missed OG by a mile

i (had hoped to) brew a giant weizenbock today; my target OG was 1.150

my actual OG was 1.070

ph was spot on, crush, everything standard.

the only issue I had was when doughing in, i over shot my water temp (i had alot of grain so erred on the higher side); brought my mash water temp up to 175 and when added, my initial mash temp was 166, which I rapidly brought to 153 with ice

do you think this high initial temp 'zapped' or denatured the enzymes in the grain, and this is the reason i missed my target? has this happened to anyone else before? my OGs are usually on point so im not sure what else it could be?

thanks

Do you not take a preboil OG? That would've clued you in to the forthcoming problem.

sorry; to add; i did a 60 minute mash; and used 1.1q/lb.

i did a lower ratio because of volume considerations with my 10 gallon tun

MapleGroveAleworks said:

Do you not take a preboil OG? That would've clued you in to the forthcoming problem.

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wouldnt the preboil OG just be in the same volume/concentration ratio as the post boil OG?

i usually do take this reading but was very lazy today. what information would the preboil og give me that the post boil OG doesnt?

In this case, a pre-boil gravity check would simply have let you know before the boil that your total runnings didn't make the pre-boil gravity.

Given the huge miss it certainly isn't going to alter fate at that point - unless you were to boil the hell out of the wort to hit gravity - and miss the volume into the fermentor by a mile...

Cheers!

c'est la vie; i guess ill have a nice dunkleweizen on my hands now!

How big was the batch? What was your water to grain ratio? How did you sparge? And how much sparge water did you use? Need way more details to help you trouble shoot.

I recently had this problem. For previous (normal gravity) batches I was getting great efficiency ( over 80%). My last batch I tried a big Imp stout and my efficiency plummeted to around 40%.

LLBrewer said:

I recently had this problem. For previous (normal gravity) batches I was getting great efficiency ( over 80%). My last batch I tried a big Imp stout and my efficiency plummeted to around 40%.

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Not uncommon at all. With big beers I always lower my water to grain ratio to around 1 qt per pound. I do lose some efficiency to the thicker mash but I make most of it back with the larger spare. The most important part is to take preboil readings. If your short sparge more and increase your boil time.

UltraHighABV said:

i (had hoped to) brew a giant weizenbock today; my target OG was 1.150

my actual OG was 1.070

ph was spot on, crush, everything standard.

the only issue I had was when doughing in, i over shot my water temp (i had alot of grain so erred on the higher side); brought my mash water temp up to 175 and when added, my initial mash temp was 166, which I rapidly brought to 153 with ice

do you think this high initial temp 'zapped' or denatured the enzymes in the grain, and this is the reason i missed my target? has this happened to anyone else before? my OGs are usually on point so im not sure what else it could be?

thanks

Click to expand...

To fully diagnose efficiency issues, the following measurements are needed:

• Grain bill weight
• Strike water volume (everything prior to initial run off)
• SG of wort at end of mash, or first runnings SG
• Sparge process (fly, batch, none)
• Sparge water volume (for each batch sparge if more than one)
• Pre-boil volume
• Pre-boil SG
• Weight & type of any sugar added to the boil
• Post-boil volume
• Post-boil SG (OG)
• Volume into fermenter

Accurate measurements are critical, since the efficiency calculations cannot be better than the measurement accuracy. All volumes should be corrected for thermal expansion to 68˚F, or the volume measurement temperature reported, so that corrections can be made. Hydrometer measurements should be taken with the wort temp within 20˚F of the hydrometer's calibration temperature, and then corrected for the temperature at which the measurement was made.

Mash Efficiency = Conversion Efficiency * Lauter Efficiency
Brewhouse Efficiency = Mash Efficiency * Fermenter Volume / Post-boil Volume

With the measurements listed above, all of the factors in the above equations can be calculated. Conversion efficiency should be greater than 95%. Lauter efficiency is a function of sparge process and grain weight to pre-boil volume ratio, and maximum achievable can be predicted (but not as accurately for fly sparge.) Once you know which efficiency factor is lower than what should be achievable, then you know what part of your process needs to be addressed.

Post as much of the data specified above that you have, and I'll diagnose where your problem originated, if you have enough of the required data.

Brew on

Large percentage of wheat?

Wheat can be harder to crush as it is a bit smaller and harder than barley, and can be an efficiency killer if not crushed well.

Edit....175 strike is obviously way to high....difficult to say what the short term 166 mash temp did to your enzymes???