I brewed a red, Rye IPA today using beersmith for the first time. Grain bill was;
12.5 2 row
.5 rye
.75 C60
.75 cara
.5 white wheat
.25 roast barley
Mashed with 5gal strike water and batch sparged with 5gal. Was a little low on my mash temp (147) collected a little over 6gals. Pre boil grav was 1.055 and OG was 1.052. Beersmith said that grain bill should have given me an OG of 1.073. Either my efficency was lke 50% or something else was off. Any ideas? I batch sparged in a rectangular cooler.
Preboil gravity shouldn’t be higher than post boil gravity.
Also, 4 gallons lost in grain absorption and dead space sounds like a lot. Did you run off all the wort, or leave a fair amount in the cooler?
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That was a typo. Preboil was 1.050. I would say there was probably 2 quarts left in the tun
What’s your normal efficiency? Was your crush different this time?
Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve never calculated it. Just brewed. Crush should have been the same. I crush it at my LHBS. I just bought a refractometer and i want to start dialing my system in.
I’m still leaning to not getting all the wort out. For that range of grain bill, I usually start with 8 gallons, and get 6.5 gallons in the kettle preboil, and 5 gallons in the fermentor.
Refractometer my be the problem as to yer FG, see, when alcohol is in the solution it won’t read correctly. Sneezles61
I’ll bet you’re right Uber. I think I over shot with my water. I thought the refractometer basically replaced my hydrometer? Isn’t it as simple as put wort or beer on the glass and read the spacific gravity?
Pre fermentation, yes, a refractometer is that easy. For FG, there is an adjustment, though. Calculators are available online. You plug in your OG, what you’re reading for FG, and it gives you actual FG.
But do you have any way of knowing that the mill isn’t reset frequently?
Thtat makes sense. I have one on beersmith I just noticed. Thanks. I’ll ask the owner of the brew store about the mill calibration. Thanks everyone.
