Urgent pilsner help

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chopdog

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Hey fellas, I'm brewing a smash Bohemium pils and I have way under shot sg. I'm brewing a 23l batch, I mashed 5kg pils malt into 15l water at 67* for 90 mins. Sparged in 10l water at 70* for a pre boil volume of 25l. Did a hydrometer reading and only hit 1.030!!!!! What the ****???? What the hell did I do wrong?
Should I put in some dme and dex???
HELP!!!!!!!!
 
What temp was your hydrometer reading at? Just making sure you know to correct for temperatrure as things float worse in hot liquids.

1.030 at 60C is 1.046

Also, you'll lose water to the grain - so by adding 10L of sparge water to a 15L mash, you'll not get 25L of wort.
 
I had let the wort cool to prolly around 30. It's now cool and reading 1.036. I just added about 400g dme and 200g dex, see what happens.
I sparged until I had 25l in the kettle
 
That 1.036 at 30°C should be bang on 1.040. What were you actually aiming for? DME + dextrose will do the job if you are genuinely short.

A single sparge like that won't give you a massive efficiency, so if you had planned something higher in Promash/Beersmith, that might knock it down a bit. 70°C is right on the bottom end (IMO) of sparge water temp, which you could push to 75-80°C without issue. If you let it sit for 5-10min then drain, you might see a few more points of efficiency.
 
I was aiming for 1.041 according to brew mate. I usually sparge at around 85-90 but I didn't fire the hlt back up. Looks very pale. Saying that tho I usually only brew ales or darks which have a lot of specialty malts. See what happens anyway. Just don't want a pils at 4% abv
 
There are some pilsener malts going around that are extremely pale. The last one I did was 100% Weyermann pils and was also SMASH. Came out golden and delicious.

Hopefully the glasses you drink it out of are wider than the 20-25mm hydrometer tube. Everything looks lighter in there. :)
 
So now you have much stronger beer than intended. Your SG was initially fine. That's what happens when you panic. Brewing doesn't need panic.
 
Nar was 1.036 at 18* once I added a little dme and dex I was at 1.042, was aiming for 1.041. Boil just about over, ill post og soon
 
OK. My mistake - I thought you were aiming for 1041 post boil. I would have either left it or boiled for an extra 30 mins.
 
Got the smoker cranking as well so trying to keep an eye on both.

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The extra 6-8c that people typically sparge at does help rinse out more good stuff as the wort becomes less viscous when it's hotter - your 70c sparge may have been a factor in your low efficiency. Also, how long are you boiling for? 25 to 23L is obviously only 2L, which seems like a very small boil off. I think mine is typically 25L preboil with a 20L target in my keggle for only a 60min boil. My brain isn't working today, so I can't do math, but you may not be getting rid of all the nasties at that rate of evaporation.
 
Good to know for next time. I only managed to get 20l of clear wort after whirlpool.
 
Well, well, well, you need to give up HB and go back to buying your beers.

If you can't manage the basics, don't mess with the complicated.


LOL. I'm well down some lovely APA and a 2001 Katnook Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, so take what you will from that.....
 
manticle said:
Hope you guys know each other.
Well, no, but I hope all can see the funny side of my character.

I was at my church this morning, at a meeting to decide on a replacement carpet for the church. I suggested RED, because if it's good enough for Francis to have RED slippers/shoes, it's good enough for our carpet. The minister told me to get lost, because all I wanted was to match the red shirt I was wearing. As it was overcast, the light wasn't brilliant, so they deferred the decision on the carpet. They mucked about instead with the seat cushions, and how nice it would be to have some on the pew backs to make it more comfortable. I happened to mention that seeing as it was now so comfortable, the minister could lengthen his sermons by another half hour. I was not popular with that suggestion!

Yes, well, I'm a committed believer, but there's nothing wrong with a little levity and humour every now and then.
 
hey Warra, piss off: condescending, off-topic posts are best put up in The Lounge, or - better yet - kept to yourself. :)
 
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