5 Gallon IPA came out under expected OG

[bellyofbeer]

Only my second brew, extract, OG supposed to be 1.052-1.056. I ended up at 1.048. Could this be a result of my specialty grains not being crushed well enough. Also i boiled from six gallons down to a little less than five and topped of with water in the fermenter. Should i have tested the gravity before adding more water. And if it was at the correct OG would it have been ok to just leave it at the approximate 4.5 gallon level...

 

[BendBrewer]

How much specialty grain did you use?

 

[FensterBos]

I usually check the OG prior to topping off the water, especially for beers like IPA when I want the OG to by higher (I rather risk losing .5 gallons to hit my mark).
But, it could be other things, such as the temperature of the water at the time you tested the gravity. Being a 20 degrees hotter than the calibrated hydrometer (usually around 60 degrees F) can make a difference of 1.002.

 

[bellyofbeer]

1 lb. crystal and 1/2 lb. toasted malted barley

 

[BendBrewer]

Ok. Was this a recipe that you 'created'? Who or what 'told' you that your OG was supposed to be 52-56?

 

[bellyofbeer]

My wort was at 68F which i adjusted the .002-.003

 

[bellyofbeer]

not my recipe not looking to go there yet. Recipe is straight out of joy of hb

 

[BendBrewer]

Two things I can think it could be.

Top off water didn't mix thoroughly with the wort giving you a bad reading.

The person that created the recipe expected 75 - 85 % efficiency when calculating the expected OG which you aren't going to come close to via steeping.

Chances are the guy in the Joy of HB got it right and your wort just wasn't thoroughly mixed. Pretty hard not to hit your numbers with extract as long as you measure everything correctly.

I think you just have a slightly bad reading and you can assume that your OG is closer to the projected OG than not. Either way, it's fine.

 

[bellyofbeer]

would steeping longer than 30-35 minutes help. sorry for so many questions

 

[munche]

If I got 1.048 and was shooting for 1.052 I'd mark that "close enough" and move on. That's right in the range, the difference between those in flavor and ABV is pretty small IMO.

 

[bellyofbeer]

i'm really enjoying the whole homebrewing thing and just curious what i could be doing better to hit my marks. thanks for all of your input

 

[BendBrewer]

would steeping longer than 30-35 minutes help. sorry for so many questions

Maybe a little but if the recipe called for steeping it probably did not factor in the PPG from the grains the same one would if they actually mashed them. I don't know if .5 pounds of toasted barley contains the diastatic power to convert the Crystal anyway. (Crystal malt doesn't have the enzymes to do the job itself). So chances are the recipe did not factor much gravity increase from these. I still think you just got a bad reading. The top of the solution wasn't as dense as the bottom. Fermentation will mix them for you and you'll have a beer that is real close to what you were looking for.

Congrats!

 

[BendBrewer]

i'm really enjoying the whole homebrewing thing and just curious what i could be doing better to hit my marks. thanks for all of your input

If you had taken a gravity reading before topping off you would have more accurate data. Then you could have topped off, done a little math and got a very accurate reading.

 

[bellyofbeer]

sweet

 

[bellyofbeer]

what type of formula would i use to adjust OG after topping off

 

[soundsandsuds]

You may have added too much water. Have you marked off a 5 gallon mark on you fermented?
That's pretty close to the mark, though. RDWHAHB

 

[bellyofbeer]

yes i did mark off my 5 gallon mark

 

[BendBrewer]

Now you are making me think.

Say you had 4.5 gallons and the reading was 1.058. Multiply 58*4.5 = 261 'points'

Add .5 gallons top off.

Adding .5 gallons won't change the points. So now divide the points by 5 gallons = 52.2 or 1.052

 

[aidan]

I always seem to fall short in my OG readings and by more than you missed yours. I put it down to non-homogeneous mixing (but I've yet to come out higher). Could also be the hydrometer calibration. Also, when checking SG towards end of fermentation I've found it increasing by as much as 0.004 on a later day. So I reckon hydrometer readings are not very precise, there can be factors that throw off the readings - perhaps yeast in suspension? Another factor is reading error - it can be hard to see exactly where it's sitting if there are foam bubbles gathering around the hydrometer. One thing I've found that helps make it easier to read is to fill the test cylinder right to the brim, then it's easier to gauge where it's sitting relative to the surface of the liquid. Given my experiences with hydrometer readings, you hit it pretty close so be happy - sometimes I've missed it by 10 whole points, but I just gotta shrug my shoulders - the beer is always good anyway!