BTW what is your "tilts"?
IBU's
- Thread starter Chip99
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One answer I didn't get from an earlier question, does the SG change from the start of the boil to the chilling of the wort? It would seem to me it would and in a big way going from 6.5 gallons pre boil wort to 5.5 gallons after 60 minutes. Then again there is no adjustment to SG possible once you are ready to ferment? Chip
https://tilthydrometer.com/
bluetooth hydrometers to monitor fermentation.
So this is how it goes for me.
I use the refractometer throughout the mash, which --always-- lasts more than 60 minutes. Today was 100 minutes to get to 2 consecutive readings of 1.050-ish, mash out, vourlauf and got about 1.054. Sparge to boil volume, 7.7 - 8 gallons gets me there. At about 7.8 gallons, I had 1.042 and got to the boil. The boil was just over 60 minutes, hop schedule 60. I get one last refractometer reading of 1.052 with 70 showing on the kettle thermometer.
T/F to fermenter and drop in the tilt. Show 1.049-1.050, settling to 1.050 at 70F on the tilt. Pitch the yeast and seeing 1.048-1.049 on the tilt.
The tilts send readings to a cloud site, where I mine them in the grainfather app, monitoring fermentation when I remember. Nice thing about the app is I can control temp remotely.
So I have 3 tools to measure gravity- old school, bluetooth tilt and refractometer, using each as appropriate.
Yes, gravity will drop as you boil off water and ‘thicken’ the wort.
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Well I agree with adding a bit more grain since you have it. Another thing is plug the recipe into the BF recipe builder and learn how to use it. If you add abv you need to slighy increase the bitterness to keep the bitterness units/gravity units (bu/gu ) close to the same to keep the same balance. There also is a range for style chart which is helpful. Your going to have to brew a few to find your sweet spot. That's the beauty of BYO. Once you find the ratio you like stay close to that and your good
Thanks that's what I thought. Good to have it confirmed... Chip
Stop dragging my heart around... Thanks... Chip
Wow! If I owned a brewery I might buy a tilt! LOL... Chip
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Refractometers work well for SG. There is no alcohol at that time. FG needs to be adjusted for alcohol. I actually use both a hydrometer and a refractometer for SG to see if my hydrometer is close.
Crushing my own grain meant my crush was the same every time. I could crush finer than what the online stores did. Hitting your numbers will make the beer taste closer to how you intended. Anything extra you add to correct be it water, sugar, DME etc will affect the gravity, taste, IBU etc.
they dont work with commercial equipement. Commercial versions are wired and WAY more money. Commercial tanks are: SS outer jacket, Insulation, ss dimpled glycol jacket, glycol, SS pressure vessel, none of which is easy to transmit through with something battery powered. plus they are usually crammed into the smallest possible space so you may have to transmit through more tanks.
You can use a refract to check grav during boil, hydrometers are the right answer once you are in fermentation. with hydrometers also working during boil and being very accurate they are the best option for an "all around" check. Unless you are using hydrometers or refracts with temp calibration you will need to cool your samples to a fairly specific temp range or use a calculator.
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I'm going back to your volume and gravity.
Obviously the gravity changes when you boil off water. Simply said, the aount of sugar stays the same
As a simple example, if you start with 10 gallons with an SG of 1.020 and end with 5 gallons, the your SG will be 1.040.
Your end SG after boiling and cooling is your OG (Original Gravity).
BUT you can still change it if you would want it lower, by adding water (preboiled and cooled down).
(If you take the example and add 5 gallons, then you are back at 1.020)
Increasing is a bit more difficult, but possible by adding DME.
Obviously the gravity changes when you boil off water. Simply said, the aount of sugar stays the same
As a simple example, if you start with 10 gallons with an SG of 1.020 and end with 5 gallons, the your SG will be 1.040.
Your end SG after boiling and cooling is your OG (Original Gravity).
BUT you can still change it if you would want it lower, by adding water (preboiled and cooled down).
(If you take the example and add 5 gallons, then you are back at 1.020)
Increasing is a bit more difficult, but possible by adding DME.
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I like to ferment and forget, too. Adding hops during the cool down works well for me. Cool to 170 (or less), add hops, and let sit for 30-60 minutes and cool naturally. This works well for Centennial, Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy... . I've even done a small amount of bittering hop and all the rest of the hops during cool down. My crew likes the resulting brew.
Yup! I just went the other direction with a low ABV, session APA. 10# of malt, now, let’s see if I can get my G’s in order here...
End of mash/sparge - beginning of boil: 1.042
end of boil: 1.052
post yeast pitch: 1.049
( I use a starter culture, ~1500ml )
Right about 40 IBUs
Finished up right before the cold front roared in
sitting at about 1.037 right now and I expect it will be done or close to done fermenting late Saturday or early Sunday.
