Coffee's For Closers

Yeah, but it's plumbed so that I can go to or from either pot, including recirculating either, by just opening and closing ball valves. With the herms in the HLT/BK, I can hold liquor to control the temp for the recirc through the mash. When mash and sparge is done and it's all in the boil pot, I disconnect the mash tun from the herms coil and hook up my water hose for running water through it at the end of boil for initial chilling.
 
Defintely want to watch out for the Kriss Kross.
 
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So I brewed this Friday night, and used the brew session function for the first time. I should also note that this is the first time that I used a pre-measured volume of sparge water, as opposed to sparging to get back to a desired volume. It was very humid outside, but the grains were inside the air conditioned house during the afternoon.

Is it possible that my grain absorption is less than normal?

I am calculating my actual absorption as 1.38, recipe editor calculated that it would be 1.65.

Is there an adjustment for this in the recipe editor, or in my equipment profile?

Should I somehow find a way to reduce my total water volume to compensate for this.

My PBG ended up being 1040, should have been 1046, OG 1051, should have been 1056.

I did try to overcome this by extending the boil, but I did not extend it enough.

My target fermenter volume was 6, I shut the ball valve off at 6.1, and left about 0.2 in the kettle. Didn't want to overfill the fermenter, and wake up to a big mess into the morning.

At the end of the day, BF reports that I had 70.3 conversion, preboil 65%, ending kettle 67%, Brewhouse 65%

Sorry to throw some many questions at you guys. Starting to understand how it comes down to process, and dialing in your efficiency.
 
You'll learn your system as you keep track of losses. I've gotten to the point that I just add a quart or so to the amount that my water requirements indicate and it comes out pretty spot on. I could track down the difference, but I know my system and process and mostly just make changes to account for different rest temps and mash thicknesses.
Yes, make changes in the profile to reflect real-world losses. I have my grain absorption at .4 qts/lb. I think default is .5 qts/lb - that's a lot.
You've got pretty low efficiency...I'd look at your mash procedure and PH. Get some iodine to check for conversion. You're probably giving plenty of time for conversion - most of us rest far longer than we actually need to - but it's nice to see when you've actually got all the starches converted. Sparge probably makes the most difference, in the end. If you fly sparge, do it slow as hell. If you're BIAB, squeeze the shit out of the bag.
I think your OG just suffered on this brew because of boil-off, though 5 points isn't the end of the world. You'll boost your efficiency one way or another and hit pre-boil numbers and you'll be golden. ;)
 
Thanks J A

I think (correct me if I am wrong) that my efficiency is partially low because my total water volume was too high based on my equipment profile.

Not sure what you call it, but my sparge method is to place a strainer on the top of the kettle, and pour the sparge water over the bag.

Mash pH was lower than targeted at 5.0.

I will research how to test for conversion with iodine and check this next brew day.

I have made the following adjustments to my equipment profile.
Absorption from 0.5 to 0.4
Kettle Dead space from 1 qt to 0.25 qt (I tip the kettle as I drain to fermenter)
Boil off Rate from 4 to 3.5
Misc Losses from 1 to 0.25
This changes my total water requirement from 8.99 to 8.41 on this recipe. I extended my boil on this batch, left 0.8 quarts in the kettle, and put 6.1 into the fermenter, instead of 6. Hopefully this gets me a little closer, and I can fine tune it next time.

Not sure when I will brew next brew day will be, but I am now excited to see how these changes work out.

I really appreciate the help, thanks J A!
 
you can go into a recipe and chose quick water requirements, it's all based on your profile not what your fill out in the recipe for your starting and ending wort so it's best to get the quick water to match up to your recipe by tweaking the profile, there are a couple of key switches but I can’t remember what, it’s been too long
 
Ozarks Mountain Brew said:
you can go into a recipe and chose quick water requirements, it's all based on your profile not what your fill out in the recipe for your starting and ending wort so it's best to get the quick water to match up to your recipe by tweaking the profile, there are a couple of key switches but I can’t remember what, it’s been too long
Click to expand...
Thanks
Yes, I believe this is what I have done, I have changed some factors in my profile, which has changed my quick water requirements for all of my recipes. This is the second batch that I have used the quick water requirements, and the second batch that I missed low on gravity. Prior to this I did all of my water calculations manually, but then essentially threw it out the window each time by using as much sparge water necessary to bring the kettle to the desired level. As I have done this by eye in the past, my gravities have generally been close to target, but typically finished a bit higher. Using all of the tools here on BF are helping me fine tune things.

Thanks for the input
 
Craigerrr said:
my efficiency is partially low because my total water volume was too high based on my equipment profile.
Click to expand...
Efficiency is based on how much sugar you get from conversion and sparging. Efficiency of 80 percent in an average grist gets you 1.060 gravity in 4.5 gallons. The same 80 percent, same grist gets you 1.054 in 5 gallons. Your OG suffers but the efficiency remains constant. You can see that play out by just changing the batch size in your recipe editor.
Generally speaking, a larger sparge done properly will yield better efficiency, to a point, of course. A lot of factors bear on efficiency - fineness of the crush in milling, mash PH, mash temp and thickness, sparge equipment, grain bed depth, etc, etc. It's all about getting the maximum conversion action from the enzymes and then freeing up the sugar molecules that you produced and getting them into the pot.
 
Brewing this recipe again on Friday, and just one question on the S-04 yeast.
Fermentis says that fermentation temperature is ideally 15-20°C (59-68°F).
This is a pretty broad range, should go in the middle, low end, high end?
TIA!
Craigerrr
 
I usually go in the middle 63-65F. Gets some esters and yeast character without going overboard.
 
Thanks Hogarthe, I will set the inkbird controller to 18C +/- 0.50 for this, then it will float around between 63.5F and 65.3F
 
Craigerrr said:
Thanks Hogarthe, I will set the inkbird controller to 18C +/- 0.50 for this, then it will float around between 63.5F and 65.3F
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Remember S 04 has the 1.02 curse so if it slows early, rock it like it owes you money and raise the temp just a bit.;)
 
Thanks! I will remember that
 
Brewing this tonight and missed preboil gravity real bad, target 1053, actual 1044. I think I will boil until I hit target OG of 1063. I think I would prefer a smaller batch of what I expected as opposed to a full batch that just doesn't cut it.

What would you do?

BTW, I mashed for close to 90 minutes, but did not do an iodine test.
 
Craigerrr said:
Brewing this tonight and missed preboil gravity real bad, target 1053, actual 1044. I think I will boil until I hit target OG of 1063. I think I would prefer a smaller batch of what I expected as opposed to a full batch that just doesn't cut it.

What would you do?

BTW, I mashed for close to 90 minutes, but did not do an iodine test.
Click to expand...
Add dme
 
Why didn't I think of that?

Just dump some straight into the boil? Turn the burner back first I imagine...
 
Dissolve it in some hot water then dump it in. Maybe with the pitch if your making one
 
ChicoBrewer said:
Dissolve it in some hot water then dump it in. Maybe with the pitch if your making one
Click to expand...
A little late but just pull some of the hot wort to dissolve dme. No dilution that way.
 
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