Low Original Gravity in Mac&Jack's Clone
I followed bruguru's M&J's clone for 5 gallons, the boil took 90 minutes, and at the end I didn't have much wort left. I started with about 3 gallons water in a 4 gallon stock pot. By the end of the boil, I had less than 2 gallons of liquid. (I let the grain bags drip without squeezing them.) I've added about 2 1/2 gallons of water - the volume in my primary is about 4 gallons. I took a reading and got 1.010 before pitching yeast. The o.g. should be 1.060! Help! What can I do? It's sitting right now waiting for me!
Only thing I can think of would be to add some dme or lme.
If you added water to top up to 5 gallons then the wort probably wasn't mixed well enough. Chances are the OG is right where you want it.
Was it an extract batch?
It's well mixed, and it's all grain. It's at the 4 gallon mark in primary.
Also, this is my second batch with low o.g. What am I doing wrong?
Most importantly, do I toss this batch? What happens if I pitch yeast and wait a month?
Hello? Anyone?
1.010 is so low I still think its plausible that your wort isn't mixed enough. To end with 4 gallons at 1.010 using the recipe in the M&J sticky you would have had to get 10% efficiency.
I'm kind of confused by this part here...
I started with about 3 gallons water in a 4 gallon stock pot. By the end of the boil, I had less than 2 gallons of liquid. (I let the grain bags drip without squeezing them.) I've added about 2 1/2 gallons of water - the volume in my primary is about 4 gallons.
Do you mean you ended up with 3 gallons of wort in a 4 gallon pot after mashing?
What grain bags did you let drip after boiling? Did you boil your grains?
Describe your mashing process because something doesn't sound right here.
I'm guessing somthing went wrong with the mashing process, and most importantly, how did you mash, Ie: what temp did you mash at, and how much grain did you use. There is absolutly no way you only ending up with that og mashing 10lbs of grain. It almost sounds like you only mashed the specialty grains, please tell me this is not what you did.
you can always add more dme, but you should be sure you need it. What does it taste like? it should smell and taste like strong Iced tea. Are you reading the Hydrometer correctly, some of them are triple readers, make sure your reading the correct side. Make sure it's not hitting the sides of the glass, it needs to float.
it's fixable i'm sure, don't sweat it. you can add Lme, or Dme, and know what you did the next time
FirePitBrew wrote:
Describe your mashing process because something doesn't sound right here.
This.
In the March 5, 2010 M&J recipe, bruguru posted an all-grain version which I cut in half for a 5 gallon batch. I boiled the Marris Otter, 9 lb., at 155 degrees for 60 min. I didn't understand what "collect enough wort" meant, but I boiled 1 lb. Munich and 1/2 lb. crystal 80 for 90 min. after removing the M.Otter. I added 1 oz. Centennial with 60 min. left in the boil and orange peel with 30 minutes left, and 1 oz Cascade in the last two minutes. Removed the grain bags and orange peel and cooled. Put into fermenting bucket, added 2 1/2 gallons spring water, and although I only had 4 gallons total liquid in a 5 gallon bucket, I took a reading. In the middle of the bucket, not touching the sides, the 3 sided hydrometer read 1.010, nowhere close to the 1.060 I expected to see. It smelled good, but it's been several years since I visited Seattle, and I can't remember exactly what the M&J smelled like (but I drank a lot of it while I was there). It was getting late here in Kentucky and I just pitched the yeast, Safeale 04, and called it a night. I've been brewing "kit" beers which are mostly extract-type and adding my own twist, for a decade. I recently joined this site and got excited about buying each ingredient and trying all-grain for the first time. I'm very disappointed. So, 1. Should I discard this batch? 2. What did I do wrong? Please explain in detail.
Thanks in advance.
Oh jeez, did you have any of your grains in the brew pot when the water was actually boiling (212 degrees)? That would extract alot of off flavors from the grain but shouldn't affect your gravity.
Looks like you used a gallon and a half of water to mash 10.5 pounds of grain? That's your problem. You should use ~ 1.5 quarts per pound, so . . . . about 4 gallons of water. After mashing, you should rinse your grain bag with as much 168 degree water to get to ~ 6 gallons of water or whatever your desired boil volume is.
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