First All-Grain (BIAB) Recipe - SMaSH Pale Ale

[Udon Pete]

Thanks for all the help, everyone! This has been super helpful for me, and I appreciate how welcoming everyone has been. I wish I could respond to everyone!

Based on the feedback I got here, I changed up the recipe a bit. I added half of a campden tablet, lowered my mash temp to 152, made sure to put instructions in about wrapping the kettle, nixxed the stirring, and maybe a couple more tweaks. Lowering the mash temp increased the ABV a bit and lowered the FG to where it is just outside the pale ale style range, but I think I'm fine with that.

The only thing I decided not to change is the Maris Otter, mainly because I am really interested in that malt, and I've seen quite a few SMaSH beers made with it on the internet, and it seems like it works. I might end up changing to a 2-row before I brew, but I think I'll keep it for now.

Otherwise, I had one more question. Is it unsafe to use a 10 gallon kettle on an electric stovetop? I've only done extract with a 5 gallon kettle before, and that was fine. I'm wondering if a 10-gallon kettle with ~8 gallons of water and 11 pounds of malt is going to a bad idea on an electric stovetop? My burners are coils, if that is important.

Thanks, all!!

Here is the new recipe if people are interested:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1486350/smash-cascade-maris-otter

I would always use MO in a recipe like this for the simple reason it adds a little ‘extra’ to the overall finished beer

 

[Prairie Dog]

Hi all,

I finished brewing this beer a little while ago. Thanks for all the help! I hit a couple of snags, but I think overall, the brew went really well.

My homebrew store was out of Cascade, so I used Centennial instead. The guy at the homebrew store also told me that because I live in the Denver area, I'll only get about 60% hop utilization, which I wasn't aware of, so I went ahead and adjusted the recipe based on both of those issues. I was able to figure out how to set the hop utilization for my recipe to 63%, which seems to be the consensus percentage for this altitude. I also set it on my "equipment", but it didn't seem to have an effect on the recipe, so maybe I'm doing something wrong there?

On to the brew... I ended up with a pre-boil gravity of about 1.030 and an OG of 1.041. My target was 1.053. I ended up with maybe a half gallon more wort than I intended, but I wasn't sure about how much of the gunky liquid I should pour into the fermenter. It took me quite a while to cool down the wort, maybe 1 hour and 15 minutes, so that is probably something I need to work on. I was planning on pitching at 68F, but I got impatient and pitched right around 72F or so. I'll probably get a wort chiller at some point.

I used the "brew" function on the website and entered my gravity readings, and it looks like I have about 69% efficiency for this brew, but I'm unsure if I'm reading and entering everything correctly. I feel like that can't be right considered my OG was so far off. I am still a little fuzzy as to what my gravity readings mean for my beer and how efficiency works, but I'm looking forward to digging into it soon.

Thanks again, everyone! I'll let you know how this tastes in about a month.

Here is a link to the final recipe and brew: https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1486350/smash-centennial-maris-otter

 

[Minbari]

Gravity of the wort after boil is what will effect how low your FG goes. If you look at the yeast you used it will give an attenuation %. So if you start with 1.040 and the yeast is 70%, then your beer, ideally, will be 70% of that starting number. There are some more factors, like mash temp and ph that will effect it. But this is the basic gist of it

Basically, the closer you hit your OG, the closer your FG will get. Things like mouth feel and sweetness(or dryness) will be what you are targeting. Your ABV will be effected too.

In the future, if your gravity is too low, you can boil longer and get rid of some of the water, as the water evaporates the wort will concentrate. Conversely, if the gravity is too high, you can add water after the boil to bring it down to what you want. Always brew for gravity and never for volume! Then your beer will turn out the way you design it, even if you have a little more or less beer at the end

 

[Prairie Dog]

Gravity of the wort after boil is what will effect how low your FG goes. If you look at the yeast you used it will give an attenuation %. So if you start with 1.040 and the yeast is 70%, then your beer, ideally, will be 70% of that starting number. There are some more factors, like mash temp and ph that will effect it. But this is the basic gist of it

Basically, the closer you hit your OG, the closer your FG will get. Things like mouth feel and sweetness(or dryness) will be what you are targeting. Your ABV will be effected too.

