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Keep getting low OG

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2 years 10 months ago #5274 by SurvivalHorror
Keep getting low OG was created by SurvivalHorror
Hi All,

I’m hoping somebody can please help!

Sorry if I’m going over old news but I’m about 4 brews in with the new Brewzilla 35 and I keep hitting a low OG post boil. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I seem to get bang on after the mash 1057, sparge and hit my boil level, pre boil I get 1036 what the? Then after boil off I’m still reading low at around 1042, I can’t work it out? I’m using BeerSmith and my equipment profile seems ok. I generally use 19-20 litre for mash in and around 15l sparge water then into the cube at 23l.

any help appreciated.

thanks heaps

John

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2 years 10 months ago #5275 by Finnroo
Replied by Finnroo on topic Keep getting low OG
Hello John, I need to know your grain bill please and ill get back to you asap, cheers mate.

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2 years 10 months ago #5276 by SurvivalHorror
Replied by SurvivalHorror on topic Keep getting low OG
Thanks a lot Finnroo,
This is the grain bill I used:
1kg wheat malt
3.5kg pale malt
150g crystal
200g flaked wheat
150g Munich

Cheers mate

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2 years 10 months ago #5277 by Finnroo
Replied by Finnroo on topic Keep getting low OG
Thanks for that John. So it would appear your efficiency is only at 63%.
Your efficiency should be more 70% to 75% which would give you an OG (post Boil )of at least 1047 up to 1050. If you ferment down to 1012 that would give you about 4.75% ABV.(at 70%) up to 4.9%ABV (at 75%)
So you need to bump up you efficiency .
So I would first extend your mash time to 80 min. After mash time bump up the temp to 75degC for 10 minutes. Then Sparge with 75 DegC water. But an important note here is to make sure your sparge water rains down evenly across all the grains like a shower to wash all the required sugars through. If you only run the water down onto the grain bed like a hose you wont rinse it all out. I think your system has some kind of screen to run the sparge water through so maybe make sure your hose is lying across the screen not directly down ,so that your sparge water runs around the screen and showers down evenly over the whole of the grain bed.
And another thing that could help would be to give you mash a really good stir before bumping the temp up to 75 for mash out for the ten minutes i mentioned earlier.
I hope this helps you and please let me know your thoughts, cheers mate

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2 years 10 months ago #5278 by SurvivalHorror
Replied by SurvivalHorror on topic Keep getting low OG
Thanks heaps for this Finnroo, some seriously good advice.
I’ll give it a crack this weekend and see how I go and hopefully I hit my numbers.

Thanks again mate!

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2 years 10 months ago #5279 by Finnroo
Replied by Finnroo on topic Keep getting low OG
Your welcome. Just a couple of other things , make sure that when you mash in that there arnt any doe balls, give the mash a through stir so no lumps.and maybe another stir at the 30 minute mark.
Also I had a look at a couple of Gashs videos with a similar system as yours and you can see he uses a colander to help rain his sparge water onto his mash nice and evenly.

Cheers mate, please let us know how it goes on the weekend. Good luck.

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2 years 10 months ago #5280 by SurvivalHorror
Replied by SurvivalHorror on topic Keep getting low OG
Thanks Finnroo, yeah I’m big fan of Gashs vids that’s why I’m watching him thinking what the hell am I doing wrong here. He’s got a lot more experience than I have though but I’ll get there.
Good tip with the colander, I’ll give it a crack and see how I go.
Also one more thing, I noticed I currently have my equipment profile in beersmith set at 78% efficiency so should I maybe lower this to around 70-75%?

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2 years 10 months ago #5281 by Cherry1
Replied by Cherry1 on topic Keep getting low OG
Hi John,
Further to Finnroo's recommendations. I have the same system as you, I have never checked my mash gravity only start at pre-boil, so not sure on correlation. However I have had issues getting correct pre-boil gravity when using wheat and oats, which was normally highlighted by not being able to have a really good recirculation flow during mash. Easy fix was to use rice hulls and give it a couple of stirs during the mash.
Cheers

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2 years 10 months ago #5282 by SurvivalHorror
Replied by SurvivalHorror on topic Keep getting low OG
Thanks Cherry1, yeah I have been using a bit of wheat lately and haven’t used any rice hulls yet so that could be a winner, will give it a try.

Thanks for the advice

Cheers

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2 years 10 months ago #5283 by Finnroo
Replied by Finnroo on topic Keep getting low OG
Nice one Cherry. John 75% would be a good place to start, but all going well you may find your efficiency a bit higher. Have a look after this next brew and see how it went. But yeah i think 75% for this next brew would be workable.
Whats your thoughts Cherry. Cheers.

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