original gravity not expected

[Old_Skool]

I do stove-top mini-mashing and I'm a bit confused about your recipe

1lb pills malt OK

2lb wheat malt ---- is this 2lb grain or LME ?

1lb carapils OK


A partial mash assumes some LME --- if you only added the 2lb of wheat I can see your problem.

And even if the above are all grains you mashed (and also added some LME) Mashing at 160deg is going to de-nature a lot of proteins giving you a very low mash efficiency ... as others have mentioned. Also what was your grist to water ratio for your mash ? Too much water would further hamper proper mashing.

Generally you want to use 1.5qt per pound of grist (grain) to be mashed. Mash 60 - 90min at 145-155deg. I use a really large open bag to mash in --- to sparge I pull the bag out of the mast pot and rinse it in 2 gallons of water (in my brew pot) at 165deg for 10min. Toss the grains out - pour in the mash liquor from the mash pot - top my partial boil pot to 3.5gal and head to a boil.

[Ozwald]

I do stove-top mini-mashing and I'm a bit confused about your recipe

1lb pills malt OK

2lb wheat malt ---- is this 2lb grain or LME ?

1lb carapils OK

2 lbs pils malt
2 lbs wheat malt
1 lbs carapil malt

then a container of wheat extract

And even if the above are all grains you mashed (and also added some LME) Mashing at 160deg is going to de-nature a lot of proteins giving you a very low mash efficiency ... as others have mentioned. Also what was your grist to water ratio for your mash ? Too much water would further hamper proper mashing.

Generally you want to use 1.5qt per pound of grist (grain) to be mashed. Mash 60 - 90min at 145-155deg. I use a really large open bag to mash in --- to sparge I pull the bag out of the mast pot and rinse it in 2 gallons of water (in my brew pot) at 165deg for 10min. Toss the grains out - pour in the mash liquor from the mash pot - top my partial boil pot to 3.5gal and head to a boil.

Ok, we've already covered ratios. Not a problem there. You can't denature proteins, but 160 will begin to denature the enzymes that convert the starches to sugar. That will kick your efficiency in the nuts, but I doubt you'll lose almost 20 points.

As all of us have been saying (myself included) that 160 is too high, it dawned on me last night that this might not be the issue either - did you hold the grains at 160 or did you get the water up to 160 and then put your grain in? The temp of the grain would drop the temp and you'd be mashing at an estimated 147ish. That would give the opposite result - a very fermentable wort.

Other things that came to mind: how well did you stir before taking the gravity reading? I know you did it post transfer which would lead me to believe that it was well mixed but perhaps it wasn't and you only got the top portion in your sample. When did you add the extract to the boil? Did it boil the whole 60 minutes or did you do a late addition? If the LME wasn't fully dissolved from a late addition, this could have been your problem.

I know you've stated you've been brewing extract for the last 3 years, but I don't want to assume anything either. As much and as frequently as I brew, I still occasionally forget a gravity sample or whirlfloc or whatnot. Sometimes it's the simple, obvious answer. I think it's awesome you're expanding your horizons into partial mash territory & hopefully we can figure this thing out to get you moving forward again. If you'd like a proven partial-mash recipe, I'm sure dozens of BN'rs could help you out for your next brew, or I could provide you with something as well for your next brew. Hopefully this mystery brew didn't discourage you from trying another batch soon.

[Bugeater]

How fine did you mill the grains? A poor crush tends to be the cause of most low OG problems.

Wayne

[a10t2]

Other things that came to mind: how well did you stir before taking the gravity reading? I know you did it post transfer which would lead me to believe that it was well mixed but perhaps it wasn't and you only got the top portion in your sample.

That was my first thought too. Was this a partial boil?

How much extract did you use? LME or DME? If we can figure out the gravity contribution from the extract we can get an estimate of the mash efficiency, which would help for troubleshooting.

[jeibl]

I used a wheat LME, 3.3 lbs of it. I did use more water to top off the carboy then I have in the past with my extract boils, but I thought I mixed up the wort and top off water appropriately. I did take the sample off the top though because i forgot to take a sample before as I usually do. How do you guys usually take your OG reading, maybe any advice to get a more accurate reading?

I just mashed my grains through the mill once, but I thought that would be enough. Maybe twice next time? I also noticed that my grains were very clumped together throughout the process, so I probably need to measure out the water more accurately instead of eyeballing it. i added the LME while the wort was heating up to the boil and when it started boiling I added an ounce of hops and boiled for 60 minutes, and then used a wort chiller to cool.



As of now I have fermentation, but It really started to slow down, and it has only been about 4 days. I havent had a fermentation slow like this with any of my pure extracts. I am pretty curious about this beer...

[a10t2]

I used a wheat LME, 3.3 lbs of it. I did use more water to top off the carboy then I have in the past with my extract boils, but I thought I mixed up the wort and top off water appropriately. I did take the sample off the top though because i forgot to take a sample before as I usually do. How do you guys usually take your OG reading, maybe any advice to get a more accurate reading?

3.3 lb of LME in 5 gallons would be ~1.024 all by itself, and I think we can assume your mash efficiency wasn't 0, so your OG had to be higher than that. For mini-mashes I generally get 50-65% efficiency, and even at 50% the OG would be ~1.042.

For partial boils, I would take a gravity reading before topping off, then calculate the OG based on how much you're diluting. If you have a refractometer and a hydrometer you can take post-fermentation readings with both and calculate the OG; otherwise you just won't know this time.

[Old_Skool]

"""Ok, we've already covered ratios. Not a problem there. You can't denature proteins, but 160 will begin to denature the enzymes""


DOH !

[a10t2]

Don't feel too bad, enzymes are proteins.