Whats the worst that can happen???

[Spikesdad]

Hi all, as some of you might know i brewed my first AG yesterday viewtopic.php?f=24&t=31007. And all went well... or so i thought...

This morning, while bottling an earlier brew, i discovered that my digi thermometer was showing readings that are miles off... cold water supply showing 35.8C... boiling water 113.5C, so that means if it was faulty yesterday mash temp would have been about 78c and strike temp about 89C

So whats the worst that can happen to this brew.. i would be sick if all was ruined.

Thx all, Dave

[196osh]

Not sure if your thermometer was stuffed yesterday. You got something like 65.5% efficency. I don't think your mash was that high as much higher than 70C the enzymes that convert the starches in the grain to sugars would become denatured, and at 78.5C I wouldnt expect conversion to occur.

If the thermometer was off by a good whack but not as much as you say then it could end up having extracted tannins from the grains by sparging too warm. Taste your wort/beer does it have a harsh sort of strong tea esq flavour? If so that will be your issue.

If it was off by just a bit but not too much then you could end up with more unfermentable sugars ending up with a higher FG.

Hope that helps.

[Hoodlum]

hopefully, you'll just end up with a thinner tasting beer with less body. Hopefully. Not to worry though, as this is a phenomenal journey of learning, and i bet your beer is still drinkable.

[196osh]

hopefully, you'll just end up with a thinner tasting beer with less body. Hopefully. Not to worry though, as this is a phenomenal journey of learning, and i bet your beer is still drinkable.

Just to say, the higher the mash temp the heavier the body will be due to the larger amount of unfermentable sugars produced during the mash

[Spikesdad]

Hi thanks for replies, but i got my sums wrong

so that means if it was faulty yesterday mash temp would have been about 78c and strike temp about 89C

but thermo was reading high , so that should read.. "mash temp about 49C and sparge temp about 60c "

so, if too lower temps were the case, what can i expect?

Thx, Dave

[boingy]

It couldn't have been that far out when you mashed because your mash basically worked.

Those digi thermometer probes are renowned for leaking. My guess is that the probe was OK at the start and now has some water/wort inside it. Stick it in a really low oven for a few hours and see if it dries out.

Your beer with probably be fine!

[chris_reboot]

I had this too, and it failed towards the end of the brew I worked out, so it was fine up till the end of the boil.
I thought it strange when the cooled wort said 40C when it was in fact a lot less.

as boingy says, dry it out, and it should be fine.

I let mine air dry, and its back to normal.
for future ref: don't dangle the probe too far in, especially up to the plastic part.
I only dip and read mostly now rather than leave it in.

[Spikesdad]

OK guys. Thanks for that, will stop worrying now!!

Cheers