I made my first all grain batch this weekend but had problems.

Here's the recipe and then I'll go into the problem I had.
I used beer tools and estimated a 60% efficiency.

4.25 gallons

6 pds two row
.5 pd 20 L crystal
.65 pd victory

1 oz glacier hop pellets 6% AA 50 min
1 oz Liberty hop pellets 3.4 % AA 2 min

2 packets muntons premium gold yeast

OG: was suppose to be 1.034
Actual OG: 1.022

I heated up 2 gallons of water to 165 degrees. Added grains, stirred, and put lid on pot. Let sit for 75 min. temp never got below 155 degrees.

I heated up 1.5 gallons of water to 185 degrees, sparged grains with that. I used a 3 gallon boild and toped off to 4.25 with cold water.

everything went fine until I measured the OG. So seeing it was low I went back to beer tools and figured my efficiency was only 40% and to get OG where I wanted it I boiled 3/4 pd of cane sugar and added it to carboy. retook OG and it was 1.032, close enough. So my question is why was my efficiency so low? I had the grains crushed at the brew supply where I bought them. I stirred the grains to make sure all got good and wet, no lumps, before timing the mash for 75 minutes. Using stovetop I could only boil 3 gallons until I get another pot. Suggestions?

And yes it is based on brewchez recipe he posted last week for a simple english bitter. I just used hops I had.

DC
Forum: Homebrewing | Author: deafcone
Posted: February 9, 2009, 5:50 pm

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