Does overshooting your OG mean a high efficiency?

I meant to say a higher efficiency.I seem to be overshooting my OG. 5, 10 points some times. I'm trying to understand why this is happening. Does it affect the final product that much? I'm guessing maybe more fermentables being converting to alcohol?

Yes, your getting better efficiency. I was over shooting all my recipes as well, so I upped mine from 75% to 80% in Beersmith. im still 1 to 2 points high, but I would rather dillute if necessary. And yes, if you over shoot it will raise alcohol content, which may be undesirable in some styles.

Yes, I'm doing all grain.I'm not sure why I'm always high. I made a cream ale a few months back. My ABV was almost 7%, when It was suppose to be around 4. Im just trying to be a little more accurate.

You need to adjust your grain bill. If your not using software I suggest you try some. It will do all your calculations for you, and adjust recipes for different efficiencies.

The AG Nut brown I did had an OG of 1.080 and is now1.016

You need to scale your recipes down to meet your typical efficiency. Just for an example, if a recipe you typically brew assumes 70% efficiency and the grain bill has 10lbs of 2-row, you might want to use 8 pounds instead. See where that gets you.

Thanks. I have Beersmith. I haven't had it for that long and still learning what it can do.

Bobby_M said:

You need to scale your recipes down to meet your typical efficiency. Just for an example, if a recipe you typically brew assumes 70% efficiency and the grain bill has 10lbs of 2-row, you might want to use 8 pounds instead. See where that gets you.

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Would you adjust just the 2 row or the whole recipe?

Bulls Beers said:

Would you adjust just the 2 row or the whole recipe?

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I adjust the whole recipe. I do not know how to make BeerSmith adjust my recipe for me. I do it manually by writing down the grain bill by type of grain and it's percentage. I reduce the amount of each type of grain until my expected OG matches what the recipe calls for. I have an 81% brewhouse efficiency and most recipe are way to much grain for me to match the alcohol content. The way I figure it I can reduce the grain bill per percentage of each type of grain without changing the flavor.

There's a field when you have a recipe open that has a Brewhouse Efficiency button right next to it. That's where you put in your efficiency. Then you will be able to see how much to scale down to hit your target OG.

chefchris said:

There's a field when you have a recipe open that has a Brewhouse Efficiency button right next to it. That's where you put in your efficiency. Then you will be able to see how much to scale down to hit your target OG.

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How do I know what efficiency I want?

You want to enter an efficiency closer to what you've been acheiving. This is a trial and error thing. Once you brew your next batch, take good notes and good OG and volume readings. Enter those results back into Beersmith and it will tell you the efficiency you actually got. Then you use that number as the baseline for your next recipe and session.

On scaling, I've gotten better results by only scaling base grains. Keep the darker specialties about the same because higher efficiency doesn't seem to affect color extraction. If you scaled a 1lb black patent addition back to .75lbs, you'll end up with a lower SRM than the recipe called for.

what he said.

This is definately not something to be down about. It means you are doing better than you planned! Good job.

I have always over shot my OG doing my Wit but Im not consistent. At firs I was using 18 lbs of grain per 10 gal batch and now I adjusted to 15.75 lbs. per 10 gal batch. The thing is that I know I can cut my grain bill down but I need to make my mashing and sparging more consistent. The last batch I got 87% and 92% with two 10 gal batches in the same day. On the last batch I got brave and stirred damn near to the manifold while sparging and got 92%. I plan on making a rake that fits on top of the cooler frame MLT and scrapes about a inch above the manifold. I built a bad ass manifold using 1/2 inch PCVC but the slots I cut were every 1/4 inch using a body air saw. I tested my skill saw blade , and hack saw blade on the CPVC as well as the body saw blade and the body saw was the finest cut so I used the body saw. Never had a stuck sparge.

I know JZ's recipes are calculated assuming 70% efficiency. I had to reformulate them when I went AG because I was getting over 80%. No problem, just a cheaper grain bill.