Original Gravity missed big time, what will happen to my end product?

[BigEasy43]

My original gravity should have been 1.052, but ended up being 1.040 which is off a fair amount. What will happen with my end product??

 

[Sammy86]

Well it won't be as high alcohol as you may have wanted and I believe it could be a little more hoppy then you might have intended...

What was the recipe?

 

[JonM]

It means that, if you usually have two or three beers in an evening, with this batch you can have three of four.

 

[theseeker4]

My original gravity should have been 1.052, but ended up being 1.040 which is off a fair amount. What will happen with my end product??

Is this an extract beer, topped up with water after the boil? Or is this an all grain recipe?

If extract, and your volume was correct, and you actually added all the extract, you weren't off your gravity, the water just didn't fully mix with the sugars in the wort, so the sample you took was off. You can't miss your target gravity if you used the correct amount of extract and have the correct amount of wort.

If all grain, what was your process? Have you had this problem before? What was your intended efficiency, and your recipe?

As said above, if the gravity was actually off, you will simply have a lighter, less alcoholic beer.

 

[BigEasy43]

It's an Irish Red ale. I think I was doomed from the start as I put the sparge water amount in first which was 5.33 gallons. I know ROOKIE mistake as this is my second all grain session. I then noticed that the mash temp was about 149F but was shooting for 152-154F, I know probably another Rookie mistake. I think I was thrown off from the start and this didn't help. I use a rectangle cooler but feel I should have some type of false bottom as I use a bazooka screen. I know only my second time and trying not to read too much in to my mistakes today. My intended efficiency was supposed to be 72%.

 

[ericbw]

It's an Irish Red ale. I think I was doomed from the start as I put the sparge water amount in first which was 5.33 gallons. I know ROOKIE mistake as this is my second all grain session. I then noticed that the mash temp was about 149F but was shooting for 152-154F, I know probably another Rookie mistake. I think I was thrown off from the start and this didn't help. I use a rectangle cooler but feel I should have some type of false bottom as I use a bazooka screen. I know only my second time and trying not to read too much in to my mistakes today. My intended efficiency was supposed to be 72%.

You put the sparge amount in first, at 149. Then you sparged with how much?

The cooler should be fine.

What was your efficiency?

Big question: what was the temp of your sample when you checked the gravity?

 

[hopbrad]

you got yourself a session red ale. nothing wrong with that. Since you mashed at 149F(which isnt crazy low fyi), it will most likely drop below 1.010, so youll have something in the low 4% range.
a quick and easy fix would be boil up a lb of light DME, cool and dump into the fermenter. should get you close to the target OG.
a refractometer is a great tool to have on hand when doing AG, along with a few lbs of DME. i usually take a gravity reading with about 10-15 minutes left and if i need to adjust, ill add in some DME or table sugar.

 

[PGEduardo]

+1 for refractometer. I always check gravity towards the end of the mash so I know if I'll need to boil longer or dilute...

 

[IslandLizard]

Mashing a bit thinner is not a problem; the added mass of water helps keeping your mash temps. Yes, you'll have less sparge water, but if you sparge twice with roughly equal volumes, all will be fine.

I'd look at the crush. Too coarse is the main culprit for low efficiency. Get it milled finer (narrower gap). And no, milling twice is no substitute for milling once right.

If you can't tweak the mill, mashing longer (90'-120') may help. In that scenario you should stir really well about half way in, or twice at thirds. Pro brewers use a fairly coarse grist, but their continuous agitation helps them to get maximum efficiency without stuck mashes.

 

[ericbw]

Mashing a bit thinner is not a problem; the added mass of water helps keeping your mash temps. Yes, you'll have less sparge water, but if you sparge twice with roughly equal volumes, all will be fine.

I'd look at the crush. Too coarse is the main culprit for low efficiency. Get it milled finer (narrower gap). And no, milling twice is no substitute for milling once right.

If you can't tweak the mill, mashing longer (90'-120') may help. In that scenario you should stir really well about half way in, or twice at thirds. Pro brewers use a fairly coarse grist, but their continuous agitation helps them to get maximum efficiency without stuck mashes.

+1 on the crush although in my experience (purely anecdotal), double milling is good if you can't adjust the mill.

Are you sure that mashing longer will help improve efficiency?

 

[doug293cz]

+1 on the crush although in my experience (purely anecdotal), double milling is good if you can't adjust the mill.

Are you sure that mashing longer will help improve efficiency?

If low efficiency is due to incomplete conversion, then a longer mash will allow more conversion to occur, thus improving conversion efficiency and mash efficiency (mash efficiency = conversion efficiency * lauter efficiency.)
Larger grits convert slower than smaller grits, as it takes longer for water to diffuse into the larger grits and gelatinize the starch. Starch has to gelatinize before it can be converted to sugar.

Brew on

 

[IslandLizard]

+1 on the crush although in my experience (purely anecdotal), double milling is good if you can't adjust the mill.

Are you sure that mashing longer will help improve efficiency?

Double milling may help somewhat in some cases, but if you really wants the mash efficiency to get in the 80-85% range, milling at the correct gap for one's system is the only way. To make up for the reduced efficiency you could add 10-15% more grist instead, but it won't cover a serious aspect when small kernel grain is included, such as wheat, rye, etc. Those will pass through mostly uncrushed and their extraction suffer the most. I crush the small kernels on a very narrow gap, around 0.024" on a 2 roller mill.

Regarding the longer mash, @doug293cz is spot on. Although more stirring (agitation) helps with water diffusion, every time you lift the lid your mash temps will drop, which doesn't help the cause. A recirculation mash would be better there, and the coarser grist prevents it from plugging up.

 

[JohnSand]

Meanwhile you can just boil, cool, and add some more extract. Many brewers don't want to touch a beer after it starts fermenting. But it is standard practice to add fruit, hops, candy sugar, oak, or spices to fermenting beer. No reason not to adjust your gravity.