We decided to go with a Scottish Strong Ale this week. Thought it would be a good change. Here are the details:
Batch Size - 5 gallons
Grains
14.5 lbs - 2-Row
1 lbs - Caramunich Malt
1 lbs - Crystal Malt 80L
8 oz - Biscuit Malt
8 oz - White Wheat Malt
1 oz - Roasted Barley
Hops
50 g - US Goldings
Yeast
Wyeast 1728 - Scottish Ale - Target 400 billion cells
The brew schedule was as follows:
Mash
1.5 q water/lb
60 min at 158 degrees
Mashout to 170 degrees
Sparge for approx 1 hour
Boil
90 minute boil
Start - Add US Goldings Hops
80 min - Add Whirfloc
Fermentation
Primary - 7 Days @ 60
Secondary - 7 Days @ 70
Keg Condition - 14 Days
Here are the specs on this brew:
IBU's - 24.4
Color - 16.0 SRM
Calories - 240 per 12 oz
Estimated OG - 1.073
Actual OG - 1.071
Estimated FG - 1.021
Estimated ABV - 6.81%
New Estimated ABV from OG - 6.55%
We only hit an 81% efficiency today. We also mashed a bit different, this is the first time I've mashed at a temp over 154 degrees, so I'm not sure how much this contributed. In general it was a pretty smooth brew day however when we took a pre-boil gravity reading we were coming in at 1.040 when we should have been at 1.050. We did accidentally transfer too much wort over for boil, about .5 gallons too much, so we decided that since our boil rate is approx 1 gallon per 30 minutes, we would boil for 15 minutes to get the wort level down to the level we wanted then take another reading. After that first 15 minutes our new reading came in at 1.050 so we looked like we were back on track.
At that point we pitched our hops and had the timer run for 90 minutes and were back on track. We did forget to measure the pH of the brew pre-boil, however our mash pH was at 5.5 without any lactic acid additives needed (we ended up adding 1 ml to bring it down to 5.4) so I would be surprised if we really needed to tweak the boil pH. It is important to note though because every step is important.
Next weekend we are taking off from brewing. We have several batches processing right now, so it will be a good break. Starting the planning for our next wave though!
Monday, February 18, 2013
First Yeast Starter!
I finally took the plunge and invested in the gear needed to do a yeast starter. I picked up a stir plate, a 5L Erlenmeyer Flask, large stir magnet, some extra light DME, and some yeast nutrients. I've anticipated learning more about this aspect for some time, but I didn't want to over complicate things initially.
Understanding the dynamics of yeast is a challenge for me. There are so many aspects to consider such as how clean/sterile the environment is as there is wild yeast in the air around us, the temperature, the gravity/sugar levels, oxygen needs, etc... In brewing the goal is to raise healthy yeast cells more than anything. If you're environment or sugar levels are off, you may make the yeast work too hard, or too little. These situations can result in yeast that spends more energy building up cell walls, and not necessarily the healthiest of yeast to use.
Brewers also try to measure how much yeast they are pitching. Considering most calculations are done in the billions, how do you count a billion yeast cells! There are several techniques I've read about, but ultimately I decided to use online calculators to help me pull correct amounts together.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/
First I thought I would try to grow yeast from a bottle as I was going to make a Scottish Strong Ale next which called for a Belhaven yeast, so I figured I needed to culture that from a bought bottle. However when trying to buy a beer to culture from, I could not find any that were bottle conditioned, they all looked clean as can be. My assumption was that they have been filtered, and possibly pasteurized. Even if not pasteurized it would be real hard to build up enough yeast. I went onto plan B, which was to use a Scottish Ale yeast and simply build a large starter. This seemed to be a safer way to go anyway.
Starting with the Wyeast smack pack, I knew I was starting with approx 100 billion cells. However based on the age of the yeast, the calculator thought I would only get around 73% of that. The calculator estimated I would need approx 400 billion cells. This meant I needed a starter with approx 10.9 oz of DME starter.
