Increasing ABV during active fermentation

[dn151864]

Hey Everyone,

I've been having difficulty with BeerSmith lately. My OG is coming out way lower than what BeerSmith says it should be. I'm going to do some research over the weekend to figure out if it's a setting in BeerSmith or if it is my brewing.

Either way, I brewed a NEIPA yesterday and and the estimated OG should have been 1.065 according to BeerSmith. However, I have been consistently getting 1.040 with these NEIPAs. So, at this point, unless everything goes perfectly I'm going to be drinking a session NEIPA in a couple weeks.

Is there any way that I can increase my ABV during activer fermentation? Can I add priming sugar or some other sugar that won't really change the profile of the beer? If so, how much can I add to a 5 gallon batch?

Thanks!

P.s. if you have any suggestions as to what is going on with BeerSmith let me know. This has been going on with all my beers for a long time now. I started using BeerSmith about a year ago.

 

[SanPancho]

Run your recipe on brewersfriend and see what it says. If the OG agrees with BS then it not the software. Its user error.

Maybe something changed on your equipment settings? Efficiency setting? Water leak in your chiller?

No changes to your mill?

As for this beer you’re gonna need to add sugar somehow. You’ve got the usual suspects - dme or lme (boiled), dextrