First Extract Brew [new pics] and a q on low OG

[monkeyboy]

After 20 years off, I got my back into brewing with a couple of kit brews. On friday night i went the next logical step to my first ever extract brew. So much more fun than a kit. If anyone is reading this and wondering whether it's worth it then i will unreservedly say 'yes'. It's much more rewarding, and more fun too. Okay, it's more work, but to be honest, not a lot more. The joy of watching those hops churning around in the boiling wort, the completely gorgeous smell, the satisfaction of really being able to say 'i made that' are worth a bit more work. AG can't be far off

Out of the experience i learned a few things
1) when you run the water through the chiller that's been sitting in boiling wort for 10 mins, the water that comes out is quite hot Yes, i know it's obvious but i had a nice scald mark on my hand to remind me
2) it takes a long time for 23l of liquid to get to the boil.
3) don't measure the volume and then add the extract. I know, I know... It's a learning experience!

Anyway, here's the recipe

3.6Kg pale LME.
50g Northdown (8.7%) - 60mins
20g First Gold (6.3%) - 10 mins
20g Styrian (4.5%) post boil.
safale s04.

Everything went pretty well. My new boiler really got the rolling boil going. Chiller worked a treat (i don't know how effective i expected it to be, but it was amazing) and today it's fermenting away like crazy. smells fab. It's going to be quite hoppy, which is exactly what i was after. The only thing that threw me was that i got a much lower OG than i'd been expecting. BeerEngine predicted 1047, but when i measured it when it went into the FV, even after correcting for the temperature, it was 1042. Obviously i lost some wort in the hops, but not that much, surely. Anyone got any ideas on what i might have done wrong to be so far off?

Here's the fun part. First the hops:


This is just nearing boiling point.


Finally hit boiling point


Rolling boil. I never really understood that term until i saw it


My plumbing solution for an H&G Chiller. The inward flow is easy, but the outward flow meant finding the right fitting at B&Q.


The wort running off into the FV


My unexpectedly low OG.


The stuff left behind at the end. Even that smelled great!

[OldSpeckledBadger]

I can't explain why your OG was so far off. It's the equivalent of losing 400 LME. All I can suggest is that you had a rather high loss to the hops + boiler dead space.

[monkeyboy]

been thinking about this today, and i think it's probably a combination of 'hop soak', dead space in the boiler and the fact that i boiled less than 23l and then watered it down slightly. 'cos it was my first boil, i had visions of it boiling over badly, so i kept the liquid level at around about 20l, so that means it was already more concentrated. the hops did soak up a lot, and a lot of the stuff at the bottom looked pretty nasty, so i probably left more there than i needed to. All a learning experience.

[Minimasher]

Rinse your hops through (gently) with the (preferably hot) water you left out of the boil after you have drained the boiler. This will help flush some of the sugars through that you would otherwise leave behind.

[monkeyboy]

Minimasher - that sounds like a good idea. thanks for that.