I don't think my partial mash worked

[dachbach]

Long time lurker, first time poster. Advice in these forums has been tremendously helpful so far so I'm hoping for more.

I've brewed three extract/specialty grain batches so far and decided to do my first partial mash today.

I used Brewer's Friend as my recipe calculator and with a 60% efficiency, it said I should have an O.G. of 1.057. My actual O.G. was only 1.044, which coincidentally (or maybe not) is the O.G. the calculator gives if I set my efficiency to 0%.

I added the grains to 160 degree strike temp and put in the oven for an hour. The oven was set to 170 and I turned it off when I put the mash in. It was 152 when I took it out. I "teabagged" the grains in 180 degree water and then poured more 180 degree water over the grains through a collander. I did not do an iodine test.

I used enough water to get 3 gallons for the boil. I lost about a gallon during the boil because I had to add 3 gallons of water to the fermenter to get to 5 gallons. I was actually a little bit less than 5 gallons but didn't add any more due to my O.G. being low.

I used a turkey baster to select samples out of the carboy for my hydrometer reading. My first suction with the turkey baster was on wort that had just had water added so it might not have been mixed enough. I then mixed fairly well with a long spoon and got two more turkey baster samples to fill up the hydrometer tube.

Could that first sample of possibly watered down wort be enough to knock the O.G. reading down .013?

Anyone have any other thoughts as to why my O.G. was so low?

3.3 lb Liquid Malt Extract - Light
1.5 lb Dry Malt Extract - Amber
1 lb Dry Malt Extract - Light
1 lb Caramel / Crystal 40L
1 lb Victory
1 lb Pale 2-Row


Thanks in advance.

 

[Malticulous]

How well was the top off water stirred in? That's probably the problem. You should have had some conversion.

 

[heckels]

When I was doing extract I had several brews come in way low...it was because I didn't stir in the top off water.

Were your grains properly crushed?

 

[Grinder12000]

You are fine. Doing mini mashes with extract can be a little low but not by much. I guarantee you are fine.

One thing you can do.

Have a some water at 170. About 1.5 gallons and just put the tea bag in that for 10 minutes. Then use that water in your brew also. Put the tea bag in a large bowl with a small colander in the bottom so it'll just drip. No squeezing is necessary.

 

[dachbach]

Were your grains properly crushed?

Grains were crushed by LHS so I hope they were crushed properly...

I didn't even think about that being an issue.

How well was the top off water stirred in?

Not very well for my first sample, but I stirred it for awhile for the second and third. I didn't feel like cleaning and sanitizing all the siphoning equipment so I used a small, cheap turkey baster which requires me to lean the carboy over pretty far just to get a sample off the top of the wort. Plus I have to repeat this several times to get enough wort to fill up the hydrometer tube.

Any suggestions on how to get samples from carboy easier?

Hopefully it was just that watered down sample that brought the reading down. Guess I'll never know though. Should probably just relax and have a homebrew.

 

[nanofreak]

It's likely top off water, no matter how well you stir it it is impossible to get right, you need to wait until the yeast stir it.

Also the temp at time of your reading, what temp was the sample, and did you adjust for temp?

 

[dachbach]

It's likely top off water, no matter how well you stir it it is impossible to get right, you need to wait until the yeast stir it.

Won't the O.G. start dropping as it ferments?

So is there any good way to figure out my O.G. or should I not worry about it and just assume I hit my target? What's a good efficiency percentage to use given my methods of sparging?

 

[nanofreak]

They way to get the OG on top off batch is to take the OG of the boil, then calculate the OG with the added top off water.

Yes it will begin to drop as the yeast ferment it.

 

[dachbach]

What's the calculation for that?

 

[solbes]

It was asked earlier, but did you check the gravity of the wort while it was still hot? If so, your cooled gravity may have been higher. All gravity readings are based on 60F, so if it was hotter you need to adjust for it.

Use a calculator like this one if it wasn't near room temp:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/

 

[dachbach]

I mixed 2 gallons of 100 degree wort with 3 gallons of cold water so I'm sure it was room temperature.