Advice on adding malt extract post-boil.

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arover

arover

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Quick question for ya guys,

I did a Founder's Breakfast Stout clone yesterday and ran into two problems I never had before- stuck sparge, and undershooting the target gravity. Needless to say, after a very long brew day of boiling off a lot of water, I still managed to miss my target gravity by 10 points (over estimated my efficiency by a bit) and hit 1.076 instead of 1.086. My question is, how much will adding unhopped extract decrease IBU per x gravity points? I was thinking of going to the LHBS and getting some dry or liquid extract and boiling some to add. Or I could just leave it.

Advice? Thanks :mug:
 
Adding extract won't affect the absolute IBU much at all. The only aspect that would affect IBU is any change to the volume. But that will be minimal. It would affect the IBU to OG ratio a little (like you mention), but towards your original intent. It's only off by 12% now. Your actual IBU may be a tad higher than what was intended, since the boil gravity was lower (better hops utilization). But generally I wouldn't worry too much about any of this.

I think the more crucial question is how are you planning on adding the extract? Are you thinking about boiling LME directly? I don't think that would work well. I suppose you could boil up a very high gravity wort to add and shift the OG. But I'm not sure it would the worth the contamination risks. First time I missed an OG by that much, I just moved on and adjusted my mash process to compensate on the next batch.
 
Yeah, I've generally done very well with my mashing- I usually get 75-80% efficiency. I just had one of those "off" days. I'm thinking about boiling the LME in as little liquid as possible and adding it but you're right- there's a definite increased risk of contamination. I'm just a perfectionist and have a need to hit my gravities all the time. I suppose I may just pitch the yeast and move on with a less than perfect clone :p

I realize now though that I actually hit the predicted gravity with the amount of grains I had (but like I said I spent the entire day concentrating liquid) but I was hoping to achieve a little higher since I messed up with the amount of base malt in my grain order as well.
 
I get that. I tend to be a perfectionist most of the time. I've found the best way to get over that is just brew another :)

So are you saying that you boiled longer to reach your expected OG, but ended up with a little less beer? I bet it will turn out just fine. I've never tried a founders breakfast stout. I've had Curmudgeon and Dirty Bastard - both really nice.
 
Hex23 said:
Adding extract won't affect the absolute IBU much at all. The only aspect that would affect IBU is any change to the volume. But that will be minimal. It would affect the IBU to OG ratio a little (like you mention), but towards your original intent. It's only off by 12% now. Your actual IBU may be a tad higher than what was intended, since the boil gravity was lower (better hops utilization). But generally I wouldn't worry too much about any of this.

I think the more crucial question is how are you planning on adding the extract? Are you thinking about boiling LME directly? I don't think that would work well. I suppose you could boil up a very high gravity wort to add and shift the OG. But I'm not sure it would the worth the contamination risks. First time I missed an OG by that much, I just moved on and adjusted my mash process to compensate on the next batch.
Click to expand...

If you're adding something that was boiled, is there really a contamination risk?
 
MisterGreen said:
If you're adding something that was boiled, is there really a contamination risk?
Click to expand...

I know what you're saying. Any time you lift the fermeneter lid there is some risk of contamination. But it you follow good sanitation procedures, it's a low risk. It's just a risk that has to be weighed against benefit. E.g. is it worth opening the fermenter just to take a curiosity peek ... no, unless you're just dieing to see :) Is is worth opening to take a gravity reading ... usually. Is it worth it to get 12% closer to an intended OG ... that depends on personal preference.
 

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