Average OG of an imperial IPA?

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tcbratto

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Hi all,

I searched the forum but could not find what I'm looking for.

I'm new to this, and just brewed my second batch of beer a couple of days ago. My first batch was an IPA kit from my local homebrew store. While I liked it, I wanted to make a bigger beer this time around. As such, I upped the LME from 7 pounds to 10 pounds, added a pound of cracked grains, and doubled the accidity of the first ounce of hops (from amarillo to columbs).

After the boil, however, when I added the wort to the 2.5 gallons of cold water i had waiting in the carboy, I could not get the water and the wort to mix. I shook the crap out of it but, nothing doing. Thus, I could not get a good OG reading (I just kept pulling water from the top and couldn't get down into the syrup).

Does anyone know (or is there even a way to figure out) the average OG of a double or imperial IPA wort so I can determine the ABV after fermentation? The wort and the water didn't really mix until a day or so after i pitched the yeast.

Have I given enough information about the wort for any of you experts to guess at an OG? I boiled for 60 minutes in 1.5 gallons of water, added to 2.5 gallons of cold water, and then topped off to 5 gallons with more cold water, shook vigorously, and then pitched the yeast.

The thing is fermenting like crazy, but I'm dying to know the ABV!!

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any help you can provide me.
 
I believe your OG should be 1.074

1 lb of LME = 37 PPG

10 lb = 370

370/5 gallons = 74

And that assumes you didn't get any sugar from your cracked grain.

(my calculation may be completely wrong, so I hope someone else chimes in)
 
tcbratto said:
Hi all,

I searched the forum but could not find what I'm looking for.

I'm new to this, and just brewed my second batch of beer a couple of days ago. My first batch was an IPA kit from my local homebrew store. While I liked it, I wanted to make a bigger beer this time around. As such, I upped the LME from 7 pounds to 10 pounds, added a pound of cracked grains, and doubled the accidity of the first ounce of hops (from amarillo to columbs).

After the boil, however, when I added the wort to the 2.5 gallons of cold water i had waiting in the carboy, I could not get the water and the wort to mix. I shook the crap out of it but, nothing doing. Thus, I could not get a good OG reading (I just kept pulling water from the top and couldn't get down into the syrup).

Does anyone know (or is there even a way to figure out) the average OG of a double or imperial IPA wort so I can determine the ABV after fermentation? The wort and the water didn't really mix until a day or so after i pitched the yeast.

Have I given enough information about the wort for any of you experts to guess at an OG? I boiled for 60 minutes in 1.5 gallons of water, added to 2.5 gallons of cold water, and then topped off to 5 gallons with more cold water, shook vigorously, and then pitched the yeast.

The thing is fermenting like crazy, but I'm dying to know the ABV!!

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any help you can provide me.
Click to expand...

The average OG for an IIPA is 1.075-1.090 as stated by the BJCP style guideline. Double IPA is similar. Ultimately the final ABV goal for those styles is between 7%-10%.

As for your brew, there is no way to tell it's ABV without a hydrometer reading. I find it strange that your LME didn't blend with the water in your primary, especially since it must have been boiled with water in your kettle. When I brewed with extract I always added my cooled wort to the primary and then topped of with water and things generally mixed themselves. Next time you can get a sanitized brew spoon and give that a good stir before drawing a sample for a hydrometer reading, maybe that will help.

If you used 10 lbs of LME and you have a good fermentation you can count on a strong beer. Good luck!
 
Using LME and only a pound of additional grains should be fairly easy to calculate your O.G. What were the additonal grains?
 
BendBrewer said:
Using LME and only a pound of additional grains should be fairly easy to calculate your O.G. What were the additonal grains?
Click to expand...

Thanks to all of you for your help!

I used the original 1 pound of crystal grains that the recipe called for and I added a pound of Maris Otter grains.
 
