I hate to even ask this. I should know better as long as I have been brewing. But I am drawing a blank on what I should expect in missing my boil off and consequently my gravity target.
Brewed an oatmeal stout today. 15lb grain bill (9.75 maris otter; 1.75 lb flaked oat; 1 lb. carapils; .75 lb each of Chocolate and victory; .5 lb each of 80L crystal and roasted barley)
Bill was shooting for 6 gallons in the kettle at the end of the boil, 5.5 to the fermenter.
I boiled a little more vigorously than I had planned and wound up with 5 gallons even going into the fermenter. I chose not to top up the extra half gallon. At my usual brewhouse efficiency, the recipe calculator estimated a gravity of 1.058 with 5.5 gal to the fermenter.
I wound up with 5 gal of 1.063, or 64 (there were a lot of bubbles clinging to the hydrometer and I wasn't wearing my glasses.
It's possible that I could have gotten better efficiency. I am chalking it up to the boil off though. My questions are these:
Considering my grain bill, I knew I was going to have a lot of unfermentables (mashed at 154.5F, dropped to 153F by the time I started sparging). I got dinged for body on the last iteration of this beer. What should I expect here? Is the beer going to be stronger because of the additional gravity points? Or should I just expect for attenuation to be what it is and I will wind up with a fuller bodied beer?
Like I said, I feel like such a newbie for even asking. But I've been brewing the last several hours and my brain is having trouble wrapping my head around what to be looking for.
Temperature is reliable. I measured with a brand new, calibrated, just out of the packaging Thermapen.
Brewed an oatmeal stout today. 15lb grain bill (9.75 maris otter; 1.75 lb flaked oat; 1 lb. carapils; .75 lb each of Chocolate and victory; .5 lb each of 80L crystal and roasted barley)
Bill was shooting for 6 gallons in the kettle at the end of the boil, 5.5 to the fermenter.
I boiled a little more vigorously than I had planned and wound up with 5 gallons even going into the fermenter. I chose not to top up the extra half gallon. At my usual brewhouse efficiency, the recipe calculator estimated a gravity of 1.058 with 5.5 gal to the fermenter.
I wound up with 5 gal of 1.063, or 64 (there were a lot of bubbles clinging to the hydrometer and I wasn't wearing my glasses.
It's possible that I could have gotten better efficiency. I am chalking it up to the boil off though. My questions are these:
Considering my grain bill, I knew I was going to have a lot of unfermentables (mashed at 154.5F, dropped to 153F by the time I started sparging). I got dinged for body on the last iteration of this beer. What should I expect here? Is the beer going to be stronger because of the additional gravity points? Or should I just expect for attenuation to be what it is and I will wind up with a fuller bodied beer?
Like I said, I feel like such a newbie for even asking. But I've been brewing the last several hours and my brain is having trouble wrapping my head around what to be looking for.
Temperature is reliable. I measured with a brand new, calibrated, just out of the packaging Thermapen.