Did I screw up?

[ntaylor0]

Hey guys trying to brew my first IPA and my OG came out really low 1.0323. Now I tend to only like dryer higher ABV IPAs so I added 2 pounds of confectioners sugar straight into my primary to raise OG and ABV.

But everything I read says that I should've waited for fermentation and added slowly in fractions over time? Am I alright? Or will my Wyeast Belgian Abbey 1214 just go after the simple sugar and leave the more complex?

Is there anything I could do to fix this if I did screw up?

 

[hough77]

Hey guys trying to brew my first IPA and my OG came out really low 1.0323. Now I tend to only like dryer higher ABV IPAs so I added 2 pounds of confectioners sugar straight into my primary to raise OG and ABV.

But everything I read says that I should've waited for fermentation and added slowly in fractions over time? Am I alright? Or will my Wyeast Belgian Abbey 1214 just go after the simple sugar and leave the more complex?

Is there anything I could do to fix this if I did screw up?

What was the OG supposed to be? Did u mix the Wort with top off water very well? Maybe hydrometer temp correction?

 

[frazier]

Probably not, best just to ride it out at this point, and learn from it for next time.

Was this an AG batch? Was there top-up water involved? Maybe your reading was lower than the actual. Tell us more.

 

[ntaylor0]

Yes I did top off to 5 gallons like I usually do. Prob added 1.5 gallons or so to the wort. It was mostly grain and 1 can 3.3 lbs extract. I had no idea what the OG would be just knew it was too low for my tastes. Maybe measure OG again? Maybe it had not mixed the water in well yet?

 

[hough77]

I was thinking if you didn't mix it well, maybe you got more water than Wort, and that's why its low.
Did you use a kit? Maybe the boil went wrong. I would just leave it alone though, I'm a rookie and am not willing to ruin my beer over trying to boost the ABV, see how it plays out and maybe make sure your hydrometer is calibrated as well.

 

[ntaylor0]

No. Not a kit. Here is my recipe:

IPA #1

4 gallon boil
4 lbs weyermann light Munich 2 row barley malt EBC 15
1 lbs briess caramel malt 10L
Steep 1 hour @160
1 tbsp chervil leaves
3.3 lbs muntons malt extract extra light
1 oz Yamika Magnum 14.1% 60 min
1 oz Yamika Magnum 14.1% 45 min
1 oz Yamika Magnum 14.4 45 min
1 oz Galena 13.4% 30 min
1 tspn Gypsum 20 min
1 tbsp Irish Moss 20 min
Add water to 5 gallons
Dry hop 1 oz Columbus 14.4%
Cool overnight
Wyeast Belgian Abbey 1214
OG 1.0323
32 oz powered confectioner's sugar in fermenter

 

[tmurph6]

In order to get proper conversion of starch to sugar you need to mash your grain. You steeped in presumably 4 gallons of water which would create a ph too high and would not convert.

Can you detail your process?

 

[ntaylor0]

I used a coffee grinder on the percolate setting and crushed all my grain to look about like the mill consistency at the local liquor barn. Put it all into a steeping bag, after my water had been boiling for awhile I let it cool to below 180 degrees. Steeped my grains for an hour in that water. Ave temp was around 160. After an hour removed the grained and rinsed them (sparged?) to get the last of the sugars out in a bowl and added that to my water. Then brought it back to boil and added the hops and extract.

After 60 minute boil transferred to primary pour through a strainer to catch the hops and herbs. Added boiled water to 5 gallons.

 

[ntaylor0]

So was there a flaw in my process?

 

[BeerJorge]

You say your average temperature was 160... worse, sounds like you dropped your grains right below 180 F... if you dropped them in around 170 F, that's mash-out temp (the temperature you use to STOP any conversion of starches into sugar...

Either way, if you went higher than 160F, you probably denatured your enzymes and did not convert starches into sugars...

Your process sounds unusual.... how much water did you mash with? what kind of water?...

 

[iron_city_ap]

The thing is, the grains will absorb some of the heat. I start my mash with 170F water and the grains bring down the temp into the 154F range. Normally I mash with about 2-3 gallons of water, depending on the recipe. If 4 gallons was used, I'm guessing there was too much water and both the Ph was off and the temperature of the mash was way too high. Probably not a whole lot of starch conversion going on.

If you are determined to stick with this process, start with less water. Maybe use a second pot. Use one for mashing (steeping) and the second for sparging (rinsing). Combine the two after the sparge and proceed to boil...

 

[ntaylor0]

Ok thanks all. This has all been very helpful.

 

[bonzombiekitty]

So was there a flaw in my process?

It seems so. You should have mashed the grains, not steep them. In order to to mash you generally want to stay between 150 and 160 degrees (depending on what you want). Ignoring the whole PH issue, you dropped the grains in around 180 F. Given 4 gallons of water and 4 lbs of grain, that'd leave you at about 175 degrees, which is beyond starch->sugar conversion temps.

 

[houndsbreath]

You should do a search for "BIAB", which stands for "brew in a bag." The process outlined by DeathBrewer sounds close to yours. I've completed 2 batches via this process with great success. I agree with the above reply, your mash temp ia too hot, But I would have guessed your OG would be higher...

 

[JeepDiver]

Also confectioners sugar contains corn starch in it, not real sure what that is going to do to the brew, but I wouldn't think it would be good

 

[Aschecte]

well ........ 1.0323 isn't that low but.... what was your OG ? In the future I would let it ride out ( I am assuming you didn't before adding sugar ). you'll probably be fine.

 

[ntaylor0]

1.0323 was my OG...

 

[cshamilton]

1.0323 was my OG...

I think the question is OG after the sugar...

 

[ntaylor0]

Oh! Have not measured yet. Will do that tonight. Has not started bubbling so should still be accurate.