So, I've been filling my time trying to learn the all grain process with 1 gallon batches while waiting for my fermenter to free up.
This weekends batch ended up particularly poorly, and curious if i'm just doing something obvious. I am attempting a 5 gallon this upcoming weekend, and would at least like to know if it's just something with the ridiculously low volume.
I'm using 2 pounds of some random base grain I have (bins weren't labeled, either pilsner, maris otter, or 2 row)
I heated 3 quarts of water to my strike temp (1.5q/lb), and dropped my grain in a bag into the water and mixed it up. (the bag is mainly because the cooler i'm using is a cheap small igloo cooler that has no bottom drainage).
then, I rinsed the grains with the remaining water over a strainer into the pot with the rest of my water to get to 2 gallons (this was mainly improvisation. My actual mash tun i'll be able to recirculate and batch sparge properly).
My water temp started out at 156. 15 minutes in, it was at 153. I ignored it for the rest of the time b/c of the amount of head space in the cooler. After 60 minutes, it read 140.
After all this was said and done, I took a hydrometer reading at it was reading about 1.014 @ 120 degrees. temperature correction calculator converted that to about 1.023 @ 60 degrees.
When plugged in to an efficiency calculator, this is less than 50%
My grain mill is set so that the rollers just barely grip a credit card's flat area and "stops" at the raised numbers.
Any troubleshooting thoughts? Hopefully i'm just being silly and making obvious mistakes.
My current assumption is the "clumpyness" of the grain due to a lower water level, mixed with "wtf" processes compensating for lack of good equipment.
I do not know the quality of my water, but it was ran though a refrigerator water filter.
I'm not too worried about messing up this weekends batch, as I'll be doing biermuncher's centennial blond, so a pretty cost effective learning grain bill from what I can tell.
This weekends batch ended up particularly poorly, and curious if i'm just doing something obvious. I am attempting a 5 gallon this upcoming weekend, and would at least like to know if it's just something with the ridiculously low volume.
I'm using 2 pounds of some random base grain I have (bins weren't labeled, either pilsner, maris otter, or 2 row)
I heated 3 quarts of water to my strike temp (1.5q/lb), and dropped my grain in a bag into the water and mixed it up. (the bag is mainly because the cooler i'm using is a cheap small igloo cooler that has no bottom drainage).
then, I rinsed the grains with the remaining water over a strainer into the pot with the rest of my water to get to 2 gallons (this was mainly improvisation. My actual mash tun i'll be able to recirculate and batch sparge properly).
My water temp started out at 156. 15 minutes in, it was at 153. I ignored it for the rest of the time b/c of the amount of head space in the cooler. After 60 minutes, it read 140.
After all this was said and done, I took a hydrometer reading at it was reading about 1.014 @ 120 degrees. temperature correction calculator converted that to about 1.023 @ 60 degrees.
When plugged in to an efficiency calculator, this is less than 50%
My grain mill is set so that the rollers just barely grip a credit card's flat area and "stops" at the raised numbers.
Any troubleshooting thoughts? Hopefully i'm just being silly and making obvious mistakes.
My current assumption is the "clumpyness" of the grain due to a lower water level, mixed with "wtf" processes compensating for lack of good equipment.
I do not know the quality of my water, but it was ran though a refrigerator water filter.
I'm not too worried about messing up this weekends batch, as I'll be doing biermuncher's centennial blond, so a pretty cost effective learning grain bill from what I can tell.
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