Lesson learned the hard way

Made EdWort's Hefeweizen today cuz my last attempt at a Hefe was far from stellar. So I was ready...new HLT...doing a batch Sparge per Ed's routine...thought I was golden. Then I added the rice hulls that I soaked and rinsed in COLD water to the mash tun with my 170.8 degree water, shooting for 153. Long story short, cold rice hulls does not a mash temperature make. Frantically heated more water...ended up with a very thin mash. OG 1.040. Currently cooling the wort to pitching temp. What an idiot :smack:
Susie

Was that gravity pre-boil? It'll go up about 10 points with the boil. It'll be a tasty brew in any case.

I've done the same thing! When I used a ton of rice hulls in a beer with alot of rye, I thought to myself, "Self- you know the rice hulls will absorb a ton of water. So let's rehydrate the rice hulls first. That will be great!". Um, yeah. Maybe rehydrate them in strike temp water?!?! Duh.

Normally, I just use a couple of handfuls of rice hulls in with the grain, so it never even occurred to me that the cold water would be absorbed and drop the mash temp.

The good news is that once you learn a less the hard way, you don't forget.

Question if you were looking for a specific target out of your mash then why did you settle for 1.040? A longer mash at the correct temperatures would have done the job for you.

1.040 is a bit low for style, yes, but the gravity range on that style is very narrow. So you're not THAT far below it. If that helps!?

1.044-1.052 you only missed by 4 pts. It'll be an easy drinking summer beer.

I just brewed a recipe using the grain bill from ed worts hefe. My LHBS was actually out of rice hulls and i decided to push on without them. I mashed 11# of grain with 4 gals of water hitting my mash temp of 152. I attempted a mashout with 1 gal of boiling water that took me up to 160. Batch sparging was a breeze.

Thanks for all the encouragement. You guys are the best. The 1.040 was after the boil. I probably could have boiled longer but was afraid I would have had to boil off too much. Anyway, cooled the wort down overnight to 68 and pitched Wyeast 3068 today. I hope those munchers don't mind less sweet than usual.
Susie

I guess they didn't mind a less sweet wort. My first blow-off! So proud!

And it defies gravity also!

I had efficiency problems all last year (for various reasons) but all the beers tasted just fine - I am sure you'll be in for some good beer. You're closer in OG (for style) than I was.

Thanks, Malt.