I write this today feeling a little defeated, a little frustrated, not sure what happened, but I will figure it out! We've been tasting the Whiskey Oak Aged Ale over the last week or so and have really been enjoying it. After taking it off the oak, it's flavor kept evolving and changing. I think what we have learned is that we need to let it condition for a while so the flavors all settle in. We knew one thing though, we were going to want more. With that said I decided to brew the base ale recipe again to get it started, which is an Irish Red Ale.
I followed the exact same recipe as Batch #7. However this time I had very different results. My starting gravity ended up way too low, and my software is telling me I only hit a 66% efficiency rate. Sound familiar? Last week when I brewed my Super Bowl ale, I hit only a 73% rate. Both are way under my usual 83%. At first last week I had thought I had my recipe off in my software, but I realized here today that it was correct as I followed the same recipe in my software as Batch #7 which went fine before and was also based on a 10 gallon batch (not 12 gallon).
I have been trying to figure out what the issue could possibly be. My grain mill is crushing at the correct depth. My mash went great, and pH levels were spot on. Transfer went as planned, boil straight forward, and then chilling. I've now done this many times with this rig, and all the steps were the same, but always with much better efficiency. The only thing I can think of at this point is there being an issue with the grain itself.
This is the first time I'm using a Cargill 2-Row that I picked up at my local home brew supply shop. Normally I use another brand. Both last batch and this batch were made with this grain. I am working out a way to test the theory on the grain being the issue. I'm going to get a bag of grain that I have been using previously, and am going to do a small mash with the grain I used today, and my usual grain. From there I will see the sugar output to see if there is a difference.
My plan is to take around a single cup of each crushed grain (will weigh them so they are identical), heat up a proportional amount of water to a little over 160 degrees. I will pour that water into two thermoses, and add each grain to each thermos. I will let them sit there for 60 minutes to mash, then I will pour out the liquid through a grain bag (to catch the grain and get all the liquid). I will let this cool, then I will test the gravity of both samples. If my theory is correct, I should get a lower gravity with the grain I used today.
There is a part two to this. Today I also transferred the Super Bowl Ale and gave it a taste. It has a wonderful smell to it, however the taste is a bit sour. It is discouraging because I don't think this will turn out any good, and after today's brew now I'm wondering about this as well. I'm hoping today's will taste ok because it can be ready in time for the Super Bowl to replace last week's batch if needed. I'm going to taste it next week and will see. However if I'm right about the grain, I wonder if this will also taste a little sour. This may mean the grain at some point picked up moisture and started to turn. I need to learn more about what can happen to grain.
Now I'm on a mission to learn more about how to best analyze my grains before committing to a brew. I also learned a lesson to start taking a gravity reading of my pre-boil wort. This way if my numbers are coming in too low, I can add some malt extract into the boil to get my number to where I want it. That of course is not ideal, but it may save a doomed batch.
My next post will be this week where I share the results of the grain test.
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