Theories for low gravity?

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garyhead.design

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So I was brewing up my second batch of a galaxy APA recipe I have been working on, but this time round my gravity was crazy low whilst sparging. I only had 19 litres in the boiler when my run off gravity was at 1010. Very strange when 5 kg of grain went into the tun. I would normal expect 1010 when i'm up around 25-27L.

The really depressing part was. That when I tastesd the spent grain it was still sweet.

Since there was no dme in sight I just carried on as usual at the lesser volume. I hit the alc% I was after. But my ibu's went through the roof. All good though. It's still tasting alright, just not what I planned.


Any theories on the drop of gravity and sweet spent grain? Is it as simple as my grain was not milled fine enough?
 
Can you explain your sparging technique? and I assume you measured your gravity in the kettle after the sparge and prior to boiling yes?
 
Theories? Different water, different grain, thermometre is rooted. **** knows.
 
grain was still sweet? surely has to be a sparging problem

ill take a guess that you were fly sparging and got some chanelling and left half your sugars in the tun
if it happens again stop and give the grain bed a good stir/recirc and check the gravity of the runoff
 
Mash at 66 for an hour, mash out 77 for 15

Fly sparge at 77. I not only measure the kettle grav before and after boil, but I also measure the run off gravity as it's going into the kettle late into the sparge, on average for a 5% brew I stop sparging at 1010, which is normally around the 25-27L mark in the boiler.

I'm liking the chanelling idea as the guilty party, I've never experienced it before though. Apart from recircling when it happens, what can be done to prevent it?
 
You might want to look at batch sparging as an alternative. It will certainly prevent any further issues you may experience with chanelling. Although batch sparging is easier with a pump, I successfully batched sparged manually for years with great results. Now I use a pump. I usually do 2 or 3 sparges - two is usually enough if the mash tun is not overloaded.

-=Steve=-
 
How fast were you running the sparge, ie how long did it take you to sparge and how much sparge water.
 
if its channeling recirc alone wont fix it, you'll have to stir the mash then recirculate till it runs clear and continue as normal
you can try to 'smooth out' the top inch or so of the mash first and see if that helps and it shouldnt mess up the filter bed too much

you might have been sparging too fast
 
Thanks Brewers

I'll keep it all in mind, slow down my sparge for now, and see how my next brew goes. I'll still role with the fly sparging and stir and recirc if needed.

If I stlll have problems I may need to think about changing things up

Cheers

Gary
 
Great news brewers, put down a wit on Sunday with no dramas, efficiency was a smidge low but hell the grain bill was made up of over half flaked wheat and oats, so I was stoked not to get stuck.
 

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