In the future, if your gravity is too low, you can boil longer and get rid of some of the water, as the water evaporates the wort will concentrate. Conversely, if the gravity is too high, you can add water after the boil to bring it down to what you want. Always brew for gravity and never for volume! Then your beer will turn out the way you design it, even if you have a little more or less beer at the end

Thanks for this information. The only thing I don't understand is how this works into the process. You take an OG right after you are finished boiling and keep the wort hot while you wait for the sample to get to a temperature that's suitable for the hydrometer? And then adjust based on that reading before you rack into fermenter?

I took my OG once the wort had cooled as I was dumping it into the fermenter. I thought once you finished boiling you wanted to cool it and get it into the fermenter ASAP, but maybe I'm not understanding this correctly.

 

[Minbari]

Thanks for this information. The only thing I don't understand is how this works into the process. You take an OG right after you are finished boiling and keep the wort hot while you wait for the sample to get to a temperature that's suitable for the hydrometer? And then adjust based on that reading before you rack into fermenter?

I took my OG once the wort had cooled as I was dumping it into the fermenter. I thought once you finished boiling you wanted to get it into the fermenter ASAP, but maybe I'm not understanding this correctly.

I ussualy take a sample right away using a refractometer. only takes 1 drop so cooling is kinda irrelevant. but however you measure it, yes you want to know what your SG is after boiling, BEFORE you transfer it. because if you need to boil it more, then you can just turn the heat back on. if you need to dilute it, then you can add water as you transfer or add it in the fermentor. doesnt really matter.

as for getting it into the fermentor quickly? no, doesnt really matter, what does matter is cooling it quickly once you are done. (yes I know, some people do overnight no chill. I am not a fan!) once it is cooled then transfer it to your fermentor, aerate and pitch yeast.

the important part is getting those gravities where you want them, then it will turn out the way you designed it.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I ussualy take a sample right away using a refractometer. only takes 1 drop so cooling is kinda irrelevant. but however you measure it, yes you want to know what your SG is after boiling, BEFORE you transfer it. because if you need to boil it more, then you can just turn the heat back on. if you need to dilute it, then you can add water as you transfer or add it in the fermentor. doesnt really matter.

as for getting it into the fermentor quickly? no, doesnt really matter, what does matter is cooling it quickly once you are done. (yes I know, some people do overnight no chill. I am not a fan!) once it is cooled then transfer it to your fermentor, aerate and pitch yeast.

the important part is getting those gravities where you want them, then it will turn out the way you designed it.

Makes sense. Seems like maybe I want to invest in a refractometer in that case. Are there any rules of thumb or resources for how much to boil off or add depending on the gravity? I imagine it depends on my equipment's boil-off rates which I haven't really figured out yet. Thanks again for the help!

 

[Minbari]

Makes sense. Seems like maybe I want to invest in a refractometer in that case. Are there any rules of thumb or resources for how much to boil off or add depending on the gravity? I imagine it depends on my equipment's boil-off rates which I haven't really figured out yet. Thanks again for the help!

ya, you can use the calc on this site to tell you how much to boil off or add. as for how long it would take, you would have to experiment and see

 

[Megary]

I think this also shows the importance of your Pre-Boil gravity. if you know where your gravity is before you get to the boil, and you know (approximately) your boil off rate, then you already know where your post boil (or OG) is going to land. This gives you plenty of time to make adjustments if need be. Imo, Pre Boil gravity (gravity at mash out) is the key to brew day.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I think this also shows the importance of your Pre-Boil gravity. if you know where your gravity is before you get to the boil, and you know (approximately) your boil off rate, then you already know where your post boil (or OG) is going to land. This gives you plenty of time to make adjustments if need be. Imo, Pre Boil gravity (gravity at mash out) is the key to brew day.

