I'll just start right off by saying that I know the beer will turn out fine. It'll taste great (I'm sure) and I'll enjoy drinking it. This question is to try and fiugure out where I went wrong in the process more than anything.
So here's the deal. I'm on a 25gal system and have this Imperial Stout recipe I wanted to brew. I couldn't fit the grain bill into the kettle at one time though so I decided to run a split mash. Here was my process in Beersmith on figuring out the split.
Main Recipe Stats:
Grain Bill = 70.75lbs
Pre-Boil Volume = 21gal
Pre-Boil Gravity = 1.088
So for the split mash I started with the original stats above and cut everything in half. Except that Beersmith was telling me that would result in a PBG of over 1.088. So I adjusted down a bit (wasn't a lot) to bring PBG down to the target 1.088. Here's what I ended up with:
Split Mash Stats:
Grain Bill = 33.25lbs
Pre-Boil Volume = 10.5gal
Pre-Boil Gravity = 1.088
All stats were run at 70% efficiency which I hit (or exceed) regularly. During the mash temps were hit fairly close and corrected quickly (my process is to mash in a degree or two low and direct fire up to temp). With the exception that I was mashing twice for one beer, everything was conducted as usual for my brewing process. Unfortunately for both of the split mashes, my pre-boil gravity ended up at only 1.067!!! (58.1% efficiency)
I don't understand what I did... where I went wrong to miss the pre-boil gravity by 20 points!!! Given that my process was the same as with all my brews and that I regularly get 70% or better efficiency and that nothing (that I'm aware of) went wrong with the mash/brew process - I can't figure out where I went wrong.
So fire away with questions and ideas because I'm certainly at a loss here. Again, at 1.081 OG I'm within BJCP range for the beer and I'm sure it'll be quite tasty (it smelled and looked great!). But I certainly would love to know where I went wrong so I can make sure I don't do it again.
Thanks!!
So here's the deal. I'm on a 25gal system and have this Imperial Stout recipe I wanted to brew. I couldn't fit the grain bill into the kettle at one time though so I decided to run a split mash. Here was my process in Beersmith on figuring out the split.
Main Recipe Stats:
Grain Bill = 70.75lbs
Pre-Boil Volume = 21gal
Pre-Boil Gravity = 1.088
So for the split mash I started with the original stats above and cut everything in half. Except that Beersmith was telling me that would result in a PBG of over 1.088. So I adjusted down a bit (wasn't a lot) to bring PBG down to the target 1.088. Here's what I ended up with:
Split Mash Stats:
Grain Bill = 33.25lbs
Pre-Boil Volume = 10.5gal
Pre-Boil Gravity = 1.088
All stats were run at 70% efficiency which I hit (or exceed) regularly. During the mash temps were hit fairly close and corrected quickly (my process is to mash in a degree or two low and direct fire up to temp). With the exception that I was mashing twice for one beer, everything was conducted as usual for my brewing process. Unfortunately for both of the split mashes, my pre-boil gravity ended up at only 1.067!!! (58.1% efficiency)
I don't understand what I did... where I went wrong to miss the pre-boil gravity by 20 points!!! Given that my process was the same as with all my brews and that I regularly get 70% or better efficiency and that nothing (that I'm aware of) went wrong with the mash/brew process - I can't figure out where I went wrong.
So fire away with questions and ideas because I'm certainly at a loss here. Again, at 1.081 OG I'm within BJCP range for the beer and I'm sure it'll be quite tasty (it smelled and looked great!). But I certainly would love to know where I went wrong so I can make sure I don't do it again.
Thanks!!