Wort Volume Too High -- Boil Down?

I expected a 1.050 FG from today's brew session but got a 1.042 (adjusted.) A good part of the reason is that my final yield was about 5.5 or 5.75 gallons rather than the expected 5. I wasn't brewing at home so I had an unexpectedly low boil off rate.

Any suggestions on how to improve that FG? I have some dried malt extract so I could boil some, cool and add to the wort. Or I was wondering if I shouldn't just boil down my wort some more.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

The problem with boiling it more is that your hop schedule is thrown off. If there was only a bittering addition, you're probably OK. If there were some late additions, these will now be boiled off and you will lose flavor and aroma (and gain bitterness). You could always toss more hops in to get the flavor/aroma back.

Boiling up some DME isn't a bad idea and is probably simpler. And you end up with more beer!

Yeah, and b/c my gravity was lower (due to the additional volume) it made my rather low IBU's really stand out. Suggestions on how to calculate how much DME to add?

You will increase gravity by about 1.007-1.008 per pound of DME in 5 gallons.

I'd boil up about 8 cups of water and add a pound of Extra Light DME. Bring it back to a boil for ~10 minutes, cool, and add it to your fermenter. This should give you ~6 gallons of about 1.050 OG beer.

First off, thank you. HBT contributors have saved yet another brew day.

Also, so I know in the future, how do I know how to calculate how much water to include with the DME?

maltoftheearth said:

First off, thank you. HBT contributors have saved yet another brew day.

Also, so I know in the future, how do I know how to calculate how much water to include with the DME?

Click to expand...

Do you mean when fixing a brew like this? If so, you want to use as little water as possible but still get the DME to dissolve. I don't really know the limits of this, but just the other day I dissolved 12 oz of DME in 6 cups of water, so I know that ratio works, which is why I suggested 8 cups for 1 lb. of DME. Also, you need to account for the extra water when you calculate the effects of the DME on the gravity.

I'm working off memory but according to Charlie Papazian's book, "the joy of home brewing" adding one pound will boost the Gravity by .004 to .006

mtg4772 said:

I'm working off memory but according to Charlie Papazian's book, "the joy of home brewing" adding one pound will boost the Gravity by .004 to .006

Click to expand...

Depends on the volume of course. 1 lb. of DME will yield approximately 46 gravity points. Dissolved in 1 gallon of water, this will give you a gravity of 1.046. Dissolved in 5 gallons, this will give you a gravity of 1.009 (46 points/5 gallons). Not all extracts are the same, so your mileage may vary.

This calculator my help http://www.ahomebrewlog.com/gravity_adjustment/

JLem said:

Depends on the volume of course. 1 lb. of DME will yield approximately 46 gravity points. Dissolved in 1 gallon of water, this will give you a gravity of 1.046. Dissolved in 5 gallons, this will give you a gravity of 1.009 (46 points/5 gallons). Not all extracts are the same, so your mileage may vary.

Click to expand...

Awesome. I'm going to have to remember this.

enkamania said:

This calculator my help http://www.ahomebrewlog.com/gravity_adjustment/

Click to expand...

I like the calculator, I just didn't know how much water to add since, as JLem noted, that additional volume will matter to the overall equation. I'll go with 8 cups water, seems reasonable and it will give me a point of departure if I ever have to try this again. Many thanks!