Either I'm a natural, lucky, or measuring something wrong. But I've now done 3 AG brews and hit the estimated OG bang on every single time. I'm suspicious!
Also for the first time, last night I hit my target brew length bang on! There has to be a catch somewhere it can't go that smoothly.
Hitting estimated OG bang on
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MightyMouth
Re: Hitting estimated OG bang on
Well to be fair, if you didn't hit your target brew length you you didn't really hit your estimated OG as if you topped up you would have been under on the OG. Its easy to hit the OG if you try, it's getting both the brew length and the OG that's tricky.
Either way its nice to have it happen without trying too hard.
Either way its nice to have it happen without trying too hard.
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Northern Brewer
Re: Hitting estimated OG bang on
Despite using identical recipes and methodologies I find that my brewhouse efficiency tends to vary slightly from batch to batch. I blame this on the make-up of the crushed malt, in that sometimes it is a little more floury, and other times a little more husky, even within the same 25KG sack.
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agentgonzo
Re: Hitting estimated OG bang on
I've found this too. I normally vary between 75% and 80% and very rarely get outside those numbers. I'm not that fussed about it. It could be the make-up of the grist, the mash temperature (never the same brew-to-brew but close), sparge speed etc. There are a lot of factors that change with my brews!Northern Brewer wrote:Despite using identical recipes and methodologies I find that my brewhouse efficiency tends to vary slightly from batch to batch. I blame this on the make-up of the crushed malt, in that sometimes it is a little more floury, and other times a little more husky, even within the same 25KG sack.
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Northern Brewer
Re: Hitting estimated OG bang on
I batch sparge and 8 of the last 10 brews have come within a point of 79%, but with two outliers coming in at 75% and 83%.
I once noticed that 4KG of crushed malt reached a moulding rim, 2" beneath the brim of my Morrissons £1.49 household bucket; hence I started measuring my grain that way. I soon discovered that my OGs were all over the place because a given volume doesn't necessarily come in at the same weight. I continue to weigh my grain into that bucket and now appreciate that whilst 4KG often comes up to the moulding rim, the same weight can nearly fill the bucket if the husk content is high.
A couple of years ago a story hit the press about how scientists had finally figured out why the larger components of muesli always find their way to the top of the packet during transit, whilst the floury stuff invariably goes to the bottom. It all had something to do with the number of particles that needed to get out of the way in order for a nut to fall through the mixture, as opposed to the other way around. I suspect something similar happens to crushed malt.
I once noticed that 4KG of crushed malt reached a moulding rim, 2" beneath the brim of my Morrissons £1.49 household bucket; hence I started measuring my grain that way. I soon discovered that my OGs were all over the place because a given volume doesn't necessarily come in at the same weight. I continue to weigh my grain into that bucket and now appreciate that whilst 4KG often comes up to the moulding rim, the same weight can nearly fill the bucket if the husk content is high.
A couple of years ago a story hit the press about how scientists had finally figured out why the larger components of muesli always find their way to the top of the packet during transit, whilst the floury stuff invariably goes to the bottom. It all had something to do with the number of particles that needed to get out of the way in order for a nut to fall through the mixture, as opposed to the other way around. I suspect something similar happens to crushed malt.