I didn't hit my OG!!!

I am a newbie all grain brewer. In fact I just brewed Northern Brewer's Irish Red Ale yesterday. Recipe calls for 1.044 OG but I only got 1.036. It's in the primary fermenting away so I don't think there's much I can do. Just wondering if there will be any negative effects. Also, I tasted a sample of the the sweet wort. It was really sweet and had a grainy flavor. Is this batch doomed?

No it will be fine. Less alcohol and it will be out of style but I bet it will be your favorite beer you have brewed it will just take a lot to get you Drunk


9D. Irish Red Ale

Aroma: Low to moderate malt aroma, generally caramel-like but occasionally toasty or toffee-like in nature. May have a light buttery character (although this is not required). Hop aroma is low to none (usually not present). Quite clean.

Appearance: Amber to deep reddish copper color (most examples have a deep reddish hue). Clear. Low off-white to tan colored head.

Flavor: Moderate caramel malt flavor and sweetness, occasionally with a buttered toast or toffee-like quality. Finishes with a light taste of roasted grain, which lends a characteristic dryness to the finish. Generally no flavor hops, although some examples may have a light English hop flavor. Medium-low hop bitterness, although light use of roasted grains may increase the perception of bitterness to the medium range. Medium-dry to dry finish. Clean and smooth (lager versions can be very smooth). No esters.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium body, although examples containing low levels of diacetyl may have a slightly slick mouthfeel. Moderate carbonation. Smooth. Moderately attenuated (more so than Scottish ales). May have a slight alcohol warmth in stronger versions.

Overall Impression: An easy-drinking pint. Malt-focused with an initial sweetness and a roasted dryness in the finish.

Comments: Sometimes brewed as a lager (if so, generally will not exhibit a diacetyl character). When served too cold, the roasted character and bitterness may seem more elevated.

Ingredients: May contain some adjuncts (corn, rice, or sugar), although excessive adjunct use will harm the character of the beer. Generally has a bit of roasted barley to provide reddish color and dry roasted finish. UK/Irish malts, hops, yeast.

Vital Statistics:
OG FG IBUs SRM ABV
1.044 - 1.060 1.010 - 1.014 17 - 28 9 - 18 4.0 - 6.0%

Also age will not help drink fresh as you can

Thanks for the reassurance guys. I will bottle condition and drink it "fresh". Are there any adjustments you suggest so I hit my OG in my next batch? I am going to brew Midwest Supplies Hop Head Double IPA.

1. Crush your own grain
2. Find all your loss points, dead space, etc. minimize these.
3. Double check your weights and measures
4. Stir like there is no tomorrow. Make sure the entire grain bed is evenly soaked, no dough balls.
5. Take pre-boil gravity. Calculate where you need to be at post-boil. You can either go for target og with fewer gallons, or lower og and keep batch size. Either way, adjust hops. Depends what is important to you. No "right"answer, unless you are sticking rigidly to style.

What is your setup?

pelipen said:

1. Crush your own grain
2. Find all your loss points, dead space, etc. minimize these.
3. Double check your weights and measures
4. Stir like there is no tomorrow. Make sure the entire grain bed is evenly soaked, no dough balls.
5. Take pre-boil gravity. Calculate where you need to be at post-boil. You can either go for target og with fewer gallons, or lower og and keep batch size. Either way, adjust hops. Depends what is important to you. No "right"answer, unless you are sticking rigidly to style.

What is your setup?

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I agree here. Milling my own grain gave me the largest boost in efficiency. I was adding an extra couple pounds of grain every time I brewed with precrushed grains (from MoreBeer). Once I got my Barley Crusher I hit a higher efficiency then I ever had.

I never really understood what 'dough ball's people were referring to with precrushed grains.

mlbco1 said:

Thanks for the reassurance guys. I will bottle condition and drink it "fresh". Are there any adjustments you suggest so I hit my OG in my next batch? I am going to brew Midwest Supplies Hop Head Double IPA.

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Just have some light DME on hand to bump it up a bit?

Or get another lb of base malt grain?

rpe290 said:

Just have some light DME on hand to bump it up a bit?

Or get another lb of base malt grain?

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This was going to be my suggestion. Have some DME on hand and if you don't hit your OG just dump some in there.

This sticky has some good info/suggestions in it: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/attention-new-all-grain-brewers-30466/

I am a PM brewer, until my boilermaker is delivered. I double crush my grains, i measure my volume and SG pre boil and add DME as required to hit my target gravity after top off.

william_shakes_beer said:

I am a PM brewer, until my boilermaker is delivered. I double crush my grains, i measure my volume and SG pre boil and add DME as required to hit my target gravity after top off.

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Ding, ding, ding, ding!!!

I've been employing this practice for the last two brews (still new here) and have 'hit' my target gravity spot on.

Before I picked up Ray Daniel's "Designing Great Beers", I would just mash, boil, ferment and hope for the best. Now I know what adjustments to make to really hit my OG target. Now that pesky FG target is next.

Is there a good way to estimate how much gravity the DME is adding without going back to BeerSmith?

jeffdill said:

Is there a good way to estimate how much gravity the DME is adding without going back to BeerSmith?

