Mashing in too much water / & relatedly...

[JWR_12]

So it happened again: I had some friends over, was working on brewing while also explaining (what little I know of) brewing and I made a mental error because I wasn't paying enough attention to what I was doing. (Too much 'beer mastering,' not enough brewing!)

I mashed with too much water, namely, about 4.5 gallons for 8 lbs of grain, which I calculate to be about 2.25 qt / lb. I meant to be at about 1.75. This is for a loosely styled pale ale.

What are the implications? I'm guessing one would be that my mash temperature will go up a few points (more hot water / less cool grain = hotter mash). I heated the mash water to 165 before adding the grain. Calculator says I'd get a mash temp of ~157 from that (I was shooting for lower, but okay).

Am I figuring this right? Also, what are in general the implications of using too much mash water? (I'm not sure if this is relevant, but basically I mashed in my total target volume [4.5 gals] instead of in the planned amount).

Perhaps relatedly, I continue to run just about the least efficient brewery on the planet! My OG came in way below expectations -- something like 50% efficiency. I'm always low, but did this make me extra low?

Thanks!!!

 

[Josh Hughes]

You’ll be fine. BIAB is usually full volume. I’m sure there are minuscule issues hst home brewers never see. Yesterday I mashed in 5.5 lbs and 5 gallons of water. OG was as expected. If you OG is lower than expected something else is going on.

 

[Donoroto]

You may be a little hotter, but 157 is not too hot. If you find that you have too much water just before the boil, just boil it for longer and add the hops later (i.e. consider the time remaining in the boil) than you normally would.

 

[Dave Y]

I believe that generally it's better to work with too much mash water rather than too little, within limits. Generally speaking, you'll be closer to boil volume and would need less sparge water. Also your gravity readings are closer to post sparge with more wort volume than less.

 

[J A]

Your mash thickness ratio won't be much problem but your temperature will be. Folks do full volume BIAB with very thin grain to water ratio and make beer just fine. As for your efficiency, it could very well be a function of temperature. If you mashed entirely outside the range and denatured the enzymes needed for conversion you'd definitely have lower conversion efficiency. Boiling longer to get a better concentration will help but the sugars you produced may be more dextrin than fermentable sugars so your FG will likely be higher and ABV lower than you're expecting.

BTW...do you not have a good way to actually measure mash temperature? If you're depending on calculations every time you mash and brew, your actual temp may be different than you think and that could contribute to your poor efficiency.

 

[Craigerrr]

I wouldn't recommend that you worry about efficiency at this stage, especially with having volume and mash temperature issues with this batch.

The best advice that no new brewer ever takes is to brew the same recipe several times until you have your process worked out, and you are hitting your numbers, and getting consistent results. You may not want to brew a Guinness 4-6 times in a row, so maybe pick another recipe that you would like to brew consecutively.

If I could offer another piece of advice, brew without distractions, meet up with friends after your brew day.

 

[Megary]

You may not want to brew a Guinness 4-6 times in a row,

Why exactly wouldn’t anyone want to brew a Guinness 4-6 times in a row?!

+1 Good advice above, When I started all-grain brewing, someone gave me this pointer and I decided to brew a very simple English bitter recipe. Absolutely butchered my first attempt, nailed it the second time. And away we go…

 

[J A]

The best advice that no new brewer ever takes is to brew the same recipe several times until you have your process worked out, and you are hitting your numbers, and getting consistent results.

I would suggest that maybe the recipe needn't be identical but brewing simple and at least similar beers will help you calibrate your system. Once you have a handle on the inputs and outputs of your particular set-up you'll understand how to adjust any recipe and hit your numbers and have good beer at the end of the process.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Temperature and pH are the issues.
Good news, in the end you'll make beer.
Cheers,
Brian

 

[Sandy Feet]

A 157 mash temp will give you a much less attenuated Pale Ale.
I am also BIAB. I let software calculate the strike water, and I take a temperature reading at the end of the mash to see how close I got. In my 16-gallon kettle covered with the lid and a couple of towels, in an ambient temperature that is fairly normal (not too cold), you won't lose much heat at all during a 70 minute mash. the amount of water and the temperature of the grain will make slight differences.

