All Grain first attempt - outcome/questions

[SteveAndLesley]

Hi,

did my first all grain batch yesterday -looks OK (apart from steamed up kitchen) but I have a few questions on which maybe I can get some advice.

I did a small (10L) batch of Summer Lightning, and the first question is about my mash efficiency. Because I erred on the side of a low efficiency, I used 2.5kg pale malt grain to produce 13L pre-boil wort (6.5L mash, 6.5L sparge) and the wort was measured at an SG of 1040 at a temperature of 50C. According to the spreadsheet I am using, this gives an efficiency of 85% which seems (suspiciously) high. Is my spreadsheet correct ? The only thing I can think of that may have caused a problem is that my initial strike temperature of 75C was too high, and I needed to add cold water to bring down the mash temp to a measured 67C; I don't think I left enough time for the grain/water temperatures to equalise. My finish temperature was still 66C. Is 85% believable or am I missing something ?

The second issue was that I lost 5L during the boil and was only left with 8L beer which measured an SG of 1080 ! I had to dilute down to get an SG of 1055, will this affect the end result ?

The boiler is an old Burco, and I had it turned to max. for 80mins without a lid. I thought beforehand that evaporation was pretty constant, but I guess I'll see whether I can turn the dial down and still maintain boil.
Do I need to keep the lid off ? Does the boil need to be very vigorous, or can I get away with a slightly calmer boil ?

[banjokat]

Presumably your 1040 at 50 degrees has been corrected? If your hydrometer read 1040, that works out at 1050 corrected. I'm not familiar with your process or spreadsheet but 85% eff isn't unusual. Could well be. Regarding the boil I reckon your best going for as vigorous a boil as possible. Get used to your evap rates and compensate for them next time. Hope that helps and good luck!

[orlando]

Banjokat has highlighted the main points and yes leave the lid off as there is something called DMS (dimethylsulfide) that forms if the boil isn't properly vented and this can be retained in the wort and final beer giving a slightly cabbagey smell, unpleasant. In order to work out your losses and then account for them each brew software like BeerSmith is really useful, it even has a tool for correcting "hot" hydrometer readings. Small batches are more susceptible to errors like this, although I understand what you wanted to do.

[Brotherton Lad]

Surely, 6.5l mash and 6.5l sparge won't give you 13l wort since the grain will absorb over 2 litres?

A small batch will also lose more, as a proportion, to evaporation because the surface area of the wort is proportionately larger than if you fill the same boiler almost to the top.

[richtangsoo]

Try BrewMate for recipe formulation, its free and works really well, it also has all the calculators you could need, including temp correction for your hydrometer.
Diluting with water is fine, but if your using tap water you should remove any chlorine flavours by putting it through a britas filter, or adding a bit of a cambden tablet and letting it sit uncovered overnight.

[SteveAndLesley]

Thanks for the tips / comments....

I've had a look at Brewmate which looks good, I'll play around with it to get the hang of what's what.

Brotherton Lad is correct, 6.5L mash, 8.5L sparge.

The reading of 1040 at 50C is uncorrected, so the corrected SG is nearer 1050. Glad to hear that 85% is not too unusual.

I'll do a few boiler tests over the next few days (in the garage this time) to see whether I can maintain a good boil but put less energy in. If not, I'll just have to use more water and allow for loads of evaporation. It makes sense that I'll lose more as a % when doing smaller batches.

[AnthonyUK]

For Summer Lightning I would guess the recipe was 100% Pale (Maris Otter)?
I would do some research yourself as MO is very unlikely to form DMS but in general it is good practice to leave the lid off.

[richtangsoo]

Don't be surprised if your mash eff goes down with a full size batch.
I get about 75% with a cooler box mash ton setup.