First AG and I messed up... Feedback wanted!

[DeadGuyNick]

Welp, just got my keggle set up and did my first AG. Here's the recipe info:

11 lbs Pale 2 row
1.5 lbs Crystal 60L
.5 lbs CaraPils

60 min - 1.5 oz Zeus
20 min - 1 oz Citra, 1.5 oz Cascade, yeast nutrient
0 min - 2 oz Cascade, 2 oz Zeus

WLP001 (1.5L Starter)

2 oz Cascade, 1 (maybe 2) oz Zeus dry hop, .5 (maybe 1) oz Med oak chips in secondary

Now for the mistake. This was my first time brewing with this equipment, so I was still getting used to it. While mashing, we were sitting well at 152, but it dropped pretty low, around 138-140, so we put the flame back on. Well, we hit 172 pretty fast, so we just stirred until we got it down, but it was slow to cool. Didn't have any water to cool it down.

My estimated OG was 1.065, but I ended up with 1.045. From what I'm reading I understand this is in part due to my high mash temp, correct? I basically 'killed' the conversion, at least partially?

It's happily bubbling away right now, any thought as to what I should do? I could boil up some DME and add it in to boost it a bit. How much should I add? It's a 5 gal batch. Tasted it after we cooled it down, it was very bitter (like we planned) but it was still a bit sweet, so I know I got some sugars in there.

The other issue I ran into, I ended up doing BIAB since my cooler conversion hit a snag. When we removed the bag, we did squeeze a little, but we got a ton of grain material left in the BK. We ended up draining through mesh bags a couple times to get out as much as we could. Is this normal? Did the LHBS just mill it too fine? Is that something that will settle out during fermentation, or is it a good idea to filter it out before the boil?

I'm getting ready to brew a porter tomorrow, so I want to get an idea of what I did wrong this first time. Thanks!

 

[jtratcliff]

I mill my grains for BIAB super fine. Don't worry about the extra trub in the fermenter.... It'll settle out.

I'd not mess with adding DME now that it's fermenting. Just let it ride.

If you really want to up the ABV, you can maybe add some honey after primary fermentation slows down.

 

[seabass07]

We do need a bit more info. How long was it at 152 before it dropped? How long was the mash going before you raised it up to 172?

 

[DeadGuyNick]

It's supposed to be an IPA, would the honey impart too much sweetness?

I believe we noticed the drop from 152 to about 140ish after about 10-15 mins. We killed the flame and stirred, and it sat around 160-162 for about 20 mins. I'd say it was 170+ for maybe 8 mins.

 

[bzwyatt]

Is your volume measured accurately? You have 5 +/-, or 5.0?

 

[Speedbird]

I bet the broad temp changes impacted the sugar and protein extraction. I'm no expert but I did my first AG batch yesterday too and I made a mash tun out of a 10gal orange beverage cooler. The temp was 153 and it only lost 1 deg F over a 60 minute mash. My target OG was right on the money. I hope your batch today works better!

 

[jtratcliff]

It's supposed to be an IPA, would the honey impart too much sweetness?

Nah.... Should pretty much ferment out entirely. DME would add more flavor than honey. Honey will up the ABV and lighten the body. Like sugar would.

You can find honey IPA recipes on this site.

 

[2bluewagons]

As far as the mash temp, it is surprising that it fell so quickly. I use a cooler MLT and have to preheat, but with your keggle you'd still want to make sure your temp is stable. Did you use software to calculate the strike temp? Even with just water and especially with grain added, you need to stir the crap out of it to make sure you are getting an accurate temp reading and not just a hot/cold spot.

As far as the milling size, which LHBS did you go to? My local is Homebrew Exchange and it's great, but they do set their mill pretty small. FH has an adjustable mill you can use for base malt, and dial in what your system needs.

Looks like you're brewing that Porter today, good luck! I'm jealous, perfect brewing weather out there today.

 

[kh54s10]

My guess is that your low OG is more due to other things than the mash temperature. Did you do any kind of sparge?

I would also think that unless you asked for a very fine crush, it was probably not fine enough. LHBS's generally crush pretty coarse so that people do not get stuck sparges. If you can ask to have the grain milled twice, or that they mill finer.

 

[DeadGuyNick]

I probably measured temps in cold/hot spots. I'll do a better job at stirring a bit before getting a reading in a few spots. I need to get my cooler mash tun going. In my tests the cooler only dropped 1* over an hour and 12 mins!

Turns out I'm not gonna brew the porter today. Working pretty late and I don't want TI be brewing until 11. So I'm gonna step my starter once more, which I should do anyways, and brew this weekend. The awesome weather should last all week!

As for the LHBS, I went out to Brew Brothers in hillsboro. I'll take a pic of the grains when I get home, see if you guys think it's too fine or not.