I have brewed a saison and my OG is lower (1.052) than it should be according to the recipe (1.060). I take it i put in too much water?
I've been struggling with finding out the amount of water to put in for the mash- is there any guides for this?
Does anyone have any tips for getting this part of the process right- and if possible keep it simple as i find there is a lot of immensely technical stuff that's way beyond me as a beginner brewer! :)
How do you go about fixing this in the future- i think i will just have to leave it this time around... Is that going to be a significant issue with this brew?..
Thanks!
What you need take into account is that you'll lose around 1l per kilo of grain and how much water you loose to boil off which will differ due too boil time length and time of year.
Try calibrating your boiler/pot dependant on setup whether electric or gas by filling to say 25l for 30 mins and using a marking stick measure the depth of water in your vessel and mark this on your stick with a pen,then continue to 45,60,75 and 90 mins measuring at intervals.
Once done reverse the procedure using a jug to measure with and this will give you a rough guide as to your loss.
Now say your aiming for 23l which is usual setup for most recipe calculators and we have a grain bill of 5kg we've already lost 5l and if we had a boil off of 5l we then add the losses giving overall water needed is 33l.
Knowing this you can then determine your efficiency of your grain by checking your gravity at the end of your boil when cooled to 20° which could also be that your on target with your water and not getting the estimated efficiency which is between 65 and 80 dependant on your grain crush,type or your mashing setup.
Also prior to boiling after you've collected your wort take a sample,note how much wort you've collected,let it cool and take a reading then enter it into the boil off/dilution calculator on Brewers friend which will also give you a ballpark figure on how long you may need to boil to reach your OG and if by good luck you have a higher reading with the correct amount of wort you can always add more water when cooled giving more beer.
Sorry if it seems long winded but there is a lot of variables and if you get to know your setup it leaves you in control and if you calibrate to find its your efficiency you try stirring your mash,temperature control,insulate better or add more grain to compensate.[emoji106]
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