HELP!! Low O.G.

[captianoats]

I brewed up a Belgian wit today, and was shooting for 1.048. I only hit 1.032. Here is the recipe:

4 lb belgian 2 row pilsner
3 lb Belgian wheat malt
2 lbs flaked wheat
8 oz aromatic Belgian malt
4 oz flaked oats
1 lb rice hulls
.4 oz bitter orange
1 1/4 tsp coriander
Zest from 1 naval orange

Mashed for 90 minutes at 145-150 degrees

1 oz kent goldings at 1 hr
1/2 oz saaz, half of the additions at 15 minutes
1/2 oz saaz and rest off additions at flameout

I can think of 4 options..
1: pitch and forget about it
2: pick up some wheat malt tomorrow and add
3: pick up some honey (not true to style but thought it may be nice)
4: dump in corn sugar

Please help me out, I've done all grain for a couple years and never missed target like this. If I add another fermentable, how much do I need for 5 gallons?

Dont worry, not dumping I smacked my yeast pack, so I am pitching tonight.

 

[genes]

Assuming a 5 gallon batch, did you start your boil with 6 gallons?

 

[genes]

I used to have this problem before I figured out the ph of my water is jacked up. Now I use 4.5 and I hit my og every time.

 

[captianoats]

Yes, I had a hair over 6 gallons pre boil. I also had a small boil over as well, but nothing drastic. I ended with just under 5 gallons.

 

[duboman]

Are you milling your own grains or using a different supplier, it's possible you got a bad crush.

Also, is this your own recipe or someone else's and possible not scaled to your system's efficiency?

Finishing under volume would have actually raised your OG, not dropped it.

 

[captianoats]

I usually kill my own, but I let my LHBS do my crush for me this time. It did look a little coarser than when I do it, but I figured they were the experts (maybe I was right after all). I used a recipe I had in a book, but even though there was nothing regarding efficiency, I've never had a problem hitting target before with the book.

As of now I'm blaming a combo of the course grind and the fact my mash temps were closer to 145 than 150, I had trouble keeping mash temps constant with a 90 minute mash. As of now I'm just trying to figure out how to get closer to target without ruining what I already have.

 

[landshark]

I did a Kolsch Saturday and missed my OG by about the same scale. I am just going to let it ferment out and have a low ABV Kolsch. I blame my Temps, as my mash was low and I didn't sparge at 175 like I typically do.

Honey is always good. It will ferment mostly out so it may not be as noticeable in the end.

My other reason my eff was low was I wasn't drinking while brewing like I typically am. My own fault. Won't let that happen again.

 

[captianoats]

So, I decided to go ahead and add malt. Found this on brew your own website.

For our first example, let’s say a recipe has a target pre-boil specific gravity of 1.050. After mashing and collecting the runoff, you find that the actual gravity is 1.040. The volume is 7.0 gallons (26 L). Using the formula for how much extract to add, you would calculate:

Wex = [7 * (50 – 40)] / 45 = 1.56

Wex = [7 * (50 – 40)] / 36 = 1.94

So, you would add either 1.56 lbs. (0.71 kg) of dried malt extract or 1.94 lbs. (0.88 kg) of liquid malt extract to boost your 7 gallons (26 L) of wort from a specific gravity of 1.040 to 1.050.

Hope this helps the next guy that misses target.