Low gravity, how much DME to add?

Hey all,

I've done a few all grain batches and I have hit my target gravity on the first two I did, but I have done an India Red Ale recipe from this forum and I have hit way below the target both times. I should have 1.064, and I'm at 1.040 on this second attempt. I'm sure I am doing something wrong, but since I have some golden DME I'd like to try and salvage this batch.

Does anyone have a recommendation on how much DME and water I should add to bring this back in line? 5 gallon batch.

This is TimBrewz AG India Red Ale.

 

An SG of 1.040 when you planned on SG 1.064 means you are 24 "gravity points" short. Most dried malt extract has a potential of extract of around 45 points per pound per gallon (or point-gallons per pound). So, 24 points times 5 gallons is 120 point gallons. Divide this by 45 ppg to get 2.67 pounds.


Chris Colby
Editor
beerandwinejournal.com

 

Thanks for the help and the quick answer!

 

Just a quick follow up. As luck should have it I had exactly 2 lb 10 oz of DME, I pulled a couple gallons of wort and boiled with the wort for 15 min, cooled and added back to the rest of the wort and my gravity was exactly 1.064.

I just want to say thanks again, you probably saved this batch, the last one was so thin I had to dump it. After brewing for five hours at 10F it's nice to know it wasn't for nothing.

 

Chris covered your question but you might want to figure out which part of your process is off...the conversion or the sparge.

For conversion use this chart to see if you are getting good conversion in the MLT. You should be in the 90% range:

First Wort Table

If you conversion is good, look at your lautering process and make sure you are getting a good sparge. Braukaiser has a process on his website to help you determine how well you are sparging (www.braukaiser.com)

 

That is my main concern, missing by that big of a margin twice is a big deal, this thread was a short term fix. I will look into the links and see if I can find any answers, thank you for the suggestions.

The two kits I hit my numbers on were from Northern Brewer, the two that I missed on we're both milled at two separate LHBS in the Denver area. There's a chance that their mills aren't doing the job and I should look into getting my own mill, but who knows. I may look into batch sparging next time and see if that nets better results.