can OG be TOO high?

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.

robotsNbeer

Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2012
Messages
23
Reaction score
0
When I read about different styles of beers and they always have a target OG and even when I formulate recipes and my OG gets too high, the calculator gets angry with me.

Is there an OG that is TOO high?! If my OG is higher than typical OG for the beer style I am brewing, is my beer no longer that beer style?

What happens to my beer if my OG is higher? Maltier, richer, more full bodied beer compared to OG that is much less than a target resulting in lighter bodied beers?
 
Basically you would be making an "Imperial" version of whatever style your targeting. I tend to like slightly stronger versions of many styles because they have more flavor to me and I don't drink a large volume of beer. However these beers won't typically do as well in competitions because they aren't within the style parameters. Making beer to style is an easy matter with all the software available now though. Are you all grain brewing? It's usually just a matter of adjusting your projected efficiency in the software.
 
When I read about different styles of beers and they always have a target OG and even when I formulate recipes and my OG gets too high, the calculator gets angry with me.

Is there an OG that is TOO high?! If my OG is higher than typical OG for the beer style I am brewing, is my beer no longer that beer style?

What happens to my beer if my OG is higher? Maltier, richer, more full bodied beer compared to OG that is much less than a target resulting in lighter bodied beers?

If your OG is out of the range for the style your beer is not to style.

That is not all bad. If you are not entering it in a contest it is up to what you want.

There is also the degree to the difference. I would not want a 1.100 pale ale on a hot summer day when what I would want a light session beer.
 
I'm doing extract with grains right now. I'm actually attempting my first partial mash this next week and hope to be doing all grain by the end of 2012. I haven't been paying attention to the efficiency yet I guess because I'm on my 4th beer and only doing extract.

Basically you would be making an "Imperial" version of whatever style your targeting. However these beers won't typically do as well in competitions because they aren't within the style parameters.

I'm glad you mentioned competitions. I guess for that reason alone (I like bolder beers as well) I will start to get my OG at or below the target. On a related note, but trying not to get off topic, if my IBU or SRM is off, again, will my brew not do as well in competitions since something is outside of the style parameters?
 
There is also the degree to the difference. I would not want a 1.100 pale ale on a hot summer day when what I would want a light session beer.

This is a great point. I guess being that it is getting colder (though, let's be honest, it doesn't get very cold in Houston) I'm craving darker, bolder beers.
 
Don't take offense, I'm just curious how you can overshoot with an extract kit. They're typically dead on assuming you have the right volumes. I can see it happening if you only make 3 gallons with a 5 gallon recipe, but otherwise you should be really close. Are your calculations correct?
 
robotsNbeer said:
I'm doing extract with grains right now. I'm actually attempting my first partial mash this next week and hope to be doing all grain by the end of 2012. I haven't been paying attention to the efficiency yet I guess because I'm on my 4th beer and only doing extract.

I'm glad you mentioned competitions. I guess for that reason alone (I like bolder beers as well) I will start to get my OG at or below the target. On a related note, but trying not to get off topic, if my IBU or SRM is off, again, will my brew not do as well in competitions since something is outside of the style parameters?

If you're trying to enter an Irish Red Ale and your OG is 1.080 and IBU are 50, it will not do well in the comp although it may be a deliciously balanced beer at that ratio. Efficiency is 100% with extracts so it's not hard to calculate what your OG is going to be. I guess I don't understand the problem. Are you having a problem with hitting too high an OG, or are you just wondering what what the effect of that OG is? Like I said, I like a high OG ;) I comply with BJCP style guidelines for beers that I am going to enter into comp though, so in that respect I am actually brewing something that is not exactly to my personal preference.
 
Don't take offense

None taken.

I'm just curious how you can overshoot with an extract kit. They're typically dead on assuming you have the right volumes.

So I'm taking extract kits as a base recipe and altering them using different grains or different amounts which will overshoot the style or the kit. But you're right about those kits being dead on. I guess I think I'm smarter than I really am and think I can alter the recipes because I know better :D I'm mostly altering recipes because I want to experiment.

I guess I don't understand the problem. Are you having a problem with hitting too high an OG, or are you just wondering what what the effect of that OG is?

More just curious. But I would like to start entering competitions so I'm glad I was curious.
 
I'm with you. I did the same thing after I got several batches under my belt. From personal experience, wait until you start doing partial mashes to really start changing things up. If you want to mess with the specialty/steeping grains, keep it roughly the same weight as the original recipe calls for.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm pretty excited to do a partial mash this week and eventually an all grain and see how my results differ from an all extract. I'm glad this was cleared up.
 
. . .
What happens to my beer if my OG is higher? Maltier, richer, more full bodied beer compared to OG that is much less than a target resulting in lighter bodied beers?

This is a common misconception that I think causes a lot of brewers to go overboard with creating bigger and bigger beers. OG really doesn't have anything to do with the body or mouthfeel of a beer. You can have rich, malty beers with low OGs just as easily as you can find high gravity beers that are light and dry. For example, an Irish dry stout with an OG of 1.038 will be creamy and full-bodied compared to a Belgian tripel with an OG in the 1.070's.

The good news is that now that you're starting to do some of your own mashing, you can control the amount of unfermentables in your wort so that you can create a beer that falls anywhere in the spectrum. The basic idea is that if you mash at high temperatures for short periods of time, you'll get more unfermentables and raise your FG while lowering your ABV. If you want to do the opposite, mash for a longer time at a lower temperature.
 
This is a common misconception that I think causes a lot of brewers to go overboard with creating bigger and bigger beers. [...] The basic idea is that if you mash at high temperatures for short periods of time, you'll get more unfermentables and raise your FG while lowering your ABV. If you want to do the opposite, mash for a longer time at a lower temperature.

Thanks for sharing this. I haven't done much, if any, reading on mashing and temperatures but I will apply this method in my partial mash this next week as I am brewing a (hopefully) very creamy sweet stout.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top