Summer Ale - First AG - 3V System

[shaunous]

Just tasted the original *** up that started this thread, not to bad actually. Fairly bitter but not a punch in the face, sat at 1011 so have set the temp control to 3.8*c and will secondary for a week after it gets down from 19*c. Will see how it tastes once it's carbed up.

Will do a Brew on Wednesday without worrying about water chem for now. I'll scratch up on that once I've brewed enough for Xmas and the DIY house Reno's are complete.

 

[andy@67]

The bitterness will fade, the flavours seem to smooth out, I find my beers taste their best right before the keg blows!


Cheers,

Andrew.

 

[shaunous]

To sleazy, it might not have been a giant mess after all.

 

[shaunous]

OK 2nd Brew Today, DrS Landlord, 40L batch. 90min Mash @ 67*c, 78*c Mashout and Sparge, 90Min Boil.

Hit all numbers and liquid temps, Used Beersmith to create my Brewery and with all the maths from the last brew, calibrated the mashmaster temp gauges that were way out, mash, sparge and strike temps all hit nigh on perfect and recorded for next brew, had a minor boilover, 100ml max, caught it quick. Set mill to .9mm and the crush looked like HowToBrew textbook crush. Did not recirc during mash this time, and temperature moved 1*c during a 90min mash.

OK now the ***-ups

1. Again took FOREVER to cool after flame-out, even used a pre-chiller in an a bath of 8*c water, inline before the actual cooler, will have to work on pump rates and cooling water rates (No real biggie this one)
2. Used determined pre-boil from Beersmith for my 40L batch, and post boil I had still about 4L over the post boil volume calculation (again no massive biggie, will use a more vigorous boil next time)
3. OG was calculated to be 1.044, I arrived at 1.031 (This being a biggie), now my first runnings/post mash reading from the Tun was 1.083, 2nd sparge/mashout I did not measure, but 3rd was 1.011(Normally we all stop sparging at 1.010), from the mash volume minus liquid lost in trub and lines + mashout and sparge I arrived at the kettle and topped up to pre-boil volume(52L) with a reading of 1.026, boiled to 45L (1.031), desired was 41L and 1.044, even with the correct post boil volume of 41L I doubt I would have got the 1.044. All were recirculated clear before transfer to kettle.

I had my efficiency set at 73%, only reason I can think to overcome the poor post boil reading is to down my efficiency to 65% or lower and therefore adding more grain.

Thoughts???

 

[manticle]

Did you measure gravity at room temp?

Was first runnings at expected gravity? If lower, it's a mash conversion issue or a grain crush issue. If you had measured after sparging, and it was low it would be sparging issue. 4 litres extra will also give lower gravity (boil issue)

 

[shaunous]

Measured at 28*c with a ATC Refrac.

Don't know what the first runnings was meant to be, and cant find it in Beersmith for my recipe. BUT just found pre-boil Gravity and it should have been 1.037, which is well higher than my 1.026.

Mmmmmm, thought my .9mm crush should have done the job, on comparing photo's of good crush's in books mine looks to be the same. good even mix of white fluff and cracked husks.

Once I've mashed, how long should I mashout for? I probably didn't mash out for long enough, but I did mashout twice, 2nd one having a reading of 1.011 as said above, so however long I mashed out for, it wouldn't have mattered.

Here was my mash process.
Mashed 8.2kg Grain in 22L water for 90mins @ 66*c, then recirc until clear and pump to kettle = 1.083
Mashout adding 20L water @ 78*c, recirc, pump to Kettle.
Sparge adding 10L water @ 78*c recirc, pump to Kettle.

Liquid loss in the mash wasn't HUGELY excessive either, BUT, Calculating the above water added through MLT to Kettle is 52L (That's a fluke to match the calculated pre-boil vol by the way), and what I really ended up with and having to add water after was well under 40L, about 34L.


Next time will do a single batch, and adjust my mash efficiency. That's all I can put it down to, for now.