Low efficiency

[Dfinnegan]

So here's the story.... brewed a BIAB Pale Ale with 11lbs. Of fermentable grains. Only hit 1.046 gravity. After one week in the primary using 11.5 gram Safale US-04 it's only at 1.028
So here's the question....
Should I add some sugar to the secondary fermenter go up my ABV? How much, 1-2 lbs? It's less than 3% abv right now.

 

[kh54s10]

Low efficiency is usually traced back to a poor grain crush. What temperature is the wort? Colder is slower. 1.028 is very high. At a week it really should be done. I would swirl the fermenter a little and get the temperature to about 70 degrees, wait a few days and check it again. Last resort would be to add sugar.

 

[doug293cz]

Are you measuring the FG with a refractometer? Refracts read too high after fermentation, due to the presence of alcohol. You can use a calculator, like this one, to correct for the error.

Also, what was your post-boil volume? It's not possible to check your efficiency without volume measurements to go with the SG measurements.

Brew on

 

[Weezy]

Did you taste it? If its not super sweet from unfermentables, go ahead and add some sugar. Use some software to figure out how much sugar to add to get you to, say, 4.5% abv.

Missing your OG low and ending up with a high FG is typically a sign of poor conversion, due to too coarse of a crush (as was said), mash temp outside of normal 146-158F range, pH outside of requisite range of ~5.2-5.7, insufficient mash time, or a combination of some or all of these.

 

[Dfinnegan]

Thanks for the reply fellas, I did taste it. Didn't taste sweet at all. Tastes good, just going to be a super session Ale I guess

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

A good portion of your problem appears to be low yeast attenuation rather than low efficiency.

https://mashmadeeasy.yolasite.com/

 

[dmtaylor]

Bummer. You can indeed add a pound or two of sugar, it will kick up the effective OG and bring down the FG after it ferments out.