Overshot my OG. What now?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Stand

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2011
Messages
704
Reaction score
361
Location
Indian Trail
Hmmmm. So I bought a grain mill and started crushing my own grains yesterday. I ran all my numbers for a recipe I've made before with a target OG of 1.054

Apparently my finer crush has made a big difference because it increased efficiency by 9% giving me a 1.062 OG!

This is great! Except now my beer is going to be 6.7% Alcohol when it finishes instead of 5.9 and I'm concerned the bitterness isn't going to be where it needs to be (currently 40.7 IBU).

I was thinking I might calculate a volume increase that would give me the correct profile, boiling that volume with hops at a schedule that would extract the correct IBUs, and adding them. ANyone ever done this?

Anybody got advice? When to add? If I should?

Thanks,
 
Calculate how much volume you'd need to add, then add that to your original volume and re-calculate what hops you should have used. Then make a little hop tea (full boil for bitterness) and add it in. It shouldn't take much, maybe a few cones.

I've never done this, I'm just being theoretical, so feel free to ignore in favor of better advice. :)
 
Just use a dilution calculator and dilute the wort the the gravity you want. Or just leave it and enjoy the alcohol :)

If you dilute, remember that the higher gravity wort will affect hop utilization, so take that into consideration as well.
 
I think what I'll do is wait until I'm done with fermentation and taste it pre-carbing. If it tastes off I'll boil some hops in a volume of water and add it then.

That might even give me some nice aromatics.

Thanks!
 
I'm just worried that the alcohol will overpower the rest of the profile. It was already on the strong side of what is acceptable as a Pale Ale. I might end up with something I like, but now I don't know WHAT you'd call it. IBU is too low for an IPA. Maybe I'll just use more hops in secondary.
 
Back
Top