Hitting gravity - what about you?

When I brew, I record gravity but have written off differences between what I measure and what the recipe suggests to "lots of variables". I haven't been off by much, a point or two and usually above, which is good right?

Anyhoo... this thread got me thinking, what do you prefer and why?

I personally break hydrometers too often, probably because I drank that extra homebrew!

Recipe?

What's a recipe?

I haven't followed a recipe in twenty years, but Promash gives a pretty accurate estimation of the gravity.

-a.

Since I'm still new to AG brewing, I'm still dialing in my efficiency. As such, I know that the OG calced by BeerSmith differs from what I end up with - but as long as I'm in the style range and not off by that much (so that the BU/GU ratio gets whacked), I don't stress.

I couldn't care less what my ABV is, I'm more concerned about taste. As an extract brewer+, there's not much to wonder about.

In the grand scheme of things, I would think that this question really applies mostly to AG brewers. Us extract folk have it easy...my guys at Munton & Fisson's have my efficiency damn near 100%! wink wink. I do suppose that I'll eventually move on to AG and then I'll start to go gray worrying about all the subtle aspects of zymurgy. Until then, I'll content myself to drinking homebrew and forgetting to measure OG, and not measuring FG until I realize that I've already added priming sugar...and never correcting gravity based on temperature! I have enough stress in my life anyways!

Marc.

I fall somewhere between answers #1 and #2. I don't necessarily get pissed about missing by a point or two, but I do shoot for an exact OG, and I do get a little disappointed if I'm off by more than about 2 points.

Only have done 1 Ag so far and I didn't even keep track that first time since I was more interested in getting a feel for the whole process as apposed to hitting numbers. I'm doing my next tommorrow and now that I'm back home and am able to control more of the environment I'll start lookng at all that.

I am an extract brewer and after 7 batches, I have never hit the OG. I come close which suits me fine, but in the back of your mind you wonder what you did wrong. I have never hit my FG either, this is where I get pissed off! I have been close but I am usually almost .005 off! Most of my extract brews say they should finish around 1.015 or lower, but I get around 1.020.

Next time I may pitch more yeast (I usually just do the 1 vial of Whitelabs that comes with the kit).

In the end the beer tastes fine which is my ultimate goal. People always ask what the ABV content is and I usually just say "around 5%". They get hung up on the ABV instead of the taste, but I am slowly changing my friends to appreciate taste more.

Hardball said:

I am an extract brewer and after 7 batches, I have never hit the OG. I come close which suits me fine, but in the back of your mind you wonder what you did wrong. I have never hit my FG either, this is where I get pissed off! I have been close but I am usually almost .005 off! Most of my extract brews say they should finish around 1.015 or lower, but I get around 1.020.

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This sounds more like hydrometer reading error than recipe error. Are you correcting for temperature? When are you measuring OG? When you measure FG, do you take several readings over the course of several days?

Also, if your readings are correct, your beers are finishing at way too high an FG. You should be seeing 1.010-1.012 (or less, even) for most 5%-ish beers (like the pale ale in your signature). Low attenuation is usually because of a poor environment for yeast to do their work. Are you aerating? How? Are you keeping the temperature around 65-ish (for ales)?

Yuri_Rage said:

This sounds more like hydrometer reading error than recipe error. Are you correcting for temperature? When are you measuring OG? When you measure FG, do you take several readings over the course of several days?

Also, if your readings are correct, your beers are finishing at way too high an FG. You should be seeing 1.010-1.012 (or less, even) for most 5%-ish beers (like the pale ale in your signature). Low attenuation is usually because of a poor environment for yeast to do their work. Are you aerating? How? Are you keeping the temperature around 65-ish (for ales)?

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Thanks for the reply Yuri!

I adjust the reading to reflect temp and I measure the OG just before pitching the yeast. FG is read on bottling day (I use the 1-2-3 method, approx). I aerate when I pour the wort into the primary by basically splashing it in to the primary. The temp in the house is around 68, so I am good there as well.

I think, from what I have read, that I am doing things right, so that is why I get a bit frustrated at my FG's.

Hardball said:

I adjust the reading to reflect temp and I measure the OG just before pitching the yeast. FG is read on bottling day (I use the 1-2-3 method, approx). I aerate when I pour the wort into the primary by basically splashing it in to the primary. The temp in the house is around 68, so I am good there as well.

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The only thing I can think of is that you're probably underpitching a bit, so one week in the primary may not be long enough to let the yeast do its work. I try to let the beer come pretty close to its FG before I rack. Also, your trigger for bottling should not be time, rather it should be several unchanged gravity readings (say, 3, over the course of 3 days) that are close to your predicted FG.

If you can account for all of that, I'm stumped...call in the experts!

The one time I did the keep reading until the hydrometer doesn't change my brew got a mold head in secondary and it tasted like crap.

I appreciate your help Yuri. I'm going to try doing a yeast starter next time and see what happens.

I get close enough on the OG and my final gravities tend to be on the high side because I like more body and mouthfeel in my ales. That means a higher mash temperature and cooler ferments.

I like control in brewing and work hard on my recipes, so when I don't get my OG I get pissed because I did something stupid along the line. I generally get very close to where I want to be. When I don't I have to do a quick recalculation and go from there.

ajf said:

Recipe?

What's a recipe?

I haven't followed a recipe in twenty years, but Promash gives a pretty accurate estimation of the gravity.

-a.

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If you are using Promash how are you not using a recipe, even if it is one you create? I don't follow.

I'm not to concerned about being off a few points now, but when I did my first AG batches I was consistently way off, and needed to make major modifications to my technique. now I am getting about 66-68% efficiently with my ghetto technique. When I get my heat exchange mashing setup up and running I am planing taking careful note on mt OG and FG and use it as a tool to tune my technique further and increase my efficiency.

I do a temperature step mash, so I can fine tune (at least in theory) the body vs alcohol content of the beer. I do take careful notes of my final gravity to see what ratio of fermentable to non-fermentable sugars are made in the mash depending on the duration the mash is a specific temperature.