makemorebeer
Brewer
- Joined
- May 21, 2018
- Messages
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I was doing some thinking as i'm preparing for to brew tomorrow. I've been doing AG for nearly two years now, always done batch sparge using the blue 12gal. cooler that you can find so many conversion instructions for. my extraction is decent enough, generally in the low to mid 70's. so my question however is about dryness of my beers vs. body. it seems to me all my beers hit their marks for OG, however FG is generally in the range of 1.002 to 1.006, despite the predicted FG being something more like 1.012. My understanding here is that dryer beers finish lower and sweeter more body full beers will finish higher. the biggest example i can give is when i make an amber its always very dry and not real malty tasting.
My question then is why do I finish so low, and i wonder if it's not because of my Batch Sparge technique. my process is to mash (I also find i get better results from stirring vigorously every 15 minutes), lauter, sparge, refill, rest 10-15min, lauter, and sparge. Once that's all done i move the kettle to the burner and start heating. I've always Drained the Tun before my first and only addition. i'm wondering what difference it'd make if i did a mashout, so instead of draining first, if i did an addition at near boiling to raise the grain bed to mashout temps, then continued as I normally do with a smaller second addition. is this just a waste of time as it'd be a negligible result or should this be done?
I've read it both ways but the consistent answer i get from ten year old forum posts is that there is no point in doing this but some insist it should be done. i'm wondering what others do.
Thanks,
My question then is why do I finish so low, and i wonder if it's not because of my Batch Sparge technique. my process is to mash (I also find i get better results from stirring vigorously every 15 minutes), lauter, sparge, refill, rest 10-15min, lauter, and sparge. Once that's all done i move the kettle to the burner and start heating. I've always Drained the Tun before my first and only addition. i'm wondering what difference it'd make if i did a mashout, so instead of draining first, if i did an addition at near boiling to raise the grain bed to mashout temps, then continued as I normally do with a smaller second addition. is this just a waste of time as it'd be a negligible result or should this be done?
I've read it both ways but the consistent answer i get from ten year old forum posts is that there is no point in doing this but some insist it should be done. i'm wondering what others do.
Thanks,