Could you explain this a little to me? So in this case, my pre-boil gravity was 1.030, and I was aiming for 1.053. So, if I knew my boil off rate, I could basically calculate how much water I would have to burn off to arrive at 1.053? Thanks for your response, as always.

 

[Megary]

Pre Boil Gravity (points) * Pre Boil Volume = Post Boil Gravity (points) * Post Boil Volume

Gravity Points = numbers to the right of the decimal
Ex: 1.030 gravity = 30 gravity points

so…

Let’s say you measure your pre boil gravity as 1.030 and your pre boil volume as 6 gallons. You boil for an hour and you know from past brews that your boil off rate is 1 gallon of wort per hour. Therefore, you KNOW that your post boil gravity will be:

30 * 6 = x * 5
x = 36
OG = 1.036

Here is a far more detailed explanation:
https://byo.com/article/hitting-target-original-gravity-and-volume-advanced-homebrewing/

 

[Zambi]

Pre Boil Gravity (points) * Pre Boil Volume = Post Boil Gravity (points) * Post Boil Volume

Gravity Points = numbers to the right of the decimal
Ex: 1.030 gravity = 30 gravity points

so…

Let’s say you measure your pre boil gravity as 1.030 and your pre boil volume as 6 gallons. You boil for an hour and you know from past brews that your boil off rate is 1 gallon of wort per hour. Therefore, you KNOW that your post boil gravity will be:

30 * 6 = x * 5
x = 36
OG = 1.036

Here is a far more detailed explanation:
https://byo.com/article/hitting-target-original-gravity-and-volume-advanced-homebrewing/

Or to make it simple (?)
Volume x gravity points is constant (as you only boil off water)

 

[Craigerrr]

To know your boil off rate, you could do a test boil with a predetermined volume of water. Best way to measure the water volume before and after is by weight as the physical volume will change with temperature. Alternatively measure the before and after volumes at the same temperature.
As mentioned above, take your gravity reading pre boil, then there are different ways to adjust from there. If you are over volume, and under gravity, you can boil longer. If your volume is as expected, but you are under gravity you can either boil longer and get less volume, or you can add DME. I'm not sure if there is a calculator here for that, but Google can no doubt help you out with that.
You seem to be on a good path here, brew, learn, repeat!

 

[Prairie Dog]

Thanks, everyone. It took me a little while, but I think I understand this concept now.

So, in terms of my brew a couple of days ago:

I had 4 gallons of wort with a 1.030 pre-boil gravity reading and my goal was to have 2.5 gallons at the end with an an OG of 1.053.

4 (volumes of wort) x 30 (gravity points) = 120. So I have 120 gravity points in my 4 gallons.

120 / 2.5 (my target volume) = 48 or 1.048, which would be about 5 points off of my target OG.

120/2.25 = ~53, for an OG of 1.053, which is my target. So if I boiled off another quarter of a gallon, I'd reach my target OG at about 2.25 gallons of wort.

As long as I'm understanding this right, this is super helpful!

 

[Megary]

I think you got it.

Another correction, instead of boiling longer, would be to add a little DME (or sugar, depending on the style) to the boil to boost your gravity, as @Craigerrr mentioned above. Not a bad idea to have some DME around until you figure out why your pre-boil gravity is coming in lower than expected, which is the real issue you need to solve.

1. Crush your grains finer. BIAB loves a fine crush.
or
2. Lower your efficiency in your recipe design. All this means is that you’ll need a few more ounces of malt. More malt, more gravity points.

There are other finer points to consider as well, mainly water chemistry and mash pH. Personally, I wouldn’t worry too much about that just yet. But definitely keep it on your radar. 1 step at a time.

Good luck. You’re on your way.

