Mark down my 4th all grain batch in the record books! I can’t believe how smoothly everything went today. Of course I undershot my mash temp but a kind soul was available via text for a quick response! Oh yeah, mental note for next time…when boiling 4 gallons of wort in a 10 gallon BK, remember that your immersion chiller is somewhat pointless in chilling 3 or so gallons.
So my pre-boil OG was 1.041 (1.043 estimated in BeerSmith) and the post-boil OG was 1.056. BeerSmith called for an estimated post-boil OG of 1.051 and I’m curious why the big difference? I did have a pretty low mash temp, and mashed for 75 minutes…not sure if that matters in this case.
I’m more concerned w the post boil figure. First because it was quite different than planned and secondly because I’d like to know the ABV. Like someone said before perhaps it doesn’t really matter.
Do you know your pre boil and post boil volumes? If so you can compare that to your estimated boil off rate so you can easily tell if gravity is higher because you boiled off more than you thought you would. If you rule that out then its probably an inaccurate hydrometer reading pre boil. The good news is it may be your efficiency that’s higher than you thought.
we use a refractometer and monitor our run off into the kettle and also take kettle measurements up til we hit our pre-boil vol and pre-boil OG. If we have a high efficient mash and we have a ton of sugar we just top up w/ water to hit our desired pre-boil OG. on our system we usually shoot for 1 to 1.5 points below our post-boil OG.
So maybe you had a very efficient mash and you ran off too much into the kettle? since your boil wasn’t all that vigorous it seems like you had too much sugar to begin w/. You might be able to reduce the base malt by 1 lb or 2…
You can also dilute with water (some brewers use distilled for this) if your OG is slightly higher than expected. There is a dilution tool on BrewSmith as there are on the internet. I do this all the time if I’m off more than a few points. It’s the same thing as adding sugar or malt extract if you’re below your target.
That’s why I use 6 and 6.75-gallon kettles for 3.5-gallon primary volume batches. The geometry of a smaller volume kettle is just all-around better for brewing smaller batches. The fluid column height for three gallons in a 12" diameter kettle is approximately 3 * 231 / 36 / 3.14 = 6.13" tall. The fluid column height for three gallons in a 14" diameter kettle is approximately 3 * 231 / 49 / 3.14 = 4.5" tall. A difference of 1.63" may not sound like much, but it translates to 1.63 / 0.375 = 4.35 additional coils being submerged in the wort when using a immersion chiller made with 3/8" diameter tubing. With 8" diameter coils, that difference results in over 8 additional feet of working copper or stainless steel.
So a quick update, I believe fermentation is pretty much done (confirming in a couple of days) and I’m at 1.004! What a low FG considering I started with 1.056, which Beersmith tells me is about 76% efficiency.
It sure doesn’t taste like 6.83%, so I’m thinking my FG reading was off somehow. Any thoughts?
Of course calibration is important - I have one hydrometer that reads 2 to 3 points low (the actual Gravity is 2-3 points higher than the reading). I marked it with red marker so I know it’s the “bad one”.
Justin- this was the 3 gal batch of beer you ended up mashing in around 148F? that ADT or apparent attenuation looks to be 92%…hmmm. I would focus on getting that hydrometer dialed in so you are confidant in all your readings. might even consider picking up a refractometer.
i’ve read people getting into the mid to high 80’s ADT with california ale. anyway, as we discussed, try the beer and perhaps get your mash temp in the 150-151F range if you want less attenuation on the next batch.
couple things could have happened on your pre boil and post boil gravity-wort was thoroughly mixed for accurate representation of gravity, and or you boild off more and had a more concentrated wort. taking your gravity reading at first boil should get you an accurate reading, and then reading at flameout. i also take a refractometer reading once i transfer to carboy and its all mixed up.
Trust your hydrometer. It’s more accurate than your taste. A 1.056 beer could easily go to 1.004 with the mash schedule you used. I don’t recall the yeast, but something like US05 would certainly make it possible.