Last Nights Biab Effort - Low Og

[no-grey nomad]

Hi guys and girls.

I tried to brew up a SMaSH last night as my second AG attempt. All went well except amount of water my brewing software advised and had to do a 90 minute boil to get rid of some water. seems I should have boiled longer as with my 10L batch, using 2.2K of Perle ale malt I only got an OG of 1030 this morning after cooling. Pretty disapointed in that efficiency. anyway I dropped the yeast at lunch and it started working pretty quick. on all accounts I should be looking at a 2.9% beer... flavoured water really. Used 10g citra @ 60m, 10g @ 10m, 5g @ f/o.

Not too fussed about hitting the OG at this stage, just hoping it will turn into something drinkable.

I ground the malt and sparged in 7L of water. mash was 6L 60* for 40 mins, 70* for 20 mins.

Any advice from the experienced on what I should be doing to get a better OG?

Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[Steve@PMF82]

YOU ground the malt? what with? If you dont have a mill just get HBS to mill it for you.

Your mash temps are a bit off. Try mashing at 66 degrees for 60 mins with properly milled grain and see how you go.

 

[no-grey nomad]

I ground the malt using a little blender type jobbie, as per the $30 biab thread, gound it fine enough I think...?

I was using the method in Palmers book about achieving different bodies in the beer, different temps and rest times at those temps. Obviously got something wrong there.

 

[Steve@PMF82]

Yeah step mashing is good. I usually do 62/63 - 69/70 ect.

At first its good to just get the basics down, thats why i said the single infusion at 66 is good place to start.
Do you know how accurate your thermometer is? at least at 66 it gives you some room to move either way if it is out.
So assuming you pitch a healthy / right amount of yeast, going by strain and what gravity it finishes at and your perception of the body of your beer, you will know for next time to mash higher or lower.


Get to know basics your system first, then experiment more.

 

[Dazza88]

My biab efficiency really improved by sparging and squeezing the bejesus out of the bag.

Have you read this page: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Decoction_mash

Without any expertise on temps in mash range maybe the 60 mash step was a bit too low. Most mashes seem to hit between 62 to 69 to make the fermentable stuff.

yep just check brewmate, you were expecting more like 1.045?

I would try doing a mash for 90 min in the 64 to 66 range as per Beer4U. make sure you can achieve decent results doing that before step mashes.


In the meantime, add a bit of dextrose and/or DME to get the gravity up a little, maybe like 100g of each.

 

[katzke]

Hi guys and girls.

I tried to brew up a SMaSH last night as my second AG attempt. All went well except amount of water my brewing software advised and had to do a 90 minute boil to get rid of some water. seems I should have boiled longer as with my 10L batch, using 2.2K of Perle ale malt I only got an OG of 1030 this morning after cooling. Pretty disapointed in that efficiency. anyway I dropped the yeast at lunch and it started working pretty quick. on all accounts I should be looking at a 2.9% beer... flavoured water really. Used 10g citra @ 60m, 10g @ 10m, 5g @ f/o.

Not too fussed about hitting the OG at this stage, just hoping it will turn into something drinkable.

I ground the malt and sparged in 7L of water. mash was 6L 60* for 40 mins, 70* for 20 mins.

Any advice from the experienced on what I should be doing to get a better OG?

Thanks for your help everyone.

Can not follow your water. How much water did you use and how much beer did you want to make?

Why sparge a BIAB brew?

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I sparge a BIAB brew to get the extra 5-10% efficiency, but each to their own.

Any dough balls in the mash? It appears as though something prevented you getting everything out. Especially with perle, which is really highly converted. The instruction from Bairds say that a single infusion mash at 65 degrees C will more than extract it all out. Certainly what I do, and not having any issues.

You'll get something drinkable, certainly the citra will help it be such - might be a passionfruit cruiser, though - naah, not that bad.

Look, mow the lawn, then drink it all. It'll be fantastic for it.

I agree with most - get the basics sorted, I certainly did. Rome wasn't built in a day, and you can make some pretty amazing beers from single infusion mashing, without the faffing around. And malts like Perle are ideally suited to that purpose.

Good luck, don't give up - even experience brewers have off brew days.

Goomba

 

[Yob]

I ground the malt using a little blender type jobbie, as per the $30 biab thread, gound it fine enough I think...?

probably had a big part of it stuck those grinders tend to make a nice 'dust' that packs quite hard.. those effing grinders make life a misery..

<_<