Grind size and adjusting OG

[mykrausenhurts]

Before I go into story time, is this pictured grind okay for BIAB? (story below)

So I am a new brewer and I am trying to do BIAB. I have two real brews under my belt and on the first (a Bavarian hefeweizen) I got TERRIBLE efficiency. To the point that I had to add 1 lbs of DME to get it back up to where I needed to be. Before I added the DME post-boil it was 1.042 and I think adding a lbs of DME brought it to 1.50 which is closer to the style. Hopefully, I did that correctly, it is still fermenting so we will see.

This time I cranked down the Corona mill more and tried to increase my efficiency. Today I tried to brew a British Best Bitters and I was OVER where I needed to be. I ended up with 1.052 OG so I added about 1/3 of a gallon of water to bring it back to 1.047. Once again, at least I hope hah.

I have no idea if I am doing any of this right just trying ti play it by ear.

 

[mac_1103]

First of all, I never worry about five gravity points; the difference between 1.047 and 1.052 is about 0.5% ABV depending on the fermentability of the wort and the yeast strain; I doubt most people would taste (or feel) that. Second, a pound of DME should have about 45 points give or take, so if that's a five gallon batch increasing the OG by 0.008 sounds about right. Third, it's hard to give too much more advice without seeing the recipes and knowing some details about your process (do you do a full volume mash or do you sparge? do you squeeze the bag? etc). Fourth, the crush looks OK to the extent that I can judge it by that photo.

 

[mykrausenhurts]

First of all, I never worry about five gravity points; the difference between 1.047 and 1.052 is about 0.5% ABV depending on the fermentability of the wort and the yeast strain; I doubt most people would taste (or feel) that. Second, a pound of DME should have about 45 points give or take, so if that's a five gallon batch increasing the OG by 0.008 sounds about right. Third, it's hard to give too much more advice without seeing the recipes and knowing some details about your process (do you do a full volume mash or do you sparge? do you squeeze the bag? etc). Fourth, the crush looks OK to the extent that I can judge it by that photo.

Yeah, I probably should have just left it as it was. I am just being a perfectionists (which I shouldn't be doing on brew #2. I am doing a full volume mash. I have been getting the strike temp to 160 and then dumping it all ( full volume mash) in and stirring well at first and then every 15-20 minutes for the hour mash. I do squeeze the bag very well and try to get it all out until I get bored with it.

I just had an actual grinder arrive today so I think I could be more consistent with that moving forward.

 

[refect]

Yeah, I probably should have just left it as it was. I am just being a perfectionists (which I shouldn't be doing on brew #2. I am doing a full volume mash. I have been getting the strike temp to 160 and then dumping it all ( full volume mash) in and stirring well at first and then every 15-20 minutes for the hour mash. I do squeeze the bag very well and try to get it all out until I get bored with it.

I just had an actual grinder arrive today so I think I could be more consistent with that moving forward.

It is going to take a few brews to understand your systems efficiency. Make sure to take notes on each batch. It will help you dial in your systems efficiency. Also, so you can go back and make tweaks to your recipe and understand what you might need to do differently next time to achieve what you are after. Another good thing to do, is do a mock boil with water to determine your boil off rate. This will help you know how much wort to collect so you don't squeeze the bag too much or too little, and have a better chance of hitting your target gravity to volume after the boil.

It is always a great feeling when us brewers hit our numbers spot on, but I wouldn't worry about adjusting over a few gravity points. Sometimes I am dead on, and other times I may be a few points over/under. As long as I am not significantly over/under then I am good, and if I am dead on then I am thrilled lol.

Edit:

Also, your crush looks pretty good there. You can go pretty fine with BIAB and get better efficiency. I set the gap with a credit card on my mill and have great results with that gap setting. I also do full volume mashes BIAB style. The key is to determine how fine of a crush you can go on your system that will give you the best mash efficiency without creating a stuck sparge (Keeping the husks in tact). With BIAB you don't typically need to worry about a stuck sparge. Unless you have a setup that you can fly sparge with. Once you've determined a gap that gives you a good crush, good mash efficiency, and no stuck sparge/stuck recirculation (If you recirculate during the mash)on your system, leave it there and adjust/create recipes accordingly.

