First AG, O.G. lower than recipe says

[Beer is good]

Hello friends,

Today was my first AG batch. I tried this recipe with 1/5 all amounts as this is a 1 gallon batch. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/kingmatts-crowd-pleaser-ipa-478325/

It calls for these:

9.5# US 2-Row
1# White Wheat
.75# Munich

1oz Mosiac (11.6%) FWH 60min
1oz Mosaic (11.6%) 10min
1oz Mosaic (11.6%) 5min
1oz Mosaic (11.6%) 0min

I will just say what I actually did, instead of what I intended to do.

I put the grain in a big pot and poured 2 quarts boiling water in and stirred it up. The temperature was about 155f. I stirred it awhile and turned the electric glass top burner on the lowest setting to maintain temperature and it went up to 160. I turned off the burner and it stayed around 160 for awhile, and after an hour ended up around 135.

I then raised the temperature to 170 and poured the grain into a strainer over a pot and sparged it with 1 gallon of boiling water. I then re-sparged the grain with the wort one time, boiled and hopped for 1 hour.

The original gravity came out to 1.044 and in the recipe kingmatt had 1.061

Judging from my description of what I did, what should I have done to get my OG closer to 1.061?

I will appreciate any comments, suggestions, criticisms, abuse, etc.

Thank you!

 

[melikidabeer]

Well I'm no expert, but it sounds like your mash and sparge aren't very efficient. That's quite a low temp to drop to in quite a shirt time. Also, just rinsing it with a kettle of boiling water won't take all the sugars out with it. Could you build a mash tun? I built one for about £25 using the plans I found on instructable. That puppy holds its temperature for 60 mins without losing any heat. Like I said, I'm no expert, but a more efficient mash and sparge will probably help.

 

[RM-MN]

The first suspect in low efficiency is the milling of the grain. Unless you mill it yourself, you cannot be sure that the grain is milled right for your system or that someone changed the setting on the mill or that the mill gets a lot of use and has become worn. The next factor is the wheat. Wheat kernels are smaller and harder than barley and need the mill to be adjusted to account for that or you get poor milling and lose efficiency. The third factor is the changing temperature. If your conversion was not done before the temperature reached 160, you denatured most of the enzymes that cause conversion. Once done, that is irreversable.

The temperature for mashing is critical. The enzymes only work in a very narrow temperature range. Mashing at "about 155" is not the same as mashing at 155. You need to learn about strike temperature and water to grain ratios so you use the correct amount of water at the correct temperature to achieve the desired mash temperature. Mashing takes time too. Insulate your pot so you don't experience the temperature change during that mash period. Controlling the temperature by adding heat is possible but it takes an accurate thermometer and constant stirring to maintain the temperature without getting temperature variations.

 

[Beer is good]

Thanks guys. I think it is a combo of both. My temps were out of control and after reading, I don't think I sparged very well. All I did is pour the mash into a strainer and pour some hot water through it, and then I re-poured the entire pot of wort through the grain one time. I think I need a mash tun. I am going to read about building a good one, and I will read about strike temperatures.