grav problems

[ehk089]

I was brewing (AG) gavins glorious german pils today. I hit my pre boil gravity right on the money at 1.034, but my OG was low; I was at 1.040 and recipe/ beer smith said OG should be 1.046.....how is this possible? Should I have boiled longer, or what could contribute to this?....will my ABV be like an odouls? This is my first light bodied beer. I've been brewing APA's mostly and a stout here and there, but have never missed an OG that far off...

 

[ncbrewer]

Pre-boil to OG is just a function of your boil time, intensity, and kettle geometry. Maybe the recipe assumed a different boil-off rate than you get. Once you know your boil-off rate, you can use this in planning your brews, rather than going by the recipe creator's estimate.

 

[ehk089]

I've been using the same profile in beersmith the last few brews and it hasn't been that far off....do you think its going to be a dud?

 

[Amadeo38]

You didn’t happen to forget to do a temp adjustment on that OG measurement, did you? For example, 1.040 at 100F is really 1.046 on a 60F calibrated hydrometer.

 

[ehk089]

Nope, I took grav sample chilled at like 56 degrees. I didn't boil as hard as I usually do because I had my first boil over 2 brews ago, and I was working on other things instead of watching the kettle....lesson learned. Will that affect the taste, or mostly just be a lower abv?

 

[ehk089]

Welp, just figured out what happened...was supposed to be a 90 min boil and I only went for 60. ****.

 

[Amadeo38]

FWIW - if fermentation is still actively going, or even if it’s just recently died down, you can add some boiled (then cooled) sugar solution to the fermentor to boost the ABV. This will dry it out a little, but may help if you’re worried about it being low ABV. I’ve done this before when I forgot to add sugar during the boil and being dry is important for the recipe/style (e.g. an IPA).

 

[ehk089]

FWIW - if fermentation is still actively going, or even if it’s just recently died down, you can add some boiled (then cooled) sugar solution to the fermentor to boost the ABV. This will dry it out a little, but may help if you’re worried about it being low ABV. I’ve done this before when I forgot to add sugar during the boil and being dry is important for the recipe/style (e.g. an IPA).

It's a German pilsner. How would I figure out how much to add to bump up .004, and what would you just use DME?

 

[ncbrewer]

I'd call it a session beer and not worry about it.

 

[Amadeo38]

It's a German pilsner. How would I figure out how much to add to bump up .004, and what would you just use DME?

8oz of table sugar would do nicely. Alternatively, if you’ve got a homebrew shop nearby you could grab some Brewer’s crystals. Supposedly this can increase the gravity without drying out the beer.

 

[beermanpete]

It's a German pilsner. How would I figure out how much to add to bump up .004, and what would you just use DME?

The volume of wort/beer is required to calculate the amount of DME or other fermentable to add. Assuming your volume is 5 gallons then 1/2 pound of DME would raise the OG by 4 points.