Always check your crush

[H2]

Your mishap would have helped me a lot this weekend - I did my first AG batch and missed my OG by 10pts. In talking with some very experienced brewers here (thanks Bug!) it appears I had a grain issue as well, but I didn't catch mine until after I boiled. So from a rookie - that would have been a great learning tool, whether you meant it or not! I now know what to look for next time and hopefully hit my OG's like I should (a refractometer is next on my B3 shopping list).

Brian
H2
HCA Industries, Inc.
Here's hoping you have a very merry Conical Christmas!

[DannyW]

Refractometers ROCK if you are more of a scientific, data gathering kind of brewer (like me). The artisan guys won't get nearly as much out of it, but they have their own pony-tailed, dirty barefoot kind of charm, I guess!

Seriously, though, they are worth it if for nothing else than the preboil check (to adjust gravity before hop additions) and the 10min check to see if you need to add water or DME to hit your OG on the button every time.

One of these days I'm going to try to figure the OG and ABV from finished beer with no more measurements than the hydrometer and refractometer of the finished beer. I know there is a formula somewhere...

[H2]

Kind of off topic, but has anyone used a digital refractometer?

[DannyW]

I've never even heard of one. Even the medical ones around here are the same light-circle-with-scale that we are used to

Oh wait, maybe I have. Do you mean that thing that plugs into the USB port of your computer?

[H2]

There are a lot of them out there, but here are some examples:

http://www.misco.com/palm-refractometer-compare.php

[beer_bear]

Back to Jasons F-up really quick. Did you realize that you also taught everyone two valuable things?

First, that the crush of the grain is important.

Second, what they could do if the problem of low runnings occur.
I didn't know about boiling down for the longest time. I just figured, at that time, that if I missed my #s, tough shit. Now because of people like you, I know better and make better beer.

PROST to you Jason. Keep your head up. A good teacher shows all aspects of the process. The good and the bad.

[seanhagerty]

A good teacher shows all aspects of the process. The good and the bad.

Kinda like I showed you how to infect a whole batch???

[beer_bear]

A good teacher shows all aspects of the process. The good and the bad.

Kinda like I showed you how to infect a whole batch???

yeah, kinda like that.



BTW...................RAT PAD!!!!