 

[Yooper]

I always do full volumes mashes now, no sparge. Well, unless it's a huge grainbill and all of it doesn't fit with the total water then I have to sparge. But it'll be fine. The too warm mashing temperature may or may not be an issue, depending on how long it stayed at 157 but I know of at least one recipe for an IPA that Jamil Zainasheff said to mash at 160F! So no worries really.

 

[Minbari]

Will likely finish a little sweeter than you predicted. Will still be beer

 

[Dave Y]

Why exactly wouldn’t anyone want to brew a Guinness 4-6 times in a row?!

HERETIC! BURN HIM!!!!

 

[J A]

You may not want to brew a Guinness 4-6 times in a row, so maybe pick another recipe that you would like to brew consecutively.

I'm overdue for brewing my Irish Stout so I'll get 10 gallons going this week. That should last though the holidays but I fully expect that I'll have to brew another 10 in January.

 

[Dave Y]

I'm overdue for brewing my Irish Stout so I'll get 10 gallons going this week. That should last though the holidays but I fully expect that I'll have to brew another 10 in January.

I'm trying to get a few done between now and mid December so I can throttle off during our 2 weeks of autumn, 2 weeks of winter and 2 weeks of spring ;-)
I just did a Scottish style 'heavy', which i hope to follow up with a wee heavy I have room for 1 more brew. undecided on what. Maybe altbier.

 

[J A]

I'm trying to get a few done between now and mid December so I can throttle off during our 2 weeks of autumn, 2 weeks of winter and 2 weeks of spring ;-)
I just did a Scottish style 'heavy', which i hope to follow up with a wee heavy I have room for 1 more brew. undecided on what. Maybe altbier.

Sadly, I lost half a keg of my Corn Star cream ale to a bad keg post poppet and I'm down to nothing on summer beers. We can't afford to be without lawnmower beers year round. As great as the weather can be this time of year, we'll see mid to upper 80s this week. Even the "cool" weather next week will cover low to high 70s. I'm down to IPA (not such a bad choice) and Brown Ale (it'll certainly do) but I'll definitely be in need of an ice-cold slammer beer.
I'm getting myself psyched to brew today and I'll either do a Wit or a UK Golden Ale so I have something filling a tap line next week.

 

[Dave Y]

Sadly, I lost half a keg of my Corn Star cream ale to a bad keg post poppet and I'm down to nothing on summer beers. We can't afford to be without lawnmower beers year round. As great as the weather can be this time of year, we'll see mid to upper 80s this week. Even the "cool" weather next week will cover low to high 70s. I'm down to IPA (not such a bad choice) and Brown Ale (it'll certainly do) but I'll definitely be in need of an ice-cold slammer beer.
I'm getting myself psyched to brew today and I'll either do a Wit or a UK Golden Ale so I have something filling a tap line next week.

Yup! I had a... keg reassembly malfunction, we'll call it ... where the poppet did not fully seat because I put the spring on backwards. Once I put the out line on, when I removed it, the keg started pi$$ing out beer under pressure. DOH.

I'm going to need to psych myself up for the wee heavy. I took a look at my notes from last time and had a few challenges. Hopefully in the intervening year I've gotten those bugs worked out.

Plus I think now is a good time to do a derivation of my altbier with some more hops. I'll keep the original recipe unmolested just in case.
I may re-do my schwarzbier. I'm down to under a gallon and I don't have any other likely candidates for Nitro.

 

[J A]

I don't have any other likely candidates for Nitro.

I gotta get a nitro tank...I have a stout faucet and it does a reasonable job of pouring my Irish Stout but it's just not the same as nitro. I've been on the lookout for one locally but haven't found one. Might have to hit up our buddy Bezos and get one shipped in.

 

[Minbari]

I gotta get a nitro tank...I have a stout faucet and it does a reasonable job of pouring my Irish Stout but it's just not the same as nitro. I've been on the lookout for one locally but haven't found one. Might have to hit up our buddy Bezos and get one shipped in.

I just use straight n2. Carb it up with CO2 like normal, the switch to n2.

 

[Dave Y]

I just use straight n2. Carb it up with CO2 like normal, the switch to n2.

#MeToo
The local restaurants push Guinness with straight nitro, I went with it and it works beautifully. For my brews I do like @Minbari ; put a light c02 charge on the kegs, hold for a few days and once the tap is available I move to the Nitro.