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My Inexperience Shows

Mashing
#1

So I started with a clone of Bell’s Two Hearted (NB Dead Ringer), but I changed it up a bit to make a black IPA. I replaced one pound of Rahr-2row with one of Black Prinz. And replaced Centennial with Palisade and Jade.

So far so good.

This is only my second all-grain.

Did my starter pitch the night before. Easy easy.

Prep and begin.

I was able to rest at 151 but went for about 65-70mins. Could only get mash-out to 166. That was for probably close to 15min.

OK so far - I guess.

Between mash and sparge I used 10 gal water. Should be fine for 12lbs grain. ???

I start the boil with 8+ gal of wort. Not a problem, should boild down.

After 70min wound up with close to 7 gal.

I am really good with bring temp down fast. I immerse my 10gal boil pot in a vat of ice & water, and with stiring and sloshing in 14min am at 78deg. Ready to pitch.

I was expecting a OG of 1.064 per recipe, instead I am greeted with a 1.048. Not much of the black IPA I was hoping for.

Now only time will tell if I dump or delight.

Mmmmm BEER!

#2

High humidity = decrease in boil off rate.

Batch sparging? Don’t worry about the “mash out” temp. I add boiling water to make equal runnings. Stir, recirculate and drain. Total process about 5 minutes.

If you were fly sparging. Unless you are recirculating over a heating element it’s going to be tough to get the temp up. I would just sparge with 170* water and call it good.

When you start with more wort in the boil kettle, you have removed more sugar from the mash. But at the expense of the last gallon or so being of a lower SG. Just stop with the volume you need to meet the volume you want to end with.

You could boil up that last bit and freeze it for starter.

#3

Agreed. You ended up with too much wort. With gravity of 1.048 at 7 gallons calculates to the 1.067 at 5 gallons which is close enough to your predicted gravity. Since this was a kit from NB it was probably designed for 5 gallons.

Also, although you say you are good at getting the temp down, 78 degees is still way too high to pitch yeast.

#4

Again, inexperience. That was the last temp I took before transferring to the carboy. Probably shed another 2-3 degrees. But still…

I just checked and the carboy is bubbling away. There is still hope.

:cheers:

#5

Grain soaks up a pint per pound so 12lb will hang onto 1.5gal. That means you should have started wth 8.5 gal, and typically you lose around a gallon an hour so winding up with 7gal is expected. Next time start with 8gal of water, that’ll let you start with 6.5gal in the kettle and 5.5gal post-boil.

You got around 75% efficiency, thats good. Your beer ought to be tasty and very drinkable at 1.048.

#6

UPDATE

I didn’t adjust for temp when reading the OG. In reality it is 1.050

We’ll see.

Thanks for the comments.

:cheers:

#7

You did well! Next time, when you know you have too much volume to begin with, boil off until you get to 7 gallons or so first, then add your 60 min addition, and hop as usual. You will end up with a higher gravity and the proper wort volume. Either way, you still made beer! :smiley:

#8

But ain’t this fun anyway?
I got a new kettle last year and spent too much time just boiling water of different amounts to see how much my boil off rate is. For me, my almost 10 gallon kettle (about 12" diameter) boils just a bit more than 1 gallon an hour at a rolling boil. But, when I go to 8 gallons, I don’t get as fast of a rolling boil and it is about 3/4 of a gallon per hour.
This helps me greatly in my brewing and I’ve hit OG every time with great efficiency.
(now that I’ve said it, something bad is going to happen)

#9

[quote=“Beerlord”]But ain’t this fun anyway?
I got a new kettle last year and spent too much time just boiling water of different amounts to see how much my boil off rate is. For me, my almost 10 gallon kettle (about 12" diameter) boils just a bit more than 1 gallon an hour at a rolling boil. But, when I go to 8 gallons, I don’t get as fast of a rolling boil and it is about 3/4 of a gallon per hour.
This helps me greatly in my brewing and I’ve hit OG every time with great efficiency.
(now that I’ve said it, something bad is going to happen)[/quote]
That seems like an odd result. You think its due to the sides of the kettle catching some of the steam before it can escape?

#10

[quote=“tom sawyer”][quote=“Beerlord”]But ain’t this fun anyway?
I got a new kettle last year and spent too much time just boiling water of different amounts to see how much my boil off rate is. For me, my almost 10 gallon kettle (about 12" diameter) boils just a bit more than 1 gallon an hour at a rolling boil. But, when I go to 8 gallons, I don’t get as fast of a rolling boil and it is about 3/4 of a gallon per hour.[/quote]
That seems like an odd result. You think its due to the sides of the kettle catching some of the steam before it can escape?[/quote]

I think this is just a difference in burner output. If the heat delivered is constant and the amount of water in the kettle goes down the boiloff rate would increase, not decrease, so he must be adjusting the flame to get the same boil appearance.

#11

Another way for the OP to deal with the OG discrepancy would be to add 2 pounds of DME, that’d bring it up to nearly the 1.063 he was shooting for. Not that I think a black APA would be bad at 1.050 OG, I like beers in that ABV range myself.

#12

What I’ve done on my last boil was to use 2 burners on my gas stove (kitchen) and, I covered the pans with tin foil which I think help to retain heat and help the boil. I’m going to try that again this weekend and see if I notice the difference.

#13

[quote=“Beerlord”]What I’ve done on my last boil was to use 2 burners on my gas stove (kitchen) and, I covered the pans with tin foil which I think help to retain heat and help the boil.[/quote]Running two burners at full bore for 60+ minutes could possibly damage your stove. A cheap turkey fryer kit and a propane tank are a lot cheaper and if you’re married will also save you a lot of grief in the long run (a wort boil-over into the stove is almost impossible to clean completely).

#14

That is too much ending volume for a NB kit. I don’t know what they are designed for but I’ve only hit their numbers when I end with 5-5.5 gallons at the end of the boil. No more.

#15

:oops: No kidding. I use to do FWB over two electric burners. The third time I burned them out, I was moved outside. No regrets.

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