Brewers Best Imperial Pale Ale Low OG help

Guys help me figure this out.
1. Brewed BB IPA 21 Jan in my garage using turkey fryer. I put maybe 2 cups more spring water than 2.5 gallons to boil. Took all the grains and steeped it for about 25 minutes between 160 and 170F came to boil after 30 minutes and added all LME and DME, almost had boil over. Followed brew schedule on instructions
Added my hops at the times instructed to, almost boiled over again.
2. Cooled down took 45 minutes. When I siphoned to bucket I had no trub at the bottom of the pot, why didn't it settle?
3. Moved to bottle bucket, I only had 2 gallons. I know there is boil off but a half a gallon??
4. Then added water to 5 gallon mark. It had lots of foam. Then set bottle bucket on table and fermenter underneath and opened the spigot for aeration.
5. There was tons of foam. Temp at this time is 60F Dipped tube in fermenter for hydrometer. Placed hydrometer in tube. I was suppose to get 1.081 to 1.085 and I got 1.072 WHY? Temp in tube was 60F,

Did I place too much water in boil pot? Why was there only 2 gallons after boil? Why didn't the trub settle? And why was the OG low AGAIN?

I don't freakin get it!

I was disappointed.
Thanks

DieterVonBrauhaus said:

2. Cooled down took 45 minutes. When I siphoned to bucket I had no trub at the bottom of the pot, why didn't it settle?

Click to expand...

Two things I can think of. 45 minutes is pretty long for a chill down. The faster the chilling, the better results you get with cold break forming and settling out to the bottom.

Also, did you use any irish moss in the boil? That stuff helps all the break material coagulate into big fluffy looking globs, which helps it settle.

DieterVonBrauhaus said:

3. Moved to bottle bucket, I only had 2 gallons. I know there is boil off but a half a gallon??

Click to expand...

Half a gallon boil off over the course of 60 minutes is actually a pretty small amount of boil off, IMO. When I brewed with extract, I would boil off closer to a gallon in an hour (about 3.5 quarts).

DieterVonBrauhaus said:

4. Then added water to 5 gallon mark. It had lots of foam. Then set bottle bucket on table and fermenter underneath and opened the spigot for aeration.
5. There was tons of foam. Temp at this time is 60F Dipped tube in fermenter for hydrometer. Placed hydrometer in tube. I was suppose to get 1.081 to 1.085 and I got 1.072 WHY? Temp in tube was 60F

Click to expand...

Well, my first thoughts were that you didn't get everything mixed together well. The thick wort and the water would be in two separate layers, and your reading was taken from the top, where there was more water.

However, since you mixed wort and water in the bucket and then ran it through the spigot into the fermenter, I would think that this should have mixed it all up pretty well and the consistency would have been uniform.

I looked up the kit and this is the ingredient list I found. Can you confirm that yours was the same?

6.6# light LME
2# golden DME
1# crystal 80
0.5# victory
0.25# carapils

If this is what you have, then the directions are just plain wrong. I ran that through promash and even with 75% efficiency on the grain (which is probably much more than you would get with steeping), this thing only comes out at 1.073 on gravity. Even at 100% efficiency (which is NOT possible on any system), this comes in at 1.076.

So, I would say that your gravity is spot on for that recipe, with a respectable 66% efficiency on your grains.

Bottom line: the kit is wrong.

Thanks for the reply
First, the only thing I got to chill with is an ice bath. And I noticed everytime it takes 45 min to an hour in a stainless steel pot.
Second, I have Irish Moss, but this time I didn't use it cause I wanted to make sure the aroma hops which were put in the last 5 min of boil was not interrupted by the moss.
Third, that is the kit. so how do they come up with 1.081?

DieterVonBrauhaus said:

Thanks for the reply
First, the only thing I got to chill with is an ice bath. And I noticed everytime it takes 45 min to an hour in a stainless steel pot.

Click to expand...

Do you stir the pot or water bath while it's chilling, or just lit it sit there?

DieterVonBrauhaus said:

Second, I have Irish Moss, but this time I didn't use it cause I wanted to make sure the aroma hops which were put in the last 5 min of boil was not interrupted by the moss.

Click to expand...

Moss won't affect your hops.

DieterVonBrauhaus said:

Third, that is the kit. so how do they come up with 1.081?

Click to expand...

Beats the hell out of me.

1. I stirred slightly so I wouldn't stir up the trub.
2. Oh didn't know that
3. LOL
Thanks for the answers

DieterVonBrauhaus said:

1. I stirred slightly so I wouldn't stir up the trub.

Click to expand...

If you aren't doing it, then you can also swirl around the water bath. that should help, too.

This was the last kit I did and the og came out exactly as yours did. It fermented fine, and the FG was just a little lower than the instructions stated. It came out fine. Still a little hoppy, but it's only been in the Keg for a week.

Gunfighter04 said:

This was the last kit I did and the og came out exactly as yours did. It fermented fine, and the FG was just a little lower than the instructions stated. It came out fine. Still a little hoppy, but it's only been in the Keg for a week.

Click to expand...

Interesting, Wonder how BB came up with that OG. What did they do or use different than I?

DieterVonBrauhaus said:

What did they do or use different than I?

Click to expand...

I don't think it's a matter of them using or doing something differently than you. The kit just has wrong info on the paperwork that came with it.

Thanks, this sure makes me feel better than yesterday when I took my OG reading.

I have this kit fermenting and my OG was 1.068 which I thought was low according to the directions. Thanks for running this through your BeerSmith program.

I added my LME very late in the boil because I did not want the beer to darken too much. For chilling the wort I use my swimming pool this time of year, so I get it chilled in about 15-20 minutes...

