First off, lone brewer in an isolated mountain town at +8,000ft, so most of what I have learned has been from books and youtube videos...so be warned.
Made the jump to all-grain a few weeks ago and have run into a consistent problem. My OG cannot get above 1.040. At first I thought it was my refractometer or hydrometer, but they work fine when I was making extract brews. So i began taking samples and readings throughout the process. WHat I found is that I am losing about .020 or more gravity points during the sparge process and need help in figuring out why and how to prevent it!
System and Method:
- Recirculating Pump System with 15g mega pots
- Average recipie was 14lb of grain to 17qt of water
- Mash at 150 for 60 minutes (or till iodine test show good to go)
- Sparge 4g of water at 170 for 15 minutes
- Transfer 6g to boil and boil for about 60min at ~196 (Altitude boil point)
- Boil off about 1g for finale volume of ~5g of wort
Issue is that during the sparge process, I am loosing gravity. When I take a sample post mash, but pre-sparge, I am hitting my targets, but post boil, I am reading a consistent 1.040, regardless of the recipe. I took pre-boil/post sparge samples, on the last two batches, and found that I was losing about .020 gravity points with sparging.
What is happening and how do I fix it?