Dunkelbrau
Well-Known Member
Well, my BIAB experiences went well, but i wanted more volume, so i finished off the 3V setup and went for it today.
I started with some issues with milling my own grain, i wasn't 100% sure on the crush, so i ran with what i had (i think this is what is coming back to haunt me), my temp was slightly over (2degrees) for the mash, but i assumed with a target of 64 for a lighter body, hitting 66 was going to be fine with a couple of degrees loss expected, i got to the end, and it was around 65.. I'm assuming the burner was keeping it hot, which makes me wonder if i overshot the target by not checking a few times along the way.
First runnings 1.074
Second runnings, 1.034 - by this point, i hadn't hit the volume (beer smith said two batches of sparge water) so i continued with the third run.
Third runnings - 1.015
Total into kettle was around 27L and as i was aiming for 30, i didn't think too much of it, that i could top up later. The boil went well until i put some clothes pegs on the keg rim to hold my hop bag on, turned around to grab something and they had fallen in. after 10 mins of fishing them out with triple layered PVC gloves and a ladle, it was back on the boil. i ran over time 10 minutes on the boil.. while i was taking the hop bag out.. big spill over down onto the burner, so I'm assuming a litre was lost there.
Back to the boil, i got to the end, with a reading of 1.043 and a total of 22.5L in the kettle, but alas, i don't have a pickup tube (was willing to accept 5L loss on the brew so aimed for 25L overall into fermenter in beer smith).
I ended up with 18.25L into the fermenter @ 1.043.. aiming for a FG of 1.007 but i doubt it with the higher mash temp. Im using a commercial yeast, so I'm not sure on its qualities, it is a lager yeast, and i am told it has a high level of attenuation.
My plan is to ferment @ 12 for 2 weeks and drop down to 1 degree in the keg for a few weeks. Do i need to raise the temp again?
Overall, i feel like I've run a marathon, with getting the ghetto brew stands all sorted out. It is crazy! I think i'll build one before i attempt anything else.
Overall Beer Smith measures my mash efficiency at 57.5%. Im really not happy with that, any tips on how to improve? Maybe the milling should be finer? It was looking quite coarse, but couldn't seem to remember what it looked like whenever I've purchased from the LHBS..
Total time was around 5.5 hours, 6.25 including cleaning, room for improvement for sure!
I started with some issues with milling my own grain, i wasn't 100% sure on the crush, so i ran with what i had (i think this is what is coming back to haunt me), my temp was slightly over (2degrees) for the mash, but i assumed with a target of 64 for a lighter body, hitting 66 was going to be fine with a couple of degrees loss expected, i got to the end, and it was around 65.. I'm assuming the burner was keeping it hot, which makes me wonder if i overshot the target by not checking a few times along the way.
First runnings 1.074
Second runnings, 1.034 - by this point, i hadn't hit the volume (beer smith said two batches of sparge water) so i continued with the third run.
Third runnings - 1.015
Total into kettle was around 27L and as i was aiming for 30, i didn't think too much of it, that i could top up later. The boil went well until i put some clothes pegs on the keg rim to hold my hop bag on, turned around to grab something and they had fallen in. after 10 mins of fishing them out with triple layered PVC gloves and a ladle, it was back on the boil. i ran over time 10 minutes on the boil.. while i was taking the hop bag out.. big spill over down onto the burner, so I'm assuming a litre was lost there.
Back to the boil, i got to the end, with a reading of 1.043 and a total of 22.5L in the kettle, but alas, i don't have a pickup tube (was willing to accept 5L loss on the brew so aimed for 25L overall into fermenter in beer smith).
I ended up with 18.25L into the fermenter @ 1.043.. aiming for a FG of 1.007 but i doubt it with the higher mash temp. Im using a commercial yeast, so I'm not sure on its qualities, it is a lager yeast, and i am told it has a high level of attenuation.
My plan is to ferment @ 12 for 2 weeks and drop down to 1 degree in the keg for a few weeks. Do i need to raise the temp again?
Overall, i feel like I've run a marathon, with getting the ghetto brew stands all sorted out. It is crazy! I think i'll build one before i attempt anything else.
Overall Beer Smith measures my mash efficiency at 57.5%. Im really not happy with that, any tips on how to improve? Maybe the milling should be finer? It was looking quite coarse, but couldn't seem to remember what it looked like whenever I've purchased from the LHBS..
Total time was around 5.5 hours, 6.25 including cleaning, room for improvement for sure!
