woozy
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My first all-grain, BIAB, was a fail. A very minor fail but a fail none the less. My O.G. was 1.034 which was far short of the targetted 1.057. I'll get some thirst quenching light-weight beer out of it and that's good. But it wasn't a success.
So here's how I'm going to do my second attempt. I'm I doing it right?
1. Calculate pre-boil size, strike water volume and sparge water volume.
I want a final post-boil batch of 2 gallons. I boiled water in my pot for an hour yesterday and noticed I lost about 3/4 gallon (more or less) so I figure my pre-boil size should be 11 quarts. I have 3 lbs 1 oz of grain so I figure they will retain about 1 1/2 quars of water. So I should strike and sparge with 3 gallons and 1 pint of water.
Using Yooper's 2 quart per lb of grain I'll strike with 6 quarts and sparge with 6 1/2 quarts. Yooper's 2-1 rule seems higher than most things I've read but intuitively it makes sense that the more water I use the more sugar I can shake out.
2. Strike up the mash.
I'll heat 6 quarts of water to 165. I'll put the 5 gallon paint strainer bag over the pot and into the water and pour in the grains. I'll measure the tempature and adjust the heat to get it to 152.
Now I've been advised to keep the stockpot in my oven set to warm. I think I'll leave it on my gas burner on low (simmer) and keep the temperature that way. It just seems easier to deal with. I did have trouble maintaining a low temperature last time but then I only had 2 quarts of water and I think it'll be easier with 6 quarts. (If not I can still pop it in the oven). I think I'll use my 2 1/2 gallon stockpot for this. Is too small to do the 2 gallon boil so a bought a rather cheap and shoddy 16 quart stockpot but I think I'll use that just for the boil. For the strike and the sparge I'll use my 8 and 10 quart stockpots. They have a smaller base area and are also therefore deeper and I think they will maintain heat better.
I'll stir every 10 minutes and maintain 152 degrees for an hour. I'll get a collendar and place the grains over the stockpot and squeeze 'em out.
3. Sparge
I'll heat up 6 1/2 quarts in the second stockpot to 170. I think I'll use the dunk and squeeze method with the bag to sparge rather than the pouring the water over the grains method. This just seems easier to manage and it seems I'll be able to squeeze more sugar out. I've heard this referred to as "batch sparging" but I've also heard batch sparging refering to something else altogether so I don't know the proper term.
4. Measure and measure.
I'll combine the runnings and measure the volume. I'll cool off a few ounces and take a hydrometer reading. From this I'll estimate the post-boil Original Gravity by the formula
Gravity(post-boil) = Gravity(pre-boil) * Volume(pre-boil)/Volume(post-boil)
If that is within .005 of my target O.G. I'll be happy. If not I'll plan on upping my wort with DME.
5. Boil and make my wort and chill
6. Here I'm a little unsure what I want to do. I probably should measure how much volume my post boil is. But I kind of don't want to deal with sanitizing measuring containers and dealing with air exposure and I'm hoping I'll be able to eye-ball between the markings on my fermenter and markings I made on my stockpot if it's within a quart or so of 2 gallons.
If I'm not within a quart of two gallons, well, I'll leave it at that. I'm not supposed to top off if I'm low but I'm not sure why not.
7. When cool take a hydrometer reading. If I'm lower than my target O.G. I'll adjust by adding DME. Using this calculator I figure for a two gallon batch, for each .005 points I'm under I add .23 lbs of DME.
But I'm not really sure how to add it. After the hydrometer reading my wort will be cool, so I figure I'll mix it with a cup of boiling water and add it. Or, as supposedly by step 4, I would have calculated beforehand I'd be low I could just add it at flameout. I'm inclined to the former because ... well, I don't nescessarily know what my post-boil volume will be, and I'd prefer the data of the actual post-boil O.G. before jumping to conclusions.
8. Pitch yeast and be done.
Am I more or less doing this right.
So here's how I'm going to do my second attempt. I'm I doing it right?
1. Calculate pre-boil size, strike water volume and sparge water volume.
I want a final post-boil batch of 2 gallons. I boiled water in my pot for an hour yesterday and noticed I lost about 3/4 gallon (more or less) so I figure my pre-boil size should be 11 quarts. I have 3 lbs 1 oz of grain so I figure they will retain about 1 1/2 quars of water. So I should strike and sparge with 3 gallons and 1 pint of water.
Using Yooper's 2 quart per lb of grain I'll strike with 6 quarts and sparge with 6 1/2 quarts. Yooper's 2-1 rule seems higher than most things I've read but intuitively it makes sense that the more water I use the more sugar I can shake out.
2. Strike up the mash.
I'll heat 6 quarts of water to 165. I'll put the 5 gallon paint strainer bag over the pot and into the water and pour in the grains. I'll measure the tempature and adjust the heat to get it to 152.
Now I've been advised to keep the stockpot in my oven set to warm. I think I'll leave it on my gas burner on low (simmer) and keep the temperature that way. It just seems easier to deal with. I did have trouble maintaining a low temperature last time but then I only had 2 quarts of water and I think it'll be easier with 6 quarts. (If not I can still pop it in the oven). I think I'll use my 2 1/2 gallon stockpot for this. Is too small to do the 2 gallon boil so a bought a rather cheap and shoddy 16 quart stockpot but I think I'll use that just for the boil. For the strike and the sparge I'll use my 8 and 10 quart stockpots. They have a smaller base area and are also therefore deeper and I think they will maintain heat better.
I'll stir every 10 minutes and maintain 152 degrees for an hour. I'll get a collendar and place the grains over the stockpot and squeeze 'em out.
3. Sparge
I'll heat up 6 1/2 quarts in the second stockpot to 170. I think I'll use the dunk and squeeze method with the bag to sparge rather than the pouring the water over the grains method. This just seems easier to manage and it seems I'll be able to squeeze more sugar out. I've heard this referred to as "batch sparging" but I've also heard batch sparging refering to something else altogether so I don't know the proper term.
4. Measure and measure.
I'll combine the runnings and measure the volume. I'll cool off a few ounces and take a hydrometer reading. From this I'll estimate the post-boil Original Gravity by the formula
Gravity(post-boil) = Gravity(pre-boil) * Volume(pre-boil)/Volume(post-boil)
If that is within .005 of my target O.G. I'll be happy. If not I'll plan on upping my wort with DME.
5. Boil and make my wort and chill
6. Here I'm a little unsure what I want to do. I probably should measure how much volume my post boil is. But I kind of don't want to deal with sanitizing measuring containers and dealing with air exposure and I'm hoping I'll be able to eye-ball between the markings on my fermenter and markings I made on my stockpot if it's within a quart or so of 2 gallons.
If I'm not within a quart of two gallons, well, I'll leave it at that. I'm not supposed to top off if I'm low but I'm not sure why not.
7. When cool take a hydrometer reading. If I'm lower than my target O.G. I'll adjust by adding DME. Using this calculator I figure for a two gallon batch, for each .005 points I'm under I add .23 lbs of DME.
But I'm not really sure how to add it. After the hydrometer reading my wort will be cool, so I figure I'll mix it with a cup of boiling water and add it. Or, as supposedly by step 4, I would have calculated beforehand I'd be low I could just add it at flameout. I'm inclined to the former because ... well, I don't nescessarily know what my post-boil volume will be, and I'd prefer the data of the actual post-boil O.G. before jumping to conclusions.
8. Pitch yeast and be done.
Am I more or less doing this right.