Now to start this thing off. I warmed up the smack pack, and gave it a good smack to get started. Then I measured out 3L of water, and 10.9 oz of DME. I mixed that together directly in the flask, and put it on the stove. I've read/heard conflicting things here about this step. Some people say you can heat these flasks directly on the stove, some say it can crack if it gets uneven heat so you should try to heat it less directly. I thought I would try by putting a large frying pan on my stove and putting the flask on top of that. Unfortunately it never came up to a boil. After a while I figured this wasn't working so I went ahead and placed the flask directly over the flame on my stove. This finally brought it up to a boil.
I have also read different discussions on how long to boil. Some people boil as little as a minute, some up to 15. I went ahead and let boil for only a few minutes. I felt this was enough to sanitize everything inside the flask, and would have dissolved the DME just fine. I should also note I bought a foam cap for the flask which I had on during the boil so it would sanitize as well. After the boil I simply set the new wort to the side and slowly let cool down to room temp while the smack pack was growing.
That night before bed I finally pitched the yeast into the flask, and let it do its thing. By the morning I could see activity, but not ready to pitch into my brew. Watching the yeast during the day it slowly built up a foam top with bubbling, which then slowly died down. Eventually about 24 hours after pitching, there was no foam left and it looked like it completed. I went ahead and left it on the plate over night again before cold crashing.
This morning when I woke up the magnet had spun off the stir plate magnet so it stopped spinning, this allowed some of the yeast to start to settle out. This morning I put the flask into the fridge and will let it settle out further. I later plan to move the flask into the fermentation chamber which is set to 60 degrees, will probably do this around 4pm. Then before bed tonight I will pour off the spent wort on top of the yeast bed, and pitch the remaining yeast into the beer I brewed yesterday.
Gotta start somewhere, and am interested to see how this all goes. I think the biggest risk I have taken here is leaving my wort hanging out overnight without yeast. Fortunately I am able to quickly cool my wort with my counter-flow wort chiller, so I rush past most of the dangerous temperatures. Assuming my sanitizing was good, I should be ok. Not to mention most the time when using a smack-pack, it takes a good 24 hours before the yeast really starts working. However with the starter I made it will be very quick to start, so I am probably on a similar timeline as normal at this point. The lesson here is to start my yeast starter 2-3 days prior.
I'll let everyone know how it goes!
Understanding the dynamics of yeast is a challenge for me. There are so many aspects to consider such as how clean/sterile the environment is as there is wild yeast in the air around us, the temperature, the gravity/sugar levels, oxygen needs, etc... In brewing the goal is to raise healthy yeast cells more than anything. If you're environment or sugar levels are off, you may make the yeast work too hard, or too little. These situations can result in yeast that spends more energy building up cell walls, and not necessarily the healthiest of yeast to use.
Brewers also try to measure how much yeast they are pitching. Considering most calculations are done in the billions, how do you count a billion yeast cells! There are several techniques I've read about, but ultimately I decided to use online calculators to help me pull correct amounts together.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/
First I thought I would try to grow yeast from a bottle as I was going to make a Scottish Strong Ale next which called for a Belhaven yeast, so I figured I needed to culture that from a bought bottle. However when trying to buy a beer to culture from, I could not find any that were bottle conditioned, they all looked clean as can be. My assumption was that they have been filtered, and possibly pasteurized. Even if not pasteurized it would be real hard to build up enough yeast. I went onto plan B, which was to use a Scottish Ale yeast and simply build a large starter. This seemed to be a safer way to go anyway.
Starting with the Wyeast smack pack, I knew I was starting with approx 100 billion cells. However based on the age of the yeast, the calculator thought I would only get around 73% of that. The calculator estimated I would need approx 400 billion cells. This meant I needed a starter with approx 10.9 oz of DME starter.
Now to start this thing off. I warmed up the smack pack, and gave it a good smack to get started. Then I measured out 3L of water, and 10.9 oz of DME. I mixed that together directly in the flask, and put it on the stove. I've read/heard conflicting things here about this step. Some people say you can heat these flasks directly on the stove, some say it can crack if it gets uneven heat so you should try to heat it less directly. I thought I would try by putting a large frying pan on my stove and putting the flask on top of that. Unfortunately it never came up to a boil. After a while I figured this wasn't working so I went ahead and placed the flask directly over the flame on my stove. This finally brought it up to a boil.