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That's what PPG means. Points per lb per gallon. If dme is 35 ppg, then adding 1 lb in 5 gallons will increase your gravity 35/5=7 points.

I will get some DME to have on hand, just not sure how much I would need to add. Do I measure the SG and add during last 10-minutes? I don't have a mill yet but plan to get one in the next month or two...any recommendations?

My set-up is under construction but at this point consists of 6-gal ss pot hot liquor tank, 48-qt igloo marine cooler with a 1/2" copper manifold, 12-gallon converted keg for the brew pot. The only item that has a valve is the cooler/mash tun. I batch sparged by dumping all of the 170 degree water into the cooler, stirring, letting it rest for 10-min and then draining second runnings after vorlauf. Any suggestions to this procedure that might make a difference?

mlbco1 said:

I will get some DME to have on hand, just not sure how much I would need to add. Do I measure the SG and add during last 10-minutes? I don't have a mill yet but plan to get one in the next month or two...any recommendations?

My set-up is under construction but at this point consists of 6-gal ss pot hot liquor tank, 48-qt igloo marine cooler with a 1/2" copper manifold, 12-gallon converted keg for the brew pot. The only item that has a valve is the cooler/mash tun. I batch sparged by dumping all of the 170 degree water into the cooler, stirring, letting it rest for 10-min and then draining second runnings after vorlauf. Any suggestions to this procedure that might make a difference?

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Like was said earlier, 1 lb DME adds about .035 per pound per gallon. So if you want to raise your OG from 1.040 to 1.050 for a five gallon batch you need:

(1.050 - 1.040) / (.035/5) = 1.43 lbs DME

Phyrst said:

Like was said earlier, 1 lb DME adds about .035 per pound per gallon. So if you want to raise your OG from 1.040 to 1.050 for a five gallon batch you need:

(1.050 - 1.040) / (.035/5) = 1.43 lbs DME

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DME adds about 0.045 per gallon, not 0.035.
LME adds about 0.036 per gallon.

-a.

Whoops. Thanks.

Thanks for the clarifications on the DME and LME. I will be prepared next time. Plus I want to look at my sparge/second runnings process. I drained it off pretty fast after a 10-min rest. Need to read up on that.

mlbco1 said:

Thanks for the clarifications on the DME and LME. I will be prepared next time. Plus I want to look at my sparge/second runnings process. I drained it off pretty fast after a 10-min rest. Need to read up on that.

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Draining slower will make some bit of difference. If you don't believe it, drain fast. Then wait 10 more minutes, and see how much more wort comes out.
You could also try double batch sparging, which is what I do. Just split the sparge into two equal quantities. When I have measured this, the second sparge is still at or above 1.01.

Just a comment on adding LME/DME (and yes, I quoted 35 pnts wrong above): This is kind of like adding a couple extra lbs of base malt (at 60% eff, which is about where you are at), it's going to throw off your recipe grain ratios. For minor tweaks, not an issue, but to get from 1.036 to 1.044, it's not insignificant. You'll still have good beer, it just won't be the same. Really depends on your goal, so I won't say right or wrong. You could also just order a couple extra lbs of the base malt with each kit, which might be cheaper.

I would try to get your efficiency up a bit. Supplement DME for now if you want to hit X gallons at Y gravity, but it shouldn't be too difficult to get from 60% to 70-75, which is where most of the kits target. Change one thing, calculate, change another, calculate. Other things which may or may not help, turn the manifold slots down if they are up. Mash longer if the crush was poor. Make sure you're not losing temperature, and they are accurate (I had a probe die and found out the hard way). Keep making beer. someone will drink it.

mlbco1 said:

I batch sparged by dumping all of the 170 degree water into the cooler, stirring, letting it rest for 10-min and then draining second runnings after vorlauf. Any suggestions to this procedure that might make a difference?

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Is your sparge water 170deg when you add it? If so, this is probably not bringing your grains up to a high enough temp. You want to get it to 168 or so without going over 170. As I understand it, the higher temps both stop the enzyme activity and help wash more of the sugars out of the grains thus improving your efficiency.

I'm still getting my own AG routine down so I'm no expert but I know I had one beer that I was way low on the OG and I noted that my sparge temp was only around 160 or so. I think the low temp was part of the problem.

I'll try draining slower and split my sparge and maybe mash a bit longer if the crush looks questionable. If I order more base malt, do I need to increase the amount of sparge water?

I added my sparge water at 170deg. I may bump this a couple degrees to try and hit 168. I hope my Hop Head ingredients show up by Saturday so I can brew Sunday!

mlbco1 said:

I'll try draining slower and split my sparge and maybe mash a bit longer if the crush looks questionable. If I order more base malt, do I need to increase the amount of sparge water?

I added my sparge water at 170deg. I may bump this a couple degrees to try and hit 168. I hope my Hop Head ingredients show up by Saturday so I can brew Sunday!

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Either increase sparge, or what I would do is increase mash water to keep the ratio the same. I use 1.25 qt/lb for mash.
Grain absorption rate of 0.13 gallon/lb has served me well. So keep an extra gallon on hand. I just start with 10, and whatever is left gets used for cleaning.

I add first sparge water at 180, and it never goes over 170.