Learning curve

peteplus1 · Apr 18, 2016

Only 4 AG brews in so still learning the ropes but loving brewing. Did my Mikkeller Milk Stout clone at the weekend and got a couple of issues to try and clear up with some helpful guidance hopefully. .

1. Strike temp to mash temp dropped too far. Probably the cold day and the non heated garage I suspect. Should have mashed at 67 but ended up being 63. I presume this is going to make a much thinner beer?
2. I decided to boil for 10 minutes longer (80 instead of recommended 60). Have I messed up here? (FG was 1068 instead of 1076).
3. Got my water calculations better this time and made my 20litres. Still getting to grips with efficiency. Put all calculations into brewers friend for 75%. Adjusting the figures to obtain the OG reads that the efficiency was in fact 88%. Is this the correct thing to do to work out the efficiency, Or have I still not got the hang of this? !

Anyways, bubbling away healthily at a steady 20 degrees since. And my fingers are crossed once again.

Spoon · Apr 18, 2016

Volumes have a big impact on calculated efficiency. And seeing as the thickness of a marker pen line is about 0.5l in the kettle or fermenter it can be difficult to get an accurate figure.

The mistake I made first time was to try and be too clever and updated beersmith as I went along, so it was saying 90% efficiency, when it was actually 90% of the original estimate (80%), which is 72% (more believable).

Second time round I printed off the instructions, and used the timer on my phone, then go back and add notes/readings to beersmith later.

With an OG pf 1.068 I'd expect a lower than expected efficiency unless you have a really powerful boiler!

I struggle with accuracy and I'm about the same experience level, my solution is just to not care too much, make a note of what went different to plan, and try and work out what effect it had then correct or keep it next time.

peteplus1 · Apr 19, 2016

I'm completely baffled, got to be honest! Yes, as long as the beer turns out well that's all well and good isn't it? But I'm keen to learn and get things right. Think I need to read plenty on this... somewhere!

Covrich · Apr 19, 2016

If you was expecting 20L at 1076 and got 20L of 1068, then you got a slightly lower efficiency
Roughly instead of 75% you may have got more like 68%

shoudl still be good though!!

peteplus1 · May 2, 2016

If anyone cares to get back to me on this I'd appreciate it. Still learning!

So, done a brew dog "Moshi Moshi' clone today and here are my queries..

1. Didn't quite get the desired volume (about a litre and a half short). The gravity dropped to 0.990 whilst getting towards the end of the sparge so I stopped. Was I right to do that? Should I have topped up to the needed boil volume?

2.Could this be the downfall in my brew because was aiming for a Boil Gravity of 1035. Was actually 1048. I added some extra boiled water from my kettle indoors but still only brought it down to 1044. I'm still waiting for it to cool a little further before I take a reading and pitch. I presume the O.G. and then the F.G. will be way off. Details of the brew are below..

VOLUME 20L
BOIL VOLUME 26L
ABV 5.2%
TARGET FG 1011
TARGET OG 1048
EBC 35
SRM 17.5
PH 4.4
ATTENUATION
LEVEL 77.1%

BOIL GRAVITY 1035

MASH TEMP
65ÃÂ°C 149ÃÂ°F 75mins
FERMENTATION
19ÃÂ°C 66ÃÂ°F

Fil · May 2, 2016

Sounds like a Very Successful brew #4 to me..

You can with time and experience with your kit get things like boil off rates sussed so you know with some confidence to expect.. which will make the pre brew calculations a lot clearer.. The BHE may take a little longer to optimise as you learn the ideal strike temp and insulation mix to hit and retain the optimum temp during the mash , and perhaps tweak the water if necessary (though a fiver or so outlay on bottled water with a known profile can be a lot easier imho..)

However as long as my volume is close enough to what i expect and the gravity is within a reasonable range of the target, hell im happy as long as its above 1.035

Im a happy brewer.

But you will find as you brew more your going to be hitting a consistent BHE and will become familar with all the deadspaces in your vessels ( I wrote mine in sharpie on my hlt tun n boiler with my first kit ), so will be able to predict volumes with more accuracy too and it will all just slot into place for you..

peteplus1 · May 3, 2016

So should I have topped up instead of falling short? Despite the BG being way off, the OG came in at 1050 which is almost there for this recipe.

Bubbling away nicely anyway.

Fil · May 4, 2016

soz @peteplus1 my comments referred to your original post/brew not the second.. but now ive read that post too...

sounds like your fly sparging, i tend to batch sparge which is a lot simpler, if you measure the volume out of batch #1 and deduct that from your target preboil volume you have a spot of value for the volume of batch sparge #2.

if you find your boiling off too much?

reduce the power to the elements (if 2 fitted turn off one)
If only one fitted consider investing in a power controller, a cheap n chearful one can be knocked up for less than ÃÂ£10 using an ebay resistance controlled ssr and a potentiometer( dial up/down variable resistor) 500kohm linear.

As for the question should you have topped up?

And the answer is simple up to you

ok not what you wanted to hear, But..
The two targets you have for a brew are volume and OG, which carries more weight with you? If as i suspect as your brewing a clone here your goal is to emulate that beer so gravity would be my primary target. So, No you shouldnt have topped up.

But if your primary target was volume to supply a minimum of X bottles and the volume was short then perhaps Yes to topping up

peteplus1 · May 4, 2016

I am fly sparging yes. And yes I'm trying to copy the recipe as near as dammit so was Looking for the gravity rather than the volume.
I presume because I had to stop sparging at 990 and hadn't achieved quite enough litres, that the extraction wasn't quite good enough. And that's why my figure was way off. Hence thinking I should top up to bring it down from that figure?
Though it did come out with an O.G. not far off at all.

JapanBrew · May 4, 2016

As you work through it, you'll find how your style works.
But when sparging, you should stop when the wort coming out is 1.005.
63 degrees is on the line. If it happens again, just add a liter or 2 of boiling water.

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