WingedWheel329
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Because of the design of the pickup tube in my kettle, I leave 1.88 gallons behind after it's drained. As far as the boil-off, I measured that by filling the kettle with water to a known volume, boiled for 60 minutes and measured the remaining volume. That measured 1.54 gals over 60 minutes. Is there a better way to measure this?grathan said:The only thing that stands out to me is the 1.8 gallons lost to trub, seems high in addition to 1.7 gallon boil-off. Your target was 5.25 gallons for the fermenter with 1.8 gallons left for trub/chiller and you ended up with 6.25 gallons + 1.8 trub/chiller?
Also the .pdf file has more mash in water than the mash profile for some reason.
Any chance you could link me? I'm having trouble locating that post.ihikeut said:Your mash eff is terrible. You need to double check temp, grain crush. I test gravity of the wort threw out the mashing period and continue to mash until I get 66% of my OG. Tom Hampton has excellent post on this process.
On the recipe that's already been brewed?brewfun said:With the updated equipment profile in place and all of your actual measurements entered, go with the "Measured Efficiency" number from the fermentation page.
Pre-boil: 8.95 gallons, 1.028brewfun said:What was your pre-boil gravity & volume? What was post boil OG?
Thank you very much for your help, brewfun. It's entirely possible that I took the gravity reading too warm. I did measure the warm sample, but adjusted for temperature. I recently read (after brewing this batch), that that doesn't work above 90. I will let the sample cool in the future.brewfun said:I ran this recipe and your reported numbers, including the updated loss to trub. You had an overall brewhouse efficiency of 61.5%. Try that in your next recipe.
There seems to be something off about what you're reporting for pre-boil numbers. You should have gotten about 1.035 for gravity. Perhaps the wort was too warm, when you measured it? It doesn't really matter, except that it points to other possible measurement errors. BeerSmith is calculating a potential mash efficiency of 71%,which is respectable.
So, if this recipe had been at the correct volume, your numbers should approximate:
Pre Boil: 8 gal, 1.042
Loss to Trub: 1 gal
In fermenter: 5.25 gal, 1.054
I set the recipe up for 90 mins and boiled for 90 mins. The sparge water was in there for a few minutes, 5-10. I do not measure mash pH, but I do use 5.2 pH stabilizer in the mash water.brewfun said:Did you only boil the wort for 60 minutes, and the recipe is set for 90? That would account for the extra 0.75 gallons of boil off.
How much contact time does the batch sparge water have with the grain? Do you measure mash pH? If so, what is it?
Are you milling your grain? It's sounding like it might be too coarse.
Over the summer, I tested the boiloff rate twice. First, I boiled for an hour and measured the difference between the known volume I started with, and what was left. Then, after thinking that 1.54 gals. was too much, I did it again (a different day) for 15 minutes, and multiplied the loss by 4. This gave me 1.625 gals. I averaged the two and used 1.58 gals. Is there a better way to measure this?brewfun said:It sounds like your boil off rate is significantly less than you think it is. The gain of 0.75 gallons means that your 90 minute total was 1.58 gallons of boil off, or 1.1 gallons per hour.
Your gravity of 1.041 in 6 gallons becomes 246 gravity points (41 x6 = 246). When that's divided by the pre-boil gravity, you had to have started with ~7.68 gallons (246 / 32 = 7.69). The difference is 1.58 gallons, which you said was your hourly rate.
I'm completely discounting trub loss, because that is only a factor for efficiency. Add that amount to my totals and the math will still work.
I'm not a big fan of the 5.2 product. It's tailored for a particular level of minerals and if they're exceeded, then all bets are off. I think you're better off with a little acidulated malt if you're working blind. I'm not going to suggest a full water report and water spreadsheet out of respect for your "relaxing hobby" thought.
In this case, I'm wondering if you got full conversion before sparging. A pretty standard 1.25:1 liquor ratio should get you about 1.096 first runnings when you have full conversion. The 1.078 first runnings your reporting are full conversion for a mash ratio of 1.6:1. This is one easy place to measure and gauge whether you're getting the most from the grain.
It's common for LHBS mills to be set wide. Simply, 75% of their business is new, extract brewers and a fine crush is more problematic for them. Since they want people to enjoy the hobby and buy more kits, that's what the mill is set for. Most often, just asking them to mill the grain twice is sufficient.
WingedWheel329 said:Over the summer, I tested the boiloff rate twice.