messed up grain calculation. how do I adjust to keep my target OG?

[andyveedub]

I wasnt paying attention to what I was doing at my local home brew store and I was getting my grain ready to mill when I realized I had added more than I needed for my 5 gallon batch. my recipe called for 11.5lbs 2 row, 1lb carapils, .5lb crystal 40, and .5lb wheat malt. Which by the recipe I found on here, and beer smith would leave me with an OG at 1.066 or so. I'm trying to make a blind pig clone, and I know the blind pig OG is 1.060 I ended up milling 12lbs 2 row, 1lb carapils, 1lb crystal 40, and .5lb wheat malt. When I enter it in beersmith with a 5 gallon batch I get an estimated OG of 1.076 which is obviously way off. If I change the batch size to 6 gallons it puts me back to 1.063 which I can live with. Also just for the heck of it I entered in my actual grain bill into brew pal for a 5 gallon batch and came up with 1.063, which is what beer smith gave me for a 6 gallon batch. So what do I do? Is this going to be complicated to fix or should I just go buy the correct amount of grain? Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[RiverCityBrewer]

It sounds like you have beersmith configured with a higher brewhouse efficiency than you have set in brew pal, hence your off OG... the correct OG number will depend on what your actual efficiency is.

 

[Frodo]

It sounds like it's impossible to fix this problem - you should probably ship that grain to me right away and I'll discard it for you...

No really it's not a lot of grain difference you're talking about. I really wouldn't worry until you measure your pre-boil gravity to see how much of an issue you really have. Then if it's more than maybe 5 gravity pts you could dilute your pre-boil amount a little; that way you don't have to adjust the hops. You'll just end up with a bit more than usual left in the kettle when you're filling your fermenter.

 

[andyveedub]

Ok. so should I change my batch size to 6 gallons and just not worry about it? or still mash like I'm making a 5 gallon batch and check my OG then adjust as necessary after. I think I just answered my own question This is my first all grain batch so I'm not sure about my efficiency.

 

[ejearn]

I would just brew as planned, with the full grain bill, and see how it turns out! It will likely be a bit heavier body with the extra cara, but I wouldn't worry too much. RDWHAHB!

 

[rjwhite41]

Plan for your 5 gallon batch. In all honesty, you have no idea what your brewhouse efficiency is until after you have done a few of these. For all you know it might be dead on. Btw, it is always a good idea to keep some DME on hand for adjustments. Also, when you take your gravity reading after your runoff, stir the kettle before grabbing a sample and factor in evaporation from your boil to get your end of boil SG.

 

[Frodo]

Well if you upped it to a 6 gallon batch you'd have to up your hops a bit too (or not worry about it since it's not a HUGE difference in grain).

However, if you dilute the wort before you boil, and also then adjust your volume so you start your boil with only the correct preboil amount (by diluting to your expected preboil gravity calculated in Beersmith, then pulling that amount of the wort out of the kettle before you boil), you won't have to adjust your hops. You'd start with the correct preboil volume and the correct preboil gravity. Then no hop adjustments needed.

Make sense?