I have also read different discussions on how long to boil. Some people boil as little as a minute, some up to 15. I went ahead and let boil for only a few minutes. I felt this was enough to sanitize everything inside the flask, and would have dissolved the DME just fine. I should also note I bought a foam cap for the flask which I had on during the boil so it would sanitize as well. After the boil I simply set the new wort to the side and slowly let cool down to room temp while the smack pack was growing.
That night before bed I finally pitched the yeast into the flask, and let it do its thing. By the morning I could see activity, but not ready to pitch into my brew. Watching the yeast during the day it slowly built up a foam top with bubbling, which then slowly died down. Eventually about 24 hours after pitching, there was no foam left and it looked like it completed. I went ahead and left it on the plate over night again before cold crashing.
This morning when I woke up the magnet had spun off the stir plate magnet so it stopped spinning, this allowed some of the yeast to start to settle out. This morning I put the flask into the fridge and will let it settle out further. I later plan to move the flask into the fermentation chamber which is set to 60 degrees, will probably do this around 4pm. Then before bed tonight I will pour off the spent wort on top of the yeast bed, and pitch the remaining yeast into the beer I brewed yesterday.
Gotta start somewhere, and am interested to see how this all goes. I think the biggest risk I have taken here is leaving my wort hanging out overnight without yeast. Fortunately I am able to quickly cool my wort with my counter-flow wort chiller, so I rush past most of the dangerous temperatures. Assuming my sanitizing was good, I should be ok. Not to mention most the time when using a smack-pack, it takes a good 24 hours before the yeast really starts working. However with the starter I made it will be very quick to start, so I am probably on a similar timeline as normal at this point. The lesson here is to start my yeast starter 2-3 days prior.
I'll let everyone know how it goes!
Batch #14 - American Cream Ale
Decided to go a bit of a lighter direction with an American Cream Ale, brewed on 2/10/13. Here are the details:
Batch Size - 5 Gallons
Grains
9 lbs - 2-Row
.5 lbs - Flaked Barley
1 lbs - Flaked Maize
1 lbs - Crystal Malt 20L
.5 oz - Chocolate Malt
Hops
10.5 g - Willamette (60 min)
10.5 g - Cascade (60 min)
3.5 g - Willamette (30 min)
3.5 g - Cascade (30 min)
3.5 g - Willamette (flameout)
3.5 g - Cascade (flameout)
Yeast
Wyeast 1056 - American Ale
The brew schedule was as follows:
Mash
1.5 q water/lb
60 min at 154 degrees
Mashout to 170 degrees
Sparge for approx 1 hour
Boil
60 minute boil
Start - Add 10.5 g Willamette Hops and 10.5 g Cascade Hops
30 min - Add 3.5 g Willamette Hops and 3.5 g Cascade Hops
50 min - Add Whirfloc
Flameout - Add 3.5 g Willamette Hops and 3.5 g Cascade Hops
Fermentation
Primary - 7 Days @ 62
Secondary - 7 Days @ 70
Keg Condition - 14 Days
Here are the specs on this brew:
IBU's - 16.72
Color - 6.2 SRM
Calories - 157 per 12 oz
Estimated OG - 1.048
Actual OG - 1.046
Estimated FG - 1.012
Estimated ABV - 4.72%
New Estimated ABV from OG - 4.45%
I got a little lower efficiency today at 80%, but I can live with the variance today. I've also been considering adding vanilla to the secondary as I enjoy a good vanilla cream ale. I'll see how the fermentation goes and give it a taste on transfer, make a decision from there.