 

[Greg Morris]

Before I go into story time, is this pictured grind okay for BIAB? (story below)

So I am a new brewer and I am trying to do BIAB. I have two real brews under my belt and on the first (a Bavarian hefeweizen) I got TERRIBLE efficiency. To the point that I had to add 1 lbs of DME to get it back up to where I needed to be. Before I added the DME post-boil it was 1.042 and I think adding a lbs of DME brought it to 1.50 which is closer to the style. Hopefully, I did that correctly, it is still fermenting so we will see.

This time I cranked down the Corona mill more and tried to increase my efficiency. Today I tried to brew a British Best Bitters and I was OVER where I needed to be. I ended up with 1.052 OG so I added about 1/3 of a gallon of water to bring it back to 1.047. Once again, at least I hope hah.

I have no idea if I am doing any of this right just trying ti play it by ear.

I would avoid adding water to "thin" your beer out as well. Just leave it and enjoy. What you could do if you don't want the alcohol that high is to select a lower attenuating yeast. Also if you use the same yeast and have higher OG/SG it doesn't always mean that you will end up with a lot more alcohol. Yeast has a range that it likes to stick to percentage wise. If your yeast attenuates 75% for example then you will add a little more alcohol with a higher OG/SG but also end up with a higher FG. Hope that makes sense. If you get your water right, ph right, and mash temp right...your 1.052 will attenuate 78% with US-05 to 1.011 and 1.047 to 1.010. It's about 0.45% difference abv/vol, but the 1.052 beer will be much better tasting.

 

[Miraculix]

There is nothing wrong with adding water. Neither pre fermentation, nor post. It is actually both a practice which is done by big breweries regularly.

 

[Greg Morris]

There is nothing wrong with adding water. Neither pre fermentation, nor post. It is actually both a practice which is done by big breweries regularly.

Yes breweries do it all of the time, especially macro breweries. Our brewery does not cut beer with water.

 

[balrog]

Make sure to take notes on each batch.

This.
Times infinity.
The. Most. Important. Thing.
Then you adjust your water/ingredients accordingly when you make future batches, knowing that you'll get similar results **IF YOU DO THINGS THE SAME WAY**

There is nothing wrong with adding water. Neither pre fermentation, nor post. It is actually both a practice which is done by big breweries regularly.

What he says. There's no magic in the addition point of water; start/middle/end. There's some argument for adding water at the end not being the same as it's not boiled or treated for Chloramines/Chlorine, otherwise, not an issue.

 

[Greg Morris]

This.
Times infinity.
The. Most. Important. Thing.
Then you adjust your water/ingredients accordingly when you make future batches, knowing that you'll get similar results **IF YOU DO THINGS THE SAME WAY**


What he says. There's no magic in the addition point of water; start/middle/end. There's some argument for adding water at the end not being the same as it's not boiled or treated for Chloramines/Chlorine, otherwise, not an issue.

I never said it was an issue. I would just try to avoid cutting or diluting the beer because they had an execellent efficiency. If you're after yield then do it. More beer the better.

 

[Miraculix]

I never said it was an issue. I would just try to avoid cutting or diluting the beer because they had an execellent efficiency. If you're after yield then do it. More beer the better.

If you have a stronger wort than anticipated, dilute it. There is nothing wrong with that.

If you want stronger ester expression, ferment with a higher OG and dilute it after fermentation. This is done by some of our Hefeweizen breweries here in Germany for that very reason.

 

[Greg Morris]

If you have a stronger wort than anticipated, dilute it. There is nothing wrong with that.

If you want stronger ester expression, ferment with a higher OG and dilute it after fermentation. This is done by some of our Hefeweizen breweries here in Germany for that very reason.

Never said there was anything wrong with it. My experience is that esters are more easily controlled or expressed via fermentation temperature. Lots of variables to adjust for whatever your process is. Process is the main thing. Preferred final outcome is the goal regardless of how you got there.

 

[refect]

I personally do not like diluting my wort unless it is with a minimal amount. I know it is an acceptable practice and will still produce great tasting beer, but like I said if I am over/under 2-3 points then I'd rather just let it ride and takes notes to adjust for next time I brew the recipe.

When I first started brewing years and years ago, I used to do partial boils since I had a small pot. I'd then add several gallons after the boil to get my volume and SG where it needed to be. The mouthfeel was always a bit watery when I did this so once I upgraded my equipment to allow for full volume boils, I stopped doing it.

 

[RM-MN]

If your beer has other malts besides the base malt and you dilute the wort because it is substantially higher in OG than planned, you are also diluting the flavor from the other malts. Leave this batch alone and adjust the recipe to account for the higher brewhouse efficiency so you don't need to dilute.