Evan!
Well-Known Member
Yesterday, I brewed an AG Special Bitter and a PM Dunkel lager, and assumed 75% efficiency. I started the AG mash 25 mins earlier than the PM, to give me time to drain and sparge the AG. The mashes were stepped---133 for 30 mins, 153 for 45 mins, 158 for 20mins. I finished the AG, poured it from the mash tun into the false-bottomed vessel, drained it, then sparged with 4 gallons of 170f water. Then, instead of emptying the grains from the MLT, I just poured the dunkel's mash right on top of it. I figured, the grains that were in there already certainly wouldn't hurt the dunkel. I drained and sparged, and the boils went well.
The OG of the Bitter was supposed to be 1.053, and the Dunkel was supposed to 1.057.
The actual OG for the Bitter was 1.059, and the Dunkel was 1.068. Far be it from me to complain about excellent efficiency, but now my problem is that I have a 1.068 OG brew with only 23.8 IBU.
So what do I do now? I was thinking about boiling some hops in water for 45 minutes or so, then adding that to the secondary. Given that 1.068 is pretty high for a dunkel, I'm not worried about watering it down. Has anyone done this before? Would it be a good idea to steep some grains in it too? Is there any way to calculate the IBU increase when using just water?
Thanks!
EDIT: Then again, I was just messing around with ProMash, and for that recipe, I switched the BJCP style from Munich Dunkel to Traditional Bock. According to "Traditional Bock" style, 1.068 OG and 24 IBU's is right in the middle. The IBU range is 20-28, and the OG range is 1.064-1.072. So maybe I'll be okay. Thoughts?
The OG of the Bitter was supposed to be 1.053, and the Dunkel was supposed to 1.057.
The actual OG for the Bitter was 1.059, and the Dunkel was 1.068. Far be it from me to complain about excellent efficiency, but now my problem is that I have a 1.068 OG brew with only 23.8 IBU.
So what do I do now? I was thinking about boiling some hops in water for 45 minutes or so, then adding that to the secondary. Given that 1.068 is pretty high for a dunkel, I'm not worried about watering it down. Has anyone done this before? Would it be a good idea to steep some grains in it too? Is there any way to calculate the IBU increase when using just water?
Thanks!
EDIT: Then again, I was just messing around with ProMash, and for that recipe, I switched the BJCP style from Munich Dunkel to Traditional Bock. According to "Traditional Bock" style, 1.068 OG and 24 IBU's is right in the middle. The IBU range is 20-28, and the OG range is 1.064-1.072. So maybe I'll be okay. Thoughts?