Brew Day Going Wrong.... ?

[adz1179]

hey...

just took out the grain bag (BIAB) and i have recorded a massive 1.032 aiming for 1.049

just started the boil at 8:20

water to start 35.5lt
grain bil 5.2kg
pale malt 4.9kg
caramunich 1 250gms

what should i do??? boil the crap out of it to loose same water but boost gravity? throw in some dex or something to give it a kick? accept as is?

im hoping its a dodgy hydro (doesnt exactly read 1 in h20) but its not that far out......

yes, im measuring samples at 20 deg...

cheers.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

how many litres are you making, 35 Litres is a lot of water...

You could always add some DME to the boil, do you have any?

Clearly a longer boil will help a bit but I don't think you will get close to your expect gravity with just that.

 

[Tanga]

At what temperature did you take the gravity reading? It makes a big difference.

PS even if it is 1032 it's gonna be fixable. All will be good, unless it's a Boh Pils for competition, and even then...

Edit: Ah, sorry, just saw your temp. Yeah, a longer boil is what I'd do, but I'm a noob. Boil until you get to the start of boil gravity you wanted, then act as though you're going from there.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

At what temperature did you take the gravity reading? It makes a big difference.

right at the bottom of the OP posts, you got your man eyes on... :blink:

 

[adz1179]

Going for 23lt. Following measurements in brew mate. Put in 4lt lost to trub. 1 lt per kg lost in mash. Taking readings at 20 deg. Don't have any extract only dex....

 

[adz1179]

Edit: Ah, sorry, just saw your temp. Yeah, a longer boil is what I'd do, but I'm a noob. Boil until you get to the start of boil gravity you wanted, then act as though you're going from there.

Yeah cheers. Added the 60 min hops tho so I guess they will be 70 mins additions. Cheers both for fast replies. I'll get this right one of these days.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

I assume you are biab, you won't loose. Anywhere near that to the grain if you squeeze the life out of it.

I would just stick to a long boil for now and move on, it will still taste good.

What efficiency where you expecting?

 

[Tanga]

Yeah cheers. Added the 60 min hops tho so I guess they will be 70 mins additions. Cheers both for fast replies. I'll get this right one of these days.

It's only going to make a couple of IBUs difference, even if you boil your bittering hops for 90 minutes.

 

[bignath]

It's only going to make a couple of IBUs difference, even if you boil your bittering hops for 90 minutes.

Yep.

Id take the volume loss on the chin and just boil it down. Might lose a six pack, but it will still taste nice.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Yep.

Id take the volume loss on the chin and just boil it down. Might lose a six pack, but it will still taste nice.

+3 - rather have a little less fantastic AG beer, than trying to fill it out to volume with sugar and ending up with average beer (and adjunct laiden, when that's not part of the beer).

Goomba

 

[adz1179]

I assume you are biab, you won't loose. Anywhere near that to the grain if you squeeze the life out of it.

I would just stick to a long boil for now and move on, it will still taste good.

What efficiency where you expecting?

Yeah biab. Had it set at 70%. Will do a 90 boil and cop the volume loss

 

[Bribie G]

For a 23L batch I'd only use around 31L strike liquor.

 

[Muscovy_333]

For a 23L batch I'd only use around 31L strike liquor.

For a 23 litre batch i get 28 litres into the boil pot, usually around 1.050 when im finished for a 5kg grain bill, 60 min boil (~74% efficiency)

 

[adz1179]

i must have something askew in brewmate.... :unsure: i finished with around 24-25lt after leaving a few behind as trub... no chilling now.....

i guess next brew i'll drop it to around 31lts and see how that goes.

ended up finishing on 1.040 which is under, but im happy enough with that.....

thanks again everyone for all the help....

 

[kelbygreen]

was the 1049 the OG gravity or was it the post boil gravity??? I was getting about 67% eff with BIAB so you may have to just drop that down for the next brew. after 3 brews you should work out a average eff % to use. if you whirlpool well then I cant see loosing 4lts to trub I loose that in a 42lt batch when I quick chill but only 2.5lts if I no chill

 

[adz1179]

was the 1049 the OG gravity or was it the post boil gravity??? I was getting about 67% eff with BIAB so you may have to just drop that down for the next brew. after 3 brews you should work out a average eff % to use. if you whirlpool well then I cant see loosing 4lts to trub I loose that in a 42lt batch when I quick chill but only 2.5lts if I no chill

yeah 1.049 was post boil... oops just realised then... :blink: og preboil should have been 1.046 - still at 1.032 it was way off....

this was my first run with brewmate, to date i have been using the BIAB calculator from biabrewer.info - the first few brews were way out also, was just seeing if brew mate would get me closer to the numbers - figured if i drop the water required a few lts for the next go, see how that goes, i'll just use what works for my setup and not worry too much about the numbers - but have them as a guide... end of the day, if the beer is good me (and my cheap ass mates) are happy :icon_cheers:

 

[stux]

yeah 1.049 was post boil... oops just realised then... :blink: og preboil should have been 1.046 - still at 1.032 it was way off....

this was my first run with brewmate, to date i have been using the BIAB calculator from biabrewer.info - the first few brews were way out also, was just seeing if brew mate would get me closer to the numbers - figured if i drop the water required a few lts for the next go, see how that goes, i'll just use what works for my setup and not worry too much about the numbers - but have them as a guide... end of the day, if the beer is good me (and my cheap ass mates) are happy :icon_cheers:

If you work out your evaporation and absorption the calculators will be pretty accurate

 

[Nick JD]

35L preboil, 23L post boil?

35/23 = 1.52

1.52 x 32 (SG) = 48.6

If you boil down to 23L, you'll get 1.048 SG.

Simple maths. Add in trub losses and that's 20L bang on target - just boil for a while before you add your hops to reduce it down.