 

[Minbari]

Thanks, everyone. It took me a little while, but I think I understand this concept now.

So, in terms of my brew a couple of days ago:

I had 4 gallons of wort with a 1.030 pre-boil gravity reading and my goal was to have 2.5 gallons at the end with an an OG of 1.053.

4 (volumes of wort) x 30 (gravity points) = 120. So I have 120 gravity points in my 4 gallons.

120 / 2.5 (my target volume) = 48 or 1.048, which would be about 5 points off of my target OG.

120/2.25 = ~53, for an OG of 1.053, which is my target. So if I boiled off another quarter of a gallon, I'd reach my target OG at about 2.25 gallons of wort.

As long as I'm understanding this right, this is super helpful!

Didn't check all the math, but that is the concept! Your volume is under target, but the gravity is correct, so you end up with the correct product

 

[Craigerrr]

I would add that when you are making changes, try to just change one thing at a time. If you are over volume, and under gravity, I would suggest that you change your efficiency in the recipe software. This should automatically reduce your water volumes to suit.
What would be ideal would be to rebrew this recipe, and change this only.

 

[Donoroto]

One minor caution when using Dried Malt Extract (DME): it is fantastically hydroscopic. If you try to pour some from the bag into your steaming wort, the whole bag will clump up in a few seconds, and soon after become a mostly-solid mass. It'll still dissolve, but it gets very messy.

Away from the boil, pour some into a container, then add some wort to the container to dissolve it before pouring back into the wort.

Keep unused DME sealed airtight too.

 

[Craigerrr]

One minor caution when using Dried Malt Extract (DME): it is fantastically hydroscopic. If you try to pour some from the bag into your steaming wort, the whole bag will clump up in a few seconds, and soon after become a mostly-solid mass. It'll still dissolve, but it gets very messy.

Away from the boil, pour some into a container, then add some wort to the container to dissolve it before pouring back into the wort.

Keep unused DME sealed airtight too.

I put the measured DME in a large bowl, pour it in the kettle then give the bowl a few dunks, works for me, haven't dropped the bowl into the kettle yet!

 

[Drum]

To know your boil off rate, you could do a test boil with a predetermined volume of water. Best way to measure the water volume before and after is by weight as the physical volume will change with temperature. Alternatively measure the before and after volumes at the same temperature.
As mentioned above, take your gravity reading pre boil, then there are different ways to adjust from there. If you are over volume, and under gravity, you can boil longer. If your volume is as expected, but you are under gravity you can either boil longer and get less volume, or you can add DME. I'm not sure if there is a calculator here for that, but Google can no doubt help you out with that.
You seem to be on a good path here, brew, learn, repeat!

I did my first all-grain brewing a couple of days ago.
A couple of months ago I measured my boil off of my kettle by filling the kettle with a measured amount of water. Brought it up to a boil with the lid on. Removed the lid and boiled for one hour. At the end of the hour I turned off the gas and put the lid back on to the kettle. I allowed it to cool then measured the volume. Measured 5 qrts of boil off.
Armed with that information I calculated a preboil volume to be 24 qrts, allowing 1 qrt low to allow for adjustments.
As it turns out my post boil SG was 1.010 low and 4 qrts low of volume.
I added 4 qrts to the fermenter bringing my volume to 5 gal with my OG right on.
I was thinking about the cause of my boil off measurements.
For an accurate boil off measurement the measurement needs to include the total time before boiling and post boiling.
I didn't measure the time from collecting the wort from the mash tun to hot break (15 min?) But I measured time for completing of my 1 hour boil to cooling the wort to 70F to be 50 minutes.
About 1 hour of evaporation not accounted for.
So my boil off is not 5 qrts but 8 qrts. For future brewing I need to figure 7 gal preboil volume for a 5 gal batch.

 

[Drum]

Error, my post boil SG was 1.010 HIGH, post boil volume was 4 qrts low.