SmuggledBudgie
Member
Hi all,
I'm new to brewing, having done 3 kits and a couple ciders. After enjoying helping my brother in law out a few times with his partials, I decided to try one of my own. I used Jet's Fat Yak recipe, using a two bucket Lauter, following the recipe to a tee...or at least so I thought.
At my LHBS I asked for and was given the grains that I needed, yeast and hops. I followed the steps closely, heating to 74 deg strike temp, mashing for 60 mins at 67 deg...sparging water at 76 deg, boiling for 60 mins. Added the LME and hops as per schedule and then chilled in an ice bath to 23 deg.
Took a SG reading, I was surprised to see it at 1034 (most of that I thought, would be from the LME?).
Because it was 10pm by then, I decided to pitch the yeast anyway and figure out my problem the next day. Decided to add 1kg of DME dissolved in boiling water. OG was now at target of 1047. I thought it was saved.
After talking with my bro in law over the phone, I told him what I had done and the problems I had. By chance, I read out the names of the grains I had used. "1.5kg of carapils, .5kg Munich, .1kg of crystal pale, 1.7kg coopers APA LME, and the extra 1kg of DME". "There's your problem" he said, "carapils is not the same thing as Pilsner malt...."
We'll bugger me...So now I have about $40 of ingredients sitting in the brew fridge and a decision to make whether to kept it or not! Yes, my fault for not knowing enough about base malts, but surprised the dude at the brew shop didn't know either!
Would I be best cutting my losses on this one?
Would using the carapils in the bill be the cause for such low efficiency? Despite using the wrong grain, I feel perhaps I didn't crush the grain enough.
Any thoughts, help and lecturing would be much appreciated!
I'm new to brewing, having done 3 kits and a couple ciders. After enjoying helping my brother in law out a few times with his partials, I decided to try one of my own. I used Jet's Fat Yak recipe, using a two bucket Lauter, following the recipe to a tee...or at least so I thought.
At my LHBS I asked for and was given the grains that I needed, yeast and hops. I followed the steps closely, heating to 74 deg strike temp, mashing for 60 mins at 67 deg...sparging water at 76 deg, boiling for 60 mins. Added the LME and hops as per schedule and then chilled in an ice bath to 23 deg.
Took a SG reading, I was surprised to see it at 1034 (most of that I thought, would be from the LME?).
Because it was 10pm by then, I decided to pitch the yeast anyway and figure out my problem the next day. Decided to add 1kg of DME dissolved in boiling water. OG was now at target of 1047. I thought it was saved.
After talking with my bro in law over the phone, I told him what I had done and the problems I had. By chance, I read out the names of the grains I had used. "1.5kg of carapils, .5kg Munich, .1kg of crystal pale, 1.7kg coopers APA LME, and the extra 1kg of DME". "There's your problem" he said, "carapils is not the same thing as Pilsner malt...."
We'll bugger me...So now I have about $40 of ingredients sitting in the brew fridge and a decision to make whether to kept it or not! Yes, my fault for not knowing enough about base malts, but surprised the dude at the brew shop didn't know either!
Would I be best cutting my losses on this one?
Would using the carapils in the bill be the cause for such low efficiency? Despite using the wrong grain, I feel perhaps I didn't crush the grain enough.
Any thoughts, help and lecturing would be much appreciated!