I checked the SG two days ago and it was 1.022. We'll see on bottling day what the FG turns out to be

This was my very first brew, and mine ended up at 1.076 , or right around there. It wasn't where it was supposed to be. It turned out awesome though. DWRHAHB

I've done this kind too and I am bottling this weekend. What I've noticed is that the Og on the box says 1082-1085. The direction IN the kit says 1071-1074 (or close to it)

I got 1070 for my Og

My problem is that it stopped fermenting at1018. Dunno why

slicksmix said:

I've done this kind too and I am bottling this weekend. What I've noticed is that the Og on the box says 1082-1085. The direction IN the kit says 1071-1074 (or close to it)

I got 1070 for my Og

My problem is that it stopped fermenting at1018. Dunno why

Click to expand...

My box cover AND instructions were both 1.082 to 1.085, thats why I was kind of bummed, but now I see every one else either had the same results or seen that result, I see the light!

Just out of curiosity, what did you pay for your kit? Full price at my LBHS is almost 50$.

EDIT: And another thing, I am referencing my instructions that came with the kit, it doesn't say what kind of hops came with it. It just has, inventory listed as "bittering" , "flavoring" and "aroma" hops.
Can you tell me what hops came in your kit? I need to buys some, and also, can you provide the AA % of each?

wulfsburg said:

Just out of curiosity, what did you pay for your kit? Full price at my LBHS is almost 50$.

EDIT: And another thing, I am referencing my instructions that came with the kit, it doesn't say what kind of hops came with it. It just has, inventory listed as "bittering" , "flavoring" and "aroma" hops.
Can you tell me what hops came in your kit? I need to buys some, and also, can you provide the AA % of each?

Click to expand...

The hops they use are columbus. Sorry i cant remember the AA units cuz i threw the packets away. The schedule was 2oz at 60, 1oz at 20, and 1 oz at 5.

What was your FG? did mine poop out early or is that normal?

I have the same kit, haven't brewed it yet though. Heres my hop schedule.
2oz columbus bittering 14.2%aa
1oz columbus flavoring 14.4%aa
1oz willamette aroma 4.7%aa

This was my best tasting extract kit before I started all grain. I dry hopped it too though.

I just finished brewing this exact kit. BB India Pale Ale. I am a little confused because on my kit instructions and box it states OG: 1.061 - 1.065 and FG: 1.014 - 1.017. My brew was 1.061 @ 70 degrees, and 1.010 @ 65 degrees so pretty darn close. It was very tasty after a couple weeks in the bottle.

My noob question is........ Can I remove the bottles that I have under refrigeration and store them till later? how long will the bottled beer keep?

and my cost for this kit at my LHBS was $46.75

my ingredients were:
6.6 lbs light LME
1 lbs Golden DME
1 lbs carmel 40l
8oz Victory
3.5 oz bittering
1 oz aroma

Pohljm said:

I just finished brewing this exact kit. BB India Pale Ale. I am a little confused because on my kit instructions and box it states OG: 1.061 - 1.065 and FG: 1.014 - 1.017. My brew was 1.061 @ 70 degrees, and 1.010 @ 65 degrees so pretty darn close. It was very tasty after a couple weeks in the bottle.

My noob question is........ Can I remove the bottles that I have under refrigeration and store them till later? how long will the bottled beer keep?

and my cost for this kit at my LHBS was $46.75

my ingredients were:
6.6 lbs light LME
1 lbs Golden DME
1 lbs carmel 40l
8oz Victory
3.5 oz bittering
1 oz aroma

Click to expand...

India pale aale and imperial pale ale are two different recipies. Imperial is double the malt and hops sort of

sudsmcgee said:

This was my best tasting extract kit before I started all grain. I dry hopped it too though.

Click to expand...

What did u use to dry hop? Did u have any of these issues?

I used an ounce of cascade for 10 days. My OG was a little low at 1.070. It finished at 1.011 though, so it was still 7.75% ABV.

I just brewed up a batch of this over the weekend and had similar results. One thing I noticed was that the Brewer's Best Imperial Pale Ale box had an OG range from about 1.071 - 1.075 and the directions inside the box had 1.081 - 1.085. I have brewed twice in the past about 15 years ago and the kit I used did not have me take these measurement (no hydrometer), so it was like the first time for me. Since the directions read "add water until you reach the desired OG", I only added enough water to come up with about 4 gallons. Whats going to happen to the brew? I contemplated just adding the full 5 gallons, but didn't!

I also do partial mash and brew with bottled spring water. As soon as I get things rolling, I throw two gallons into the freezer. Every so often I will shake up the bottles to make sure it doesn't freeze at the top due to the narrow opening. By the time I'm ready to add top of water, its in the 30's. Just about brings it down to pitching temperature. Certainly will bring down your 45 min. cooling period.

This beer has been awesome! Tons of Hoppy flavor. I called it "The Angry Dieter"
I must have also mixed the bottle sugars in the beer just right, cause it has a great head retention and has the exact carbonation that I like.
I would post a pic if I had a way to load it up here.

I brewed this kit with a friend last month, and we came up with an OG of 1.072 as well.

I brewed the same stuff up about 2 months ago now and had a some of the same concerns. Because I was paying attention to the OG I only added enough water to come up with 4 gallons in the fermenter (that's what the directions said to do). After talking to a few people on this forum I decided to add the extra gallon of water in when I boiled the sugar before bottling.

The brew turned out great! I have been drinking it for about 2 weeks now and everyone who tries it loves it! I will say I was very nervous leading up to the first sip.