help with OG

[Chefjp]

Hello i made a batch of CDA, here is the recipe

5.5 gallons
15 pounds 2-row brewers malt
17 oz carafa I
17 oz crystal 60l

in beersmith this gives me an OG of 1.080

I ended up with an OG of 1.054. i used a 10 gallon igloo cooler for mashing, and mashed at 150°f for 75 min.

What could have gone wrong?

 

[nanofreak]

Tell us about your sparging process. Water temps, amount, type of sparge, etc.

 

[smiller]

Here are some possible explanations..

1. Was your grain properly milled?

2. What was your water to grain ratio?

3. Do you know for sure the mash held at around 150 for the duration of the mash? Did you account for the temperature of the grain when calculating the necessary temperature of your initial strike water?

4. What was your sparging process?

5. What was the assumed mash efficiency of the recipe you used? And on that topic, do you know your mash efficiency?

6. Did you collect the amount of wort you expected to at the end of the boil?

 

[Chefjp]

I probably sparged too quickly!!!!, I'll slow it down next time!!! Thanks

 

[smiller]

How long did you sparge?

 

[sidepart]

Tell us the details!!! I'm going to all-grain soon and I want to learn from others mistakes.

 

[iskuse]

I Just did my first all grain, with 17 pounds of grain. was supposed to hit an OG of 1.086 ended up with 1.064. I put the grains in 4 grain bags and mashed for an hour, then put the bags in a strainer and poured 170 degree water over them. I don't have a mash tun so I had to use my brew pot. My temp went up the about 175f for about 10 minutes. I dont think I sparged enough. Also, I have read that you should not squeeze the grain bags because of tannins, does anybody now anything more on that.

 

[smiller]

I don't know the answer about tannins, and I've never mashed that way (aside from steeping a much smaller amount when I was starting out. My thought would be that if you put that much grain in closed bags, you are effectively creating dough balls and the mash/sparge water wouldn't penetrate evenly and efficiently convert the sugars.

 

[bdh]

If you search for "brew in a bag" or "BIAB" you'll find lots of good threads about these issues. The general consensus seems to be that squeezing the bag isn't really an issue in terms of tannins and helps boost efficiency. It's also pretty common for the efficiency of BIAB to go down when you do high OG brews. A few quick tips for boosting BIAB efficiency include...

1) Use lots of water for the mashout/sparge - as least as much or more than you'd use for a mash tun setup.
2) Squeeze the bag.
3) Mill the grains a little finer than you would for a mash tun setup (one of the pluses of BIAB is you don't have to worry about a stuck sparge).