i didn't sparge hot enough

oliver

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yesterday i brewed a 2 gallon batch, and my estimates on the calculator were reading 1.061 OG, however the real life readings i got were 1.044. And i've concluded that it was because i didn't heat my sparge water nearly hot enough. So now instead of expecting a beer around 6.5% ABV, it's probably going to be around 4.5%...

My question is this: will this alter the flavor of my beer in any way?? Or does it simply lower my efficiency and my ABV?
 
it could be a lighter tasting beer than thought but it also could be just fine, it really depends on what the difference was, just a tip mash longer and you can sparge cold and it wont make a difference
 
I doubt the temperature of the sparge water would make that much difference. Describe your process in more detail. Did you crush your own grain? Mash temp? Mash length? I think something else is to blame. What was the temp of your wort that you measured? I've messed up and forgot to correct for high temps when measuring before.
 
TheZel66 said:
I doubt the temperature of the sparge water would make that much difference. Describe your process in more detail. Did you crush your own grain? Mash temp? Mash length? I think something else is to blame. What was the temp of your wort that you measured? I've messed up and forgot to correct for high temps when measuring before.

my home-brew shop milled the grain for me. Mashed at 145F for 90 minutes. The sample wort i took was at 70F.
 
sound like you might have messed up the water or didn't sparge quite right, "channeling" can do this
 

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