re: Homebrewing: In-Process Thread

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Ok, OG came out to 1.090 at 4.5 gallons. I was 1 gallon short and 20 points off. I did a 70 minute mash and a 90 minute boil (first time). I had 5.5 gallons at flame out, but i had a shite load of trub due to the hops

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I originally read this as 4.5G @ 1.090 after the boil. I think he ended up with 5.5 G @ 1.090 after the boil and lost 1 G of that going to the fermenter.

Something is off, but I have no clue what...

I plugged that grain bill into promash and it says Bug has a mash eff of 100%. So that's pretty awesome.

No matter the efficiency, it sounds like he'll have one hell of a Christmas IPA.

Heading to the house for lunch, i'll update with my recorded measurements when i get back, and we can continue to deduce what happened.

Cool, what exactly is a cold crash?

If you're able to get the fermentor in a refrigerated space to 34 or so it helps clear things up quicker.

put your fermenter in the fridge for a few days to drop the temp. It will knock the suspended yeasts and proteins out of the beer, clearing it up.

If you don't care about the clarity of your beer, its no big deal. I've personally never done it and ended up with a few really nice, clear beers just the same. The other stuff I made was too dark to tell anyways.

Dang, I Won't have a means to do that until I get my keezer built.

I usually have about the same amount of boil-off. I started with around 7.25-7.5 gallons of wort last night and ended up with just over 5 gallons into the fermenter.

and I think I've found my next upgrade to my brewing set-up. Not a fridge for fermentation temp control, and not kegging. I need a better burner. It takes WAY too long for me to get my boil going.

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still try to get a good temp controlled fermentation.

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I'm just going to have to settle on the swamp cooler method. I don't have room for a fridge/freezer for that now. I already plan to get another freezer, but I'm hoping to fill it with meat.

I have a simultaneous thread on beermsith.com going. I did some further analysis. Here are some corrected readings.

Let me rephrase what i'm trying to convey, i don't think i'm giving all the information.

I mashed for 70 minutes. After recirculating and adding my running into the brew pot, i collected 7.1 gallons of wort at an OG of 1.068 (adjusted for temperature of 135). I took the reading using my thief in the brewpot.

I then, conducted a 90 minute boil. It did start to get a bit windy towards the end of the boil, and i was constantly knocking down my heat to reduce such a vigorous boil.

Post-boil, i whirlpooled my hops for 10 minutes, then cooled for about 15 minutes, then added to my primary carboy. I only had 4.5 gallons of wort collected. So, i checked my gravity again, with the wort temperature at about 80 degrees, and my gravity was at 1.0926. I adjusted because my hydrometer is 2 points off, and so i was at 1.09 OG. I then added 1 gallon of water to my carboy to get my volume to 5.5 gallons. I then sealed the top and shook the hell out of the fermenter. I waited about 5-7 minutes and took another reading. My OG was then at 1.078. I waited another 5 and rechecked, and confirmed my gravity to be 1.078

Also, based on my grain bill, i come up with a Potential points of 72.9

Grain Potential Points Grain Pts Weight (LBS)
Maris Otter 56.7 36 11.33
Caramel Malt 7.5 34 1.583
Caraamber 5.7 35 1.167
Rye 3 29 0.75
TOTAL 72.9 134 14.83

Which according to this website LINK

My Mash Efficiency was 87.38%, not 92%.
My brewhouse efficiency was 75.42%
and my adjusted brewhouse efficiency with the added 1 gallon of water is 77.64%

I still don't understand how beersmith came up with a 92% efficiency rate.

The only thing that's going to suck, now, is i won't get as great of hops utilization. But i am dry hopping with about 4 ounces of hops, so maybe that will make up for some of it.