Show us your boil

I don’t really know, Ben. My grains were double milled, after weighing them out myself at lhbs. The brew steps called for 9.8 quarts of mash water, where my previous batch called for 9.6 quarts. I intended to mash around 153*F, but had grain escape the bag as I was mashing in. By the time all the grain was mashed in, the mash temp was down around 150*F, which I maintained throughout the 60 minute mash. During the mash, I keep the brew kettle in a “warm” oven, stirring, checking temperature and getting a refractometer reading every 15 minutes. Just like my past several batches, it seems like the first half hour of the mash gives a good progression of increasing gravity, which then flatlines for the final half hour. In the end, my OG of 1.057 is 0.006 points below that projected by the recipe. Oh well, it will still make beer!
 
Herm_brews said:
I don’t really know, Ben. My grains were double milled, after weighing them out myself at lhbs. The brew steps called for 9.8 quarts of mash water, where my previous batch called for 9.6 quarts. I intended to mash around 153*F, but had grain escape the bag as I was mashing in. By the time all the grain was mashed in, the mash temp was down around 150*F, which I maintained throughout the 60 minute mash. During the mash, I keep the brew kettle in a “warm” oven, stirring, checking temperature and getting a refractometer reading every 15 minutes. Just like my past several batches, it seems like the first half hour of the mash gives a good progression of increasing gravity, which then flatlines for the final half hour. In the end, my OG of 1.057 is 0.006 points below that projected by the recipe. Oh well, it will still make beer!
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Every now and then we.have anomalies. Maybe the low mash temp slowed conversion or something. But yes beer it will be a bit more sessionable as well.
 
Last night I was a little worried, as at bed time, the airlock on my Speidel fermenter showed zero activity. However, this morning when I checked, there was some activity in the airlock. Now, this afternoon, the airlock is bubbling vigorously. So yes, there will be beer.
 
Vienna Lager boil.
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See I finally got my camera fixed
 
So I am having the same issue today that has happened in many of my recent brews. During the mash, I stir and collect a refractometer sample every 15 minutes, starting at the beginning of the mash. So at the start, my refractometer sample was 5.0* Brix. At 15 minutes, 8.0* Brix. At 30 minutes, 10.0* Brix - a good progression. At 45 minutes, 10.2*Brix. And at 60 minutes, 10.7* Brix. It seems that the first half hour goes well, then there is a stall in the second half hour. My pre-boil gravity is 0.004 points below projection. Does anybody have any ideas why this might be occurring?
 
It is interesting that conversion continues to take place quantifiably over the full 60 minute mash, but it makes sense (to me anyway) that conversion wouldn't be linear during the course of the mash. To be 0.004 off doesn't seem to me to be the end of the world, but I get that you are use to, and like to hit your numbers. Would you consider mashing longer and seeing if there is any further conversion beyond 60 minutes?
 
Herm_brews said:
So I am having the same issue today that has happened in many of my recent brews. During the mash, I stir and collect a refractometer sample every 15 minutes, starting at the beginning of the mash. So at the start, my refractometer sample was 5.0* Brix. At 15 minutes, 8.0* Brix. At 30 minutes, 10.0* Brix - a good progression. At 45 minutes, 10.2*Brix. And at 60 minutes, 10.7* Brix. It seems that the first half hour goes well, then there is a stall in the second half hour. My pre-boil gravity is 0.004 points below projection. Does anybody have any ideas why this might be occurring?
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Over time the enzymes are denaturing, the amount of starch is dropping, the gravity should follow a log function over time. The 60 minute mash is more a commercial thing, no issues with letting it run longer aside from the diminishing returns. And 4 points is not much of a miss.
 
I won’t lose sleep over the numbers, especially given how I have been enjoying my beers lately. It just seems odd that I have gone from sometimes exceeding projected numbers, to consistently falling short of projected numbers. Maybe I need to adjust my brew house efficiency.
 
Probably stating the obvious, but have you unplugged it and plugged back ino_O
er made sure it's still zeroed in? Crush changed a bit maybe?
 
@thunderwagn, I’m not using any electronics, if that is what you mean by unplugging and plugging back in. For measurements, I use a standard hydrometer, calibrated to 60 degrees F, and an auto temperature correction refractometer. For temperature measurements, I have a standard analog device, and a digital probe, and use them both. When I take hydrometer measurements, I use the BF calculator to adjust for wort temperature. As far as grain crush, I am using the mill at lhbs, so who knows the setting. I always run the grains through twice.
Interesting that yesterday, with my OG 5 points below projection, I still got 84% brewhouse efficiency after getting 93% extraction from the mash.
 
Herm_brews said:
@thunderwagn, I’m not using any electronics, if that is what you mean by unplugging and plugging back in. For measurements, I use a standard hydrometer, calibrated to 60 degrees F, and an auto temperature correction refractometer. For temperature measurements, I have a standard analog device, and a digital probe, and use them both. When I take hydrometer measurements, I use the BF calculator to adjust for wort temperature. As far as grain crush, I am using the mill at lhbs, so who knows the setting. I always run the grains through twice.
Interesting that yesterday, with my OG 5 points below projection, I still got 84% brewhouse efficiency after getting 93% extraction from the mash.
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The unplug and plug back in was a poor attempt at humor:confused:

As far as my comment about being zeroed in, I was referring to the refractometer. They can get out of whack and need to be adjusted back to zero and most suggestions say to use distilled water. But it sounds like you're also using a hydrometer and getting the same reading. Just offering up another possibility.
 
Herm_brews said:
@thunderwagn, I’m not using any electronics, if that is what you mean by unplugging and plugging back in. For measurements, I use a standard hydrometer, calibrated to 60 degrees F, and an auto temperature correction refractometer. For temperature measurements, I have a standard analog device, and a digital probe, and use them both. When I take hydrometer measurements, I use the BF calculator to adjust for wort temperature. As far as grain crush, I am using the mill at lhbs, so who knows the setting. I always run the grains through twice.
Interesting that yesterday, with my OG 5 points below projection, I still got 84% brewhouse efficiency after getting 93% extraction from the mash.
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What's you brew house efficiency set at herm? If you were 4 points down on expected and still got 84% brew house it must be high 80's?

Simply if it continues to fall short just adjust the efficiency down. Better off knowing what your gravity is going into the fermentor ;).
Easier for when mucking around making a recipie you k ow that the OG is around where you'll land on brew day.

Mines set at 83% usually but I had one or two drop in at 80% so I dialed it back now last batch I hit 83% that was on a lager and I suppose a higher gravity isn't what I want with them as it may stress the yeast out:).
Shoulda left it where it is so maybe see if it keeps happening then dial it back.
 
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