1st Ag "biab" Kind Of

[cozmocracker]

Well i was asking a lot, an all grain brew in a 20 litre urn, and i got a lot, 1077 SG!!!! i was wanting 1054. The recipe was for an Irish Red Ale from the jamil show. I had 5.5kg of grain mashed in 15 litres of water at 66 for 60 minutes. i did a clumsy sparge (which i wont go into) with 6 litres of water at 78 degrees. Ended up with a preboil SG of 1065 with a guess of about 17 to 18 litres in the kettle. There was one hop addition at 60 minutes of kent goldings, 45g to an estimate of 23 IBU. i ended up with 14 to 15 litres of wort post boil. I then added cold water for 23 litres in the fermenter. i am no chilling. My Wyeast 1084 is rearing to go, wort currently at 32 degrees and slowy coming down in the fridge.

Why was my SG out of the fermenter so high?
Is there anything i can do? add more water ? if so how much?
What could i change next time? yes i will be getting a 40 litre urn.

thanks for any advice,

cozmo

 

[cozmocracker]

BUMP, sorry to bump but i need to know whether or not to add more water to bring down the SG before i pitch yeast, or should i just leave and hope for the best?

 

[Mantis]

Didnt you say you added water to bring it to 23L.
If not then yes add water and pitch the yeast

 

[pokolbinguy]

What is you SG at the moment?? Is it 1077??

If you tell me your current volume and SG I'll plug it into beersmith and tell you what volume of water you need to add to come down to your desired SG (1054??)

EDIT: if your current SG is 1077 (@ 20deg) and you want to get down to 1054 (@ 20 deg) you need to add approx 9.5L of water. This is what beersmith is telling me anyway. This will give you a total volume of 32.5 litres, so nearly 2 kegs worth

 

[cozmocracker]

in the fermenter with the added water to bring it to 23 litres and its 1077.

i just got back from the shed, i added another 6 litres hoping that will bring it back to 1060, i have added a blow off tube because theres not much room left.

current temp about 24 to 26. so i havent pitched yet.


my SG was 1077 with 23 litres in the fermenter, to make it clearer.

 

[pokolbinguy]

in the fermenter with the added water to bring it to 23 litres and its 1077.

i just got back from the shed, i added another 6 litres hoping that will bring it back to 1060, i have added a blow off tube because theres not much room left.

current temp about 24 to 26. so i havent pitched yet.

Can you maybe split it into two fermenters (if you have an extra one) and then split your yeast between the two. Would solve the space issue and bring your SG back down to want you wanted.

 

[cozmocracker]

thanks pokolbinguy, i have added 6 litres due to spacial limitations. if that brings it down to 1060 then its close enough to the 1054 i was after.

my question is why was my SG so high?

 

[cozmocracker]

i do have a spare fermenter but i dont really want to divide the yeast, with all the stuffing around i have done i want to pitch the right amount to get things going strongly asap (to avoid any possible infection). i will do another SG shortly.

 

[pokolbinguy]

i do have a spare fermenter but i dont really want to divide the yeast, with all the stuffing around i have done i want to pitch the right amount to get things going strongly asap (to avoid any possible infection). i will do another SG shortly.

You shouldn't have any problems with fermentation kicking off, most yeast packets are made for up to 30L I think but can easily accommodate more.

On the note of why your SG was so high.....no idea, best for someone with more AG experience to give you some info on that, I have only done one...and it was yesterday

Anyway hope you work it all out before the night is over.

Happy Easter,

Pok

 

[Mantis]

To get 1077 from 5.5kg of grain in 23L then you are a brewing magician or your hyrdometer is stuffed.

Or I am reading this all wrong after a few bottles of ale :huh:

 

[pokolbinguy]

To get 1077 from 5.5kg of grain in 23L then you are a brewing magician or your hyrdometer is stuffed.

This could be a good point...maybe cozmocracker should check his hydrometer in some water and see if it reads zero???

 

[cozmocracker]

ok i have have done another SG this time its 1045 with a wort volume of 29 litres. now im to low, bugger.

my hydrometer should be fine, i have used it for all my other brews and i have tested it in water before. i wil go do it again to make sure.

just tested hydrometer and its fine.

 

[pokolbinguy]

ok i have have done another SG this time its 1045 with a wort volume of 29 litres. now im to low, bugger.

my hydrometer should be fine, i have used it for all my other brews and i have tested it in water before. i wil go do it again to make sure.

just tested hydrometer and its fine.

I think there is something wrong going on here. If your SG in 23 L was 1077, in 29L it should be approx 1061 (according to beersmith).....1045 is obviously a huge different.

Are you adjusting your readings dependent on temp? Your hydrometer is most probably calibrated to 20 deg?? However I think this will make the reading higher ( a reading at 32 deg of 1077 = 1080 at 20 deg)...

It all doesnt seem to make sense to me.

Anyone else got any ideas?

 

[cozmocracker]

i have been adjusting for temp using beersmith, i also calculated the same figures as you using beersmith. there must be some human error on my side but i know i read 1077, i always do 3 readings to make sure, espically when it reads 1077. and yes adding 6 litres should of broughtme to 1060 roughly using beersmith? whats up? i dont know. live and learn i suppose.

 

[cozmocracker]

im stumped, i just stirred the wort before i pitched the yeast and took a hydrometer reading before pitching and now its 1040. 1040 is probally more accurate than the 1045 because i hadnt stirred in the additional 6 litres of water i added. well im going to bed, hopefully someone can enlighten me tomorrow of the dilemmas i have had today.

cheers cozmo

 

[Thirsty Boy]

me thinks you didn't stir things up properly and were taking readings from a layer that was denser than the average across the container.

Your 23L @ 1.077 would give you a mash efficiency of about 105% from 5.5kg of grain - probably a bit higher than you might expect with BiaB (even if you do sparge)

But 29L @ 1.040 is somewhere in the 70's range for % efficiency (mash efficiency at pre-boil) which is a much more likely number - and the stirring is what lowered it down for you.

Your pre-boil measurement more or less nailed it for you. Think about it in terms of "gravity points". You had 17-18L of 1.065 wort. Multiply your volume by your gravity .. so 17.5 x 65 = 1137.5 gravity points.

Now none of your gravity (this means the sugar you made) has gone anywhere (ignoring losses to trub etc), so there are the same amount of gravity points in your fementer as your kettle; and this means that your expected gravity for 23L would be 1137.5 / 23 = 49 (1.049) and your expected gravity for 29L would be 1137.5/29 = 1.039. Which is pretty much what you have.

So all in all, your mash efficiency was a little lower than you calculated for, but not that bad really and actually pretty close to your target.

 

[cozmocracker]

thanks thirsty i think your on the money, i didnt stir before i took the sample which gave me 1077. So there was no need to add the extra 6 litres, bugger. i wish i had been more patient. should i leave it now or should i try and adjust my gravity closer to where i wanted it, 1054, and if i was to what would be the best way. i did pitch the yeast last night.

 

[cozmocracker]

I've been going over my process and i've concluded i took my SG sample post boil, before i added the extra water to bring volume up to 23 litres. So the 1077 reading i got would be correct. i wish i had of taken another sample out of the fermenter before i added the extra 6 litres, im sure i would of been close to my target of 1054, now with 29 litres in the fermemter i have a SG of 1040.

all i can say is bring on the next one!

all grain brewing in a 20 litre urn!