Major loss on 1st All Grain brew!

[jakey.goodman]

Hi, my name is Jake and I am new to the forum. Have found A LOT of usefult advice on here- what a great forum! Thanks very much BrewStew, for the excellent guides you have made.

Have just had a go at doing my 1st All Grain brew, and I thought it was going well, but I have lost 1 gallon of liquid through the boil stage :-o. Not sure how I got it quite so wrong- perhaps it was too hot in the conservatory? Is there anything I can do about it, or do I just pitch the yeast and put it down to experience?! Or can I just top it up with water, as surely what's left must be a concentration of what I started with?

Also, there are lots of little bits in my brew- is this normal? The boilers hop strainer has got the big bits out but let a lot of little bits through?

Jake

 

[corby_brewer]

Whats your original OG? and what brew lengh are you after? and what volume did you end up with?
Dont worry about the bits they will sink to the bottom of the FV.

 

[Muddydisco]

A gallon loss on a 25ltr brew length is quite normal. Next time you need to fill the boiler with the extra to compensate for the loss to the evaporation and the losses to the hops.

 

[Dunfie]

Hi Jake, CB is right - you need to work out what your original gravity is against what you were after. It may be that your gravity is way in excess of what you were after and you should be able to cut it back to you intended gravity by adding water.

You have either got your water calculations a bit mixed up or you are boiling too fiercely. If you post your figures then we will be able to see what you have done.

I'm sure the beer will be fine so no need to panic. :thumb:

 

[jakey.goodman]

Thanks all for your help, not sure on figures though, just had a look at the London Bitter packet and is says OG should be 1.038.

I really am very new to this!- sorry to sound thick!

 

[jakey.goodman]

OK, I have just taken a gravirty reading of 1.040 at 60 degrees C, am I correct in saying I can add cold water until the gravirty reading is 1.038 (temp corrected, so about 1.020 at 60degrees)?

 

[corby_brewer]

Sorry to say this but a reading of .020 dosnt sound very good to me, i would have expected it to be around the .040 mark. Is ther anychance that you could post the recipe you used.

 

[Muddydisco]

CB jake is on about 1.020 @ 60 degrees!! Meaning 1.035 @ 20c

Yes Jake you can add water but don't forget to treat that water before hand with a half a campden tablet and that the over all temp will drop from 60c Take it slowly and stir it around good because the sugars will stay at the bottom.
Then take readings to see where you finish

 

[jakey.goodman]

Sorry to say this but a reading of .020 dosnt sound very good to me, i would have expected it to be around the .040 mark. Is ther anychance that you could post the recipe you used.

Sorry, should have been clearer. The gravity is currently sitting at 1.040, but temp corrected that figure is 1.056 (at 20c) as the liquid is currently at 60C. Can I add water to reach my 0.038 goal (which temp corrected to 60C would be around 1.020 at 60C, but 1.038 at 20C).

Have I got the wrong end of the stick? The brew is from a Brupaks kit so not sure on the recipe as such. It was one 2kg bag of malt and one foil package of hops?

Jake

 

[jakey.goodman]

CB jake is on about 1.020 @ 60 degrees!! Meaning 1.035 @ 20c

Yes Jake you can add water but don't forget to treat that water before hand with a half a campden tablet and that the over all temp will drop from 60c Take it slowly and stir it around good because the sugars will stay at the bottom.
Then take readings to see where you finish

Excellent, thanks very much. I will ad a bit at a time, check the Temp and Gravity and work it out every few litres!

Thanks.
Jake

 

[corby_brewer]

CB jake is on about 1.020 @ 60 degrees!! Meaning 1.035 @ 20c

so he is sorry it must be the paint fumes.

 

[Muddydisco]

jake come into chat and I can work out how much you should need!

 

[prolix]

if it is 1.040 at 60c it will be in the low 1.050s at 20c so to get 1.038ish you will probably need to dilute to 5/4 the volume you have now.

if you have 4 gallons add an extra gallon of treated water to dilute to 5 gallons and it should hit the mark.

I would cool it first myself and get a correct hydrometer reading and then dilute though less pissing about.

 

[jakey.goodman]

Just an update, I have topped the water up to the correct gravity and pitched the yeast- and it is fermenting perfectly!

Out of interest, what is considered the best fermenting temperature? I have just had a look and it is at 29C without any heaters on it!

Jake

 

[Sean_Mc]

Jakey really you'll need a room around 18c-21c.
At 29c it will ferment, but you may get off tastes from the yeast

 

[31bb3]

Jakey i tend to put the lid on the boiler while waiting for the wort to come to the boil that way not so much evaporation .Also i run the mash and then the final runnings through a sieve that way it catches most of the particles hope this helps :)

 

[corby_brewer]

Jake.

As Sean say, the ideal fementation tempperature is between 18 and 21oC.

 

[prolix]

get the temp down. the bath with cold water will do. If you brew that warm you will get fusils forming and esters, giving funky tastes and bad hangovers

 

[jakey.goodman]

Jakey really you'll need a room around 18c-21c.
At 29c it will ferment, but you may get off tastes from the yeast

Thanks very much, have moved to the garage and it is staying at a fairly constant 21. Have been given an old freezer, so will make a temp controlled fermenter for the next batch.

Jakey i tend to put the lid on the boiler while waiting for the wort to come to the boil that way not so much evaporation .Also i run the mash and then the final runnings through a sieve that way it catches most of the particles hope this helps :)

By chance, I did exactly both of those things! I think I was just beeing picky as the bits were quite small. Thanks for the advice though, it's reasuring to know that putting it through a sieve is not a bad idea!

Jake.

As Sean say, the ideal fementation tempperature is between 18 and 21oC.

As above, I plan on creating a temp controlled environment for next time (fingers crossed!). Thanks again for your continuous good advice.

get the temp down. the bath with cold water will do. If you brew that warm you will get fusils forming and esters, giving funky tastes and bad hangovers

I perhaps should have done this! To be honest, I am likely to get bad hangoves anyway hopefully, I haven't done too much damage :|


Thanks all for your help, have put pictures of my 1st brewday up in another post for your amusement!