Excellent efficiency = High OG = Low IBU

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Evan!

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Yesterday, I brewed an AG Special Bitter and a PM Dunkel lager, and assumed 75% efficiency. I started the AG mash 25 mins earlier than the PM, to give me time to drain and sparge the AG. The mashes were stepped---133 for 30 mins, 153 for 45 mins, 158 for 20mins. I finished the AG, poured it from the mash tun into the false-bottomed vessel, drained it, then sparged with 4 gallons of 170f water. Then, instead of emptying the grains from the MLT, I just poured the dunkel's mash right on top of it. I figured, the grains that were in there already certainly wouldn't hurt the dunkel. I drained and sparged, and the boils went well.

The OG of the Bitter was supposed to be 1.053, and the Dunkel was supposed to 1.057.

The actual OG for the Bitter was 1.059, and the Dunkel was 1.068. Far be it from me to complain about excellent efficiency, but now my problem is that I have a 1.068 OG brew with only 23.8 IBU.

So what do I do now? I was thinking about boiling some hops in water for 45 minutes or so, then adding that to the secondary. Given that 1.068 is pretty high for a dunkel, I'm not worried about watering it down. Has anyone done this before? Would it be a good idea to steep some grains in it too? Is there any way to calculate the IBU increase when using just water?

Thanks!

EDIT: Then again, I was just messing around with ProMash, and for that recipe, I switched the BJCP style from Munich Dunkel to Traditional Bock. According to "Traditional Bock" style, 1.068 OG and 24 IBU's is right in the middle. The IBU range is 20-28, and the OG range is 1.064-1.072. So maybe I'll be okay. Thoughts?
 
I think you will be fine. If it had gone as planned, the IBU would be near the top of the range instead of the middle. A difference of 4 IBUs is difficult to taste in any case.
 
FWIW, I take my gravity sample as soon as all the runnings are in the kettle, and put it to chill.

After the wort comes to a boil and I get the flame set so that I can leave it (but before adding the bittering hops), I go get the sample and take a reading.

Since I haven't yet added the kettle hops, this gives me options: boil down pre-kettle hops if the gravity is too low (or add DME), add more hops if the gravity is higher than expected, etc.
 
cweston said:
FWIW, I take my gravity sample as soon as all the runnings are in the kettle, and put it to chill.

After the wort comes to a boil and I get the flame set so that I can leave it (but before adding the bittering hops), I go get the sample and take a reading.

Since I haven't yet added the kettle hops, this gives me options: boil down pre-kettle hops if the gravity is too low (or add DME), add more hops if the gravity is higher than expected, etc.

Given that my pre-boil volume is substantially higher than my post-boil volume, taking SG readings prior to the boil isn't terribly informative.
 
Evan! said:
Given that my pre-boil volume is substantially higher than my post-boil volume, taking SG readings prior to the boil isn't terribly informative.

Sure it is--use total gravity points.

7.5 gallons at 1.045 = 7.5 * 45 = 337.5 points


If you plan to boil down to 5.5 gallons, then:

337.5 / 5.5 gals = 61.36 (i.e. 1.06136).

If you want to target a certian gravity, say, 1.065, then...

337.5 / 65 = 5.19 gallons
 
Except I don't have an accurate measure of my volumes. I can estimate it based on my mash infusion and sparge volumes, but between evap and grain absorption...it's always off of what I think it is. I've tried using the calculators in ProMash, but to little avail.
 
Evan! said:
Except I don't have an accurate measure of my volumes. I can estimate it based on my mash infusion and sparge volumes, but between evap and grain absorption...it's always off of what I think it is. I've tried using the calculators in ProMash, but to little avail.

My ghetto solution to this:

Make a stick of some sort. Add water in 1/2 gallon increments to your brew kettle, marking the water level on the stick.

That gives an accurate enough estimate of the total volume of wort collected, in my experience.
 
cweston said:
My ghetto solution to this:

Make a stick of some sort. Add water in 1/2 gallon increments to your brew kettle, marking the water level on the stick.

That gives an accurate enough estimate of the total volume of wort collected, in my experience.

How about an inanimate carbon rod? :D

Thanks for the advice. That'll help...
 
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