Had a brew session yesterday and was not hitting my numbers despite adding an extra 2.5 lbs of two row to the recipe kit. Can you "over boil" a batch? I was considering just boiling down until I got to the OG I was looking for (about 1.060 ish). After about 75 minutes of boil I decided to shut it down and start cooling with my wort chiller setup (6.5 gal start and 5.5 gal finish). OG was 1.053 while the kit claims 1.055. Again that's after I added about 25% more to the grain bill. Could I have boiled it down to say 4.5 gal or so until I hit my target OG? Does it hurt to "over boil" until you dilute enough to be where you want to be? Thanks for the above response (l would like to hear how to increase OG after the boil using DME)... Chip
Do you have a target FG? 1.010 or so?
I'll have to try that (an ounce or so / 5 gallon?). I keep about a pound of Mosaic in the fridge so I can add extra to my kits that are a bit lower on the IBU scale that I like... Chip
All things being equal, you’ll probably end up with a little more bitterness than you have “gravity”. If your hop schedule is 60 minutes and you boil 75, sure you’ll boil off a little more wort & concentrate it, but not at the same right high alpha acid hops will contribute bittering.
It’s going to be easier for you to increase your mash efficiency, you’ve gotten some good feedback in here, but you can also use DME in your process - a “partial mash” if you will. That’s what I did when I first got my all in one, I still had 2 recipe’s worth of partial mash materials so it gave me some practice runs. Take your gravity reading after the mash, knowing your boil off will be ~ 1 gallon over 75 minutes. The recipe builder will help you calculate here.
So, let’s say you hit... 1.048 after the mash, post boil you’d probably have 1.052-1.053-ish ( guessing, I may be off ) and let’s say you need 1.058 pre boil.
you can start the boil and at a known, consistent point in the boil - beginning or near the end taking another gravity reading so you know where you’ll end up gravity wise, add some DME to the wort. I like to have a measure of predictability when brewing, so I would be inclined to add the DME up front; beginning of the boil, stir, get a reading, repeat until I get the right reading, and then begin the hop schedule.
The BIAB brewer’s oldest ally is DME ;-)
BTW, this happens. I’ve been brewing since the 20th century and had this happen to me about 15 months back. It was a hellacious brew day, starting early in the morning to hopefully beat the south Texas summer heat - for those unaware, south Texas has 2 seasons - Summer and 6 weeks of hibernation season. Shorts are literally a wardrobe option all 12 months of the year. Anyway, it was a cascadian dark ale I’d prepped for and threw a lot of rye at. Oh boy... I got 75 minutes into the mash and I was expecting about 1.065... I had 1.042. Like you I tried throwing another couple of pounds of base malt at it. No joy; I got to about 1.048, my extraction was terrible, and the grains weren’t draining sufficiently, and it just cascaded into a bunch of problems. Then I remembered I keep DME handy for yeast starters. I got to my target by adding DME at about 190-ish after ending the mash. I didn’t begin the boil until well after lunch, so it was HOT. Then it went from bad to worse. About 30-40 minutes into the boil, I got an E3 error - overheated heating element. Yes, the heating element can overheat. I didn’t know at the time, but the burner was CAKED with scorched trub. After a couple failed resets, I transferred to my now empty sparge kettle and finished the boil. while that was going on I spied the main kettle. Yikes. so during the mash, Blichmann recommends setting the 220v kettles to reduced power- about 40%. I find that too low to maintain temp, but about 45 works for the mash, but, at mash out, I need almost full power to hold a consistent 168-170.
Anyway, that beer came out pretty good nevertheless.
So after a few brews with the same brew house, you can start to dial in your efficiency. I rarely have to adjust my Gravs, but i brew alot more then the average (brewing what will become an apricot lime sour today batch number 179).
This is where taking the pre boil gravity reading is really important. Once you get used to the software and your gear. When you see the preboil is low, that gives you time to adjust your hops if you choose to extend the boil, or add more DME/LME/Dextrose. BUT it is important that if you decide to adjust the boil length you have to adjust your hop schedule times.
This is where taking the pre boil gravity reading is really important. Once you get used to the software and your gear. When you see the preboil is low, that gives you time to adjust your hops if you choose to extend the boil, or add more DME/LME/Dextrose. BUT it is important that if you decide to adjust the boil length you have to adjust your hop schedule times.
Yeah I did the calculator on IBU's and it's looking like I'm in the high 70's range so we'll see how this turns out taste wise. ABV calculates out at about 5.75% in the brew calculator. I entered my exact numbers (first time using the calculator) and I really like the feature. Will definitely use it to adjust my next batch.
I'm basically doing BIAB with my all in one. I started using a bag with it and like the way it's working. My kettle is only 120v and I turn down the power during the mash and sparge (153 and 170 respectively) then crank to full power for the boil.
Definitely understand South Texas heat! However, this brew session it was 35 out!!! I did it inside my mancave which was probably a mistake the boil created so much humidity I could see it on the walls! I have an exhaust fan I'm going to add over my brew area and that will probably allow me to brew indoors and avoid the cold or heat. Thanks much for the input... Chip
