Have I just made a terrible mistake

[marko47]

My first attempt at full mash brewing and I think I've made a schoolboy error. I tried what I thought would be a nice easy light lager (page 82 of Greg Hughes' 'Home Brew Beer' if you're interested). The mash, sparge and boil all seemed to go OK. When I turned the tap on the boiler to empty the contents into the fermenter, all seemed good at first. However, when the boiler stopped emptying (the tap is about an inch from the bottom) I left all of the sediment and gunk in the boiler. It was late and I was tired. At the time, I thought that I was losing a couple of litres but though nothing of it.

Fast forward to this morning and I measured the OG. It should've been 1048 but was a only 1005. And then the penny dropped - should I have tipped the gunk into the fermenter too. By this time it was too late as I'd emptied and cleaned out the boiler.

My three questions are:

1. Have I screwed up?

2. Can it be fixed?

3. If so, how?


Cheers...Mark

 

[chopps]

Gunk or not, you should be well above 1.005 this morning so something isn't right.
Don't worry about leaving what was below the tap, that's not a problem. Some tip it in, some leave it out.

Unless you have had some spectacular overnight fermentation to completion, one or both of your readings is wrong.
How did you measure the gravity, both times?

or did you only measure it once, today?

 

[Stevieboy]

The OG is achieved primarily in the mash, and concentrated slightly by the boil. If after all that you've still got alow OG, then you could add some some spray malt or sugar to bring it up.

 

[chopps]

"It should've been 1048 but was a only 1005"
Sure it's not 1.050 ?

 

[The Baron]

Check your hydrometer and the reading as Chopps said. A quick indication is to taste the wort and it should be quite sugary in taste if it is near the 1.048 you expected

 

[marko47]

Gunk or not, you should be well above 1.005 this morning so something isn't right.
Don't worry about leaving what was below the tap, that's not a problem. Some tip it in, some leave it out.

Unless you have had some spectacular overnight fermentation to completion, one or both of your readings is wrong.
How did you measure the gravity, both times?

or did you only measure it once, today?

I only measured it once - today. The 1048 figure came from the book. I'll measure it again just to be sure.

Cheers.

 

[marko47]

The OG is achieved primarily in the mash, and concentrated slightly by the boil. If after all that you've still got alow OG, then you could add some some spray malt or sugar to bring it up.

I don't have any spray malt unfortunately so it'll need to be sugar. Is it a case of adding some, leaving for a while, and then measuring again?

 

[The Baron]

It is important especially when new to brewing to get the OG and FG accurate to see where you are.
Just double check the readings and that you are reading the hydrometer correctly if you are not sure post a pic and we will help also check the hydrometer in water and it should be very close to 1.000 this will make sure the hydrometer is correct as most have the markings on a piece of paper in the tube and this had been known to move giving false readings

 

[marko47]

It is important especially when new to brewing to get the OG and FG accurate to see where you are.
Just double check the readings and that you are reading the hydrometer correctly if you are not sure post a pic and we will help also check the hydrometer in water and it should be very close to 1.000 this will make sure the hydrometer is correct as most have the markings on a piece of paper in the tube and this had been known to move giving false readings

Cheers Baron. Here's the hydrometer with tap-water. Looks normal to me but happy to take the views of those more clued-up than me.

 

[chopps]

Cheers Baron. Here's the hydrometer with tap-water. Looks normal to me but happy to take the views of those more clued-up than me.

show us it in the wort ?

 

[marko47]

And here we are with the brew.

 

[Stevieboy]

Cheers Baron. Here's the hydrometer with tap-water. Looks normal to me but happy to take the views of those more clued-up than me.

That looks way off to me! Also get yourself a proper trial jar - your getting side sticking with that tube - that is the storage tube, not a trial tube.

 

[The Baron]

It looks off to me by about 4 points it is reading 0.994 ish to me and tap water should I think be about 0.998 but not 100% that is fact.
Does wort taste quite sweet or just a little bit sweet?

 

[The Baron]

What was your recipe and for how many Litres, include mash time and temp you used it will give us a better idea to see what has gone wrong

 

[chopps]

The bulb of the hydrometer, is it floating free or stuck to the sample container? Any mash even a bad one would be more than zero difference to water

 

[marko47]

That looks way off to me! Also get yourself a proper trial jar - your getting side sticking with that tube - that is the storage tube, not a trial tube.

Roger that :)

 

[marko47]

It looks off to me by about 4 points it is reading 0.994 ish to me and tap water should I think be about 0.998 but not 100% that is fact.
Does wort taste quite sweet or just a little bit sweet?

Tastes a little bit sweet. Wouldn't describe it as very sweet.

 

[An Ankoù]

And here we are with the brew.

There's something wrong here. It's lager and the colour of the sample is too dark for 1005

 

[marko47]

What was your recipe and for how many Litres, include mash time and temp you used it will give us a better idea to see what has gone wrong

I stuck to the recipe pretty closely. Only change was the yeast where I added two sachets as the book says to up the yeast for low temperature fermentation.

 

[marko47]

The bulb of the hydrometer, is it floating free or stuck to the sample container? Any mash even a bad one would be more than zero difference to water

Sticking a little - definitely need better kit here.