PROBLEM with first ag biab

[ChrisRedWills]

ok I've just mashed an thc blonde ale
taking a gravity reading after mash was 1030 temperature 65c Finnish gravity should be 1050 I think the grains weren't ground enough so I'm giving it an extra 30 minutes mash
any help would be welcome it's my first ag attempt thanks

 

[Leon103]

Mash gravity and final gravity are different.

 

[ChrisRedWills]

thanks for the quick response leon103 is there a way of calculating this because I'm on the verge of adding sugar before I boil

 

[MmmBeer]

The Original Gravity should be measured after the wort has been boiled and cooled to ambient temperature (and then often corrected for temperature).
You can measure the gravity at every step, (mash, mashout/sparge, boil, chill) but it is pretty meaningless.
You can expect to lose 10 - 15% of the liquid volume during the boil, meaning the gravity will increase by 11 - 17%.

What temperature was your gravity reading taking at?

 

[-Bezza-]

1030 at 65C is 1046 at 20C. Looks like you're there or thereabouts.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/

 

[ChrisRedWills]

cheers MmmBeer
After an hour 66c gravity reading 1025 raised temperature to 75c and mashed for a further 30minutes gravity reading after that was 1030 and i squeezed the life out of it I've got 23 litres in the pot I was supposed to do a sparge with 6 litres but I fear that would make things worse any advice would be welcome I'm not quite panicking yet lol

 

[ChrisRedWills]

cheers bezza if i do the sparge they say use as mutch as it takes to reach boil volume of 27 litres I'm thinking this would weaken the abv more what would you do as I say I'm losing my ag cherry so I expect errors to be made

 

[JonBrew]

If you sparge to a pre-boil volume of 27 litres your SG might drop down a bit but you probably want that. If you're currently at 23l of 1046 wort and you boil down to 21 litres you'll be at 1050. But that's only 2 litres of boil off and most systems on a 60 minute boil would be more like 5 litres boil off per hour. If you sparge up to 27 litres, you'll then need to boil off 6 litres to get down to the 21 litres at 1050.

Do you know what your ending kettle volume should be? How long does the recipe say to boil for?

 

[-Bezza-]

You currently have 23l @ 1046. f you sparge, you would expect to extract further sugars so the gravity would go up, were it not for the fact you were diluting. But then as JonBrew says, the boil will cause evaporation meaning the wort will concentrate. So net result should be 23l @ >1046, i.e. you'll have hit your 1050 target.

Also depends on what efficiency you were expecting as to whether you should expect to hit target.

Sounds like you're in a good place though.

 

[ChrisRedWills]

thanks for the help guy's I did sparge brought the volume up to 27 litres all finished now chilling with a glass peach wine I made enjoyed the day well happy with the buffalo boiler will pitch the yeast tomorrow I'm not expecting miracles for the first time but the cherries dropped lol