my grain at has a "lousy" mill and he goes 40 miles north to another establishment due to that fact. How the heck do I know if my local brew emporium is setting the mill correctly? Thank you all.

Like the original poster I am somewhat new to both all grain and beersmith. I also have been having trouble hitting  my numbers, but my focus has been on my equipment and brewhouse settings. I am not sure how to set my efficiency to get the right numbers, I started at 75% and have meen moving it down. I do take a measure of my pre-boil gravity and that is typically low. I sawa  post on this thread where they talked about adding extract, but have been reluctant to do that for fear of changing my beer profile. I have tried boiling longer to boil off more.
I have been batch sparging if that matters.

Are there tricks or tips to dial in the equipment settings for beersmith. I use a 10 Gallon igloo with a bazooka screen for a mash tun and have a large stainless 52 QT pot that I believe has a larger diameter than is ideal. I seem to get high boil off. How did most people here get their equipment set.

Also what setting is best for hops IBU calculation. I am not sure of the differences, but is one ideal?

Bruce
 
If you're just starting all-grain (AG), then I'd use a lower estimate for EE%, perhaps 60%.  After the brew, go back to that recipe and enter the measured results:  volumes, SG, etc., and BSmith will calculate the actual EE% you got.  Use that EE% the next time on the new recipe you try.  If EE% went down,  BSmith will compensate by telling you that you need more grains. 

After some number of batches, and assuming your process is consistent, you'll start hitting the numbers.  The first goal should be repeatability and consistent results.  Once you have that, you can start looking at whether you need/want to improve the process in order to boost EE% or whatever, 
 
I have been all grain brewing for 23 years and brew 17 gallon batches so, I may get different results because of the batch size but, I fly sparge in 30 mins and get 77%-85% efficiency so, I don't think it is the sparge time. I am going with the bad grind theory. I would drop some coin and get your own mill. Your gonna want one some day any how. Now is the time. The only other thing I didn't hear you say is if you mashed out (meaning raise the mash temp to 168-170 before you sparge). Even then I would expect a much higher OG. It has to be the grain crack. Go get a mill dude.
 
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