Berlbrew said:
The average OG for an IIPA is 1.075-1.090 as stated by the BJCP style guideline. Double IPA is similar. Ultimately the final ABV goal for those styles is between 7%-10%.

As for your brew, there is no way to tell it's ABV without a hydrometer reading. I find it strange that your LME didn't blend with the water in your primary, especially since it must have been boiled with water in your kettle. When I brewed with extract I always added my cooled wort to the primary and then topped of with water and things generally mixed themselves. Next time you can get a sanitized brew spoon and give that a good stir before drawing a sample for a hydrometer reading, maybe that will help.

If you used 10 lbs of LME and you have a good fermentation you can count on a strong beer. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I think the wort was just so thick and so hot that it wouldn't readily mix with the water. When I poured that hot (but not still boiling) wort into the car boy, it sliced right through the water and went straight to the bottom.

I'm thinking that next time I will boil the LME in more water; maybe 2 or 2.5 gallons instead of 1.5. I'll also buy a nice long stirrer.

For this time though, I guess I'll just have to be happy with knowing that I brewed one mutha of a beer!
 
tcbratto said:
Thanks to all of you for your help!

I used the original 1 pound of crystal grains that the recipe called for and I added a pound of Maris Otter grains.
Click to expand...

Well if it ever mixes and depending on your effciency of your PM you should have an OG in the range of 1.095 and 1.102.

Play around with your recipe here:

http://beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe

Hope that you like strong beer.
 
I'm thinking that next time I will boil the LME in more water; maybe 2 or 2.5 gallons instead of 1.5. I'll also buy a nice long stirrer.
Click to expand...

After the boil, however, when I added the wort to the 2.5 gallons of cold water
Click to expand...

Wait a second. How much did you end up with in your fermenter? That tells me you have about 3.25 gallons total after evaporation lost? If that's the case, holy cow!!!!

You might just want to make Scotch at this point.
 
BendBrewer said:
Wait a second. How much did you end up with in your fermenter? That tells me you have about 3.25 gallons total after evaporation lost? If that's the case, holy cow!!!!

You might just want to make Scotch at this point.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry I wasn't complete. Started with 1.5 gallons to boil. Had 2.5 gallons of cold water in the carboy, to which I added the wort. I then topped off the carboy with more cold water. I had 5 gallons in the carboy before i pitched the yeast. I mixed as best as I could but it ain't easy sloshing around a full carboy!

If I made scotch at home...oh god...
 
tcbratto said:
I'm sorry I wasn't complete. Started with 1.5 gallons to boil. Had 2.5 gallons of cold water in the carboy, to which I added the wort. I then topped off the carboy with more cold water. I had 5 gallons in the carboy before i pitched the yeast. I mixed as best as I could but it ain't easy sloshing around a full carboy!

If I made scotch at home...oh god...
Click to expand...

I had just recalculated thinking you ended up with only 3 gallons or so which would have been like 13% abv. But I think that you'll still end up with close to 10%. It'll be beer.

Yes, the more water you can boil with the better. With extract, I used 4 gallons of water in the kettle. After boiling I needed to top off with about 1.75 gallons to hit the 5 Gallon mark.
 
BendBrewer said:
Well if it ever mixes and depending on your effciency of your PM you should have an OG in the range of 1.095 and 1.102.

Play around with your recipe here:

http://beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe

Hope that you like strong beer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the beer calculus link. That site is great! Although it did make me worry that my beer won't be hoppy enough! It gave me an IBU of 49.6. With that much malt, I don't think I added enough hops...

Oh well...RDWHAHB.
 
Oh well...RDWHAHB.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

I was told to judge my beer by what I ended up with as oppossed to what I was trying to make. Looks like you have the makings of a good Old Ale/Strong Ale bubbling away.

Vital Statistics: OG: 1.060 – 1.090
IBUs: 30 – 60 FG: 1.015 – 1.022
SRM: 10 – 22 ABV: 6 – 9%
Click to expand...

I bet you like it.
 

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