Batch Size - 5 Gallons
Grains
9 lbs - 2-Row
.5 lbs - Flaked Barley
1 lbs - Flaked Maize
1 lbs - Crystal Malt 20L
.5 oz - Chocolate Malt
Hops
10.5 g - Willamette (60 min)
10.5 g - Cascade (60 min)
3.5 g - Willamette (30 min)
3.5 g - Cascade (30 min)
3.5 g - Willamette (flameout)
3.5 g - Cascade (flameout)
Yeast
Wyeast 1056 - American Ale
The brew schedule was as follows:
Mash
1.5 q water/lb
60 min at 154 degrees
Mashout to 170 degrees
Sparge for approx 1 hour
Boil
60 minute boil
Start - Add 10.5 g Willamette Hops and 10.5 g Cascade Hops
30 min - Add 3.5 g Willamette Hops and 3.5 g Cascade Hops
50 min - Add Whirfloc
Flameout - Add 3.5 g Willamette Hops and 3.5 g Cascade Hops
Fermentation
Primary - 7 Days @ 62
Secondary - 7 Days @ 70
Keg Condition - 14 Days
Here are the specs on this brew:
IBU's - 16.72
Color - 6.2 SRM
Calories - 157 per 12 oz
Estimated OG - 1.048
Actual OG - 1.046
Estimated FG - 1.012
Estimated ABV - 4.72%
New Estimated ABV from OG - 4.45%
I got a little lower efficiency today at 80%, but I can live with the variance today. I've also been considering adding vanilla to the secondary as I enjoy a good vanilla cream ale. I'll see how the fermentation goes and give it a taste on transfer, make a decision from there.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Batch #(Lucky)13 - Irish Cream Stout
Getting ready for St. Patrick's Day, we decided to brew an Irish Cream Stout. I found a recipe that was an extract recipe that I converted to an all-grain, and we did a 5-gallon batch. Here are the details:
Grains
11 lbs - 2-Row
.75 lbs - Crystal Malt 120L
.75 lbs - Chocolate Malt
.5 lbs - Black (Patent) Malt
.5 lbs - Roasted Barley
Hops
1 oz - Willamette
Yeast
Wyeast 1084 - Irish Ale
The brew schedule was as follows:
Mash
1.5 q water/lb
60 min at 154 degrees
Mashout to 170 degrees
Sparge for approx 1 hour
Boil
60 minute boil
Start - Add Willamette Hops
50 min - Add Whirfloc
Fermentation
Primary - 7 Days @ 63
Secondary - 7 Days @ 70
Keg Condition - 14 Days
Here are the specs on this brew:
IBU's - 14.48
Color - 41.7 SRM
Calories - 177 per 12 oz
Estimated OG - 1.054
Actual OG - 1.056
Estimated FG - 1.015
Estimated ABV - 5.11%
New Estimated ABV from OG - 5.37%
As you can see we hit a slightly better efficiency at 86%. Am happy to see things moving in this direction. I've also started tracking pH at several key points, as well as Preboil OG. I feel we are really getting the process even more smoothed out and I look forward to trying this out! I am also interested to see how this evolves, we may end up conditioning a bit longer, maybe right up to St. Patrick's day.
Grains
11 lbs - 2-Row
.75 lbs - Crystal Malt 120L
.75 lbs - Chocolate Malt
.5 lbs - Black (Patent) Malt
.5 lbs - Roasted Barley
Hops
1 oz - Willamette
Yeast
Wyeast 1084 - Irish Ale
The brew schedule was as follows:
Mash
1.5 q water/lb
60 min at 154 degrees
Mashout to 170 degrees
Sparge for approx 1 hour
Boil
60 minute boil
Start - Add Willamette Hops
50 min - Add Whirfloc
Fermentation
Primary - 7 Days @ 63
Secondary - 7 Days @ 70
Keg Condition - 14 Days
Here are the specs on this brew:
IBU's - 14.48
Color - 41.7 SRM
Calories - 177 per 12 oz
Estimated OG - 1.054
Actual OG - 1.056
Estimated FG - 1.015
Estimated ABV - 5.11%
New Estimated ABV from OG - 5.37%
As you can see we hit a slightly better efficiency at 86%. Am happy to see things moving in this direction. I've also started tracking pH at several key points, as well as Preboil OG. I feel we are really getting the process even more smoothed out and I look forward to trying this out! I am also interested to see how this evolves, we may end up conditioning a bit longer, maybe right up to St. Patrick's day.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Batch #12 - Honey Banana Wheat Ale
This is my white whale brew. This time I have come at this brew at full steam, and applied all lessons previously learned. The most recent lesson is how yeast behaves. Yeast wants to eat simple sugars first, then move onto the more complex sugars. However it is when eating the simple sugars does the yeast produce the banana flavor esters. More simple sugars = more esters. There are a couple of other factors with this yeast which is to under pitch the yeast, and to ferment at a warm temperature. In addition not using oxygen to start with will also help. My new recipe and process takes into consideration all of these things. Here it is:
Yield - 5 Gallons
Grains & Adjuncts
5.0 lbs - 2-Row
3.75 lbs - White Wheat Malt
1.0 lbs - Torrified Wheat
5.0 lbs - 2-Row
3.75 lbs - White Wheat Malt
1.0 lbs - Torrified Wheat
.1 lbs - Roasted Wheat
.5 lbs - Rice Hulls
3.0 lbs - Honey
Hops
7g - Nugget
2.5g - Horizon
2.5g - Summit
9g - Willamette
18.5g - Santiam
10g - Willamette
Yeast
Wyeast 3333 - German Wheat
The brew schedule was as follows:
Mash
45 min at 150 degrees
Heat to 170 degrees
Sparge for approx 45 min
Boil
90 minute boil
Start - Add Honey, Nugget Hops, Horizon Hops, Summit Hops
45 min - Add 9g Willamette Hops
75 min - Add Santiam Hops and remaining 10g Willamette Hops
80 min - Add Whirfloc (1 tablet)
Here are the specs on this brew:
IBU's - 31.62
Color - 7.5 SRM
Calories - 190 per 12 oz
Estimated OG - 1.058
Actual OG - 1.057 (much better!)
Estimated FG - 1.016
Estimated ABV - 5.5%
New Estimated ABV from OG - 5.37%
Fermentation Schedule
14 days at 73 degrees
14 days in keg conditioning (last time I brewed banana with some success, it needed time to condition)
Time to drink!
I have taken a quick look underneath the hood in the fermentation chamber and it seems to be progressing nicely. I can't smell any banana yet, but I'm not sure that I will from simply the blow-off. I probably won't be able to tell until after I transfer to keg. Last time I had some success with banana it was obvious at transfer time, am hoping the same here.
Here's to my 4th attempt, and possibly a more successful attempt!
Lessons Learned
As we all know, there is always something new to learn. My last few brews have been very frustrating as the efficiencies I achieved were much lower than planned, so they negatively impacted the quality of my brews. With that there were a couple of lessons I feel I have learned from this experience.
1. Test Pre-Boil Gravity
Had I been testing the Pre-Boil Gravity, I would have caught the issue before going into the boil and could have corrected. As to how to correct, I am still learning what options that may be. The easiest would be to compensate with some DME or LME. I also wonder though if there are options related to doing another small mash? That of course would result in potentially too much liquid in my boil pot. I think another option is to boil longer to evaporate more of the water, however this may lead to issues with bitterness if not done properly. As I stated, I have some more exploration here. I suspect if in the same position I will simply throw in a little DME to save the batch.
2. All grains are not equal
I have not run the tests I previously outlined, but I am very confident this is where my issue was. My batch of Cargill 2-Row was not producing the sugar that my Canadian 2-Row was. I still have some of the Cargill to test, but I just brewed this weekend (post to come next), and my efficiency was right back spot on.
3. This was a good opportunity to explore all reasons associated with poor efficiency and double check my process.
One of the first areas people should focus on is the quality of the crush. If you have a poor crush, it will be an issue and impact extraction. I checked my crusher and it was set at the proper distance still, so it was good to confirm it hadn't adjusted over use. Another area to check is pH levels. I always check my mash pH and insure I am around 5.4. I've not always checked my sparge pH, but I have now started also checking my boil pH. Taking readings at each step helps identify issues and the process. Lastly the sparge itself is something I am paying more attention to. My system uses a continuous sparge, which means the grain bed should have an inch or two of water on top during the whole process where water is moved into the boil kettle at the same pace as HLT water coming into the mash tun. I believe you want to target a sparge at around the rate of 1qt per min, so for a 15 gallon boil you want to sparge over 60 minutes.
Most of these steps I have been following properly, but it is still good to review. The last area I have left to complete is how I use my software. The software I use is iBrewmaster. I like the software, and it works well. However as with any software you need to dial into the software your system configuration so it can give you the best results. I have everything properly identified with exception of identifying proper shrinkage from boil to fermenter, as well as wort lost in hoses and the bottom of the kettle. I plan to focus on this over the next few brews to get this dialed in properly.
Key here more than anything though is consistency. If my software says use 20lbs of grain, and I should have an OG of 1.055, then if I hit 1.055 then I'm happy and as far as I'm concerned the software is dialed-in. These setting associated with shrinkage, etc.., are only relevant to a degree. I regularly hit my targeted numbers prior to the Cargill grain, but as part of my review I took a closer look at the software which was good to do. I learned more about the software this way.
Lastly, I have decided to brew more often. I am going to try to brew at least once a week for a while. I will most likely dial down the size of the batches to 5 gallons, as I plan to do more experimental brewing, and with that frequency I would end up with way too much beer (some may argue there is no such thing!). With that said I am working on developing a true brew schedule so I can coordinate ingredients, what needs time in the fermenter, conditioning, etc.. Later my next growth area will be using yeast starters. When brewing high gravity 10 gallon batches, the yeast gets expensive (like $25). It would be great to start with a $6 batch, and grow it into the amount I need. That comes later though, but I'm looking forward to learning about it!
1. Test Pre-Boil Gravity
Had I been testing the Pre-Boil Gravity, I would have caught the issue before going into the boil and could have corrected. As to how to correct, I am still learning what options that may be. The easiest would be to compensate with some DME or LME. I also wonder though if there are options related to doing another small mash? That of course would result in potentially too much liquid in my boil pot. I think another option is to boil longer to evaporate more of the water, however this may lead to issues with bitterness if not done properly. As I stated, I have some more exploration here. I suspect if in the same position I will simply throw in a little DME to save the batch.
2. All grains are not equal
I have not run the tests I previously outlined, but I am very confident this is where my issue was. My batch of Cargill 2-Row was not producing the sugar that my Canadian 2-Row was. I still have some of the Cargill to test, but I just brewed this weekend (post to come next), and my efficiency was right back spot on.
3. This was a good opportunity to explore all reasons associated with poor efficiency and double check my process.
One of the first areas people should focus on is the quality of the crush. If you have a poor crush, it will be an issue and impact extraction. I checked my crusher and it was set at the proper distance still, so it was good to confirm it hadn't adjusted over use. Another area to check is pH levels. I always check my mash pH and insure I am around 5.4. I've not always checked my sparge pH, but I have now started also checking my boil pH. Taking readings at each step helps identify issues and the process. Lastly the sparge itself is something I am paying more attention to. My system uses a continuous sparge, which means the grain bed should have an inch or two of water on top during the whole process where water is moved into the boil kettle at the same pace as HLT water coming into the mash tun. I believe you want to target a sparge at around the rate of 1qt per min, so for a 15 gallon boil you want to sparge over 60 minutes.
Most of these steps I have been following properly, but it is still good to review. The last area I have left to complete is how I use my software. The software I use is iBrewmaster. I like the software, and it works well. However as with any software you need to dial into the software your system configuration so it can give you the best results. I have everything properly identified with exception of identifying proper shrinkage from boil to fermenter, as well as wort lost in hoses and the bottom of the kettle. I plan to focus on this over the next few brews to get this dialed in properly.
Key here more than anything though is consistency. If my software says use 20lbs of grain, and I should have an OG of 1.055, then if I hit 1.055 then I'm happy and as far as I'm concerned the software is dialed-in. These setting associated with shrinkage, etc.., are only relevant to a degree. I regularly hit my targeted numbers prior to the Cargill grain, but as part of my review I took a closer look at the software which was good to do. I learned more about the software this way.
Lastly, I have decided to brew more often. I am going to try to brew at least once a week for a while. I will most likely dial down the size of the batches to 5 gallons, as I plan to do more experimental brewing, and with that frequency I would end up with way too much beer (some may argue there is no such thing!). With that said I am working on developing a true brew schedule so I can coordinate ingredients, what needs time in the fermenter, conditioning, etc.. Later my next growth area will be using yeast starters. When brewing high gravity 10 gallon batches, the yeast gets expensive (like $25). It would be great to start with a $6 batch, and grow it into the amount I need. That comes later though, but I'm looking forward to learning about it!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Batch #11 - Irish Red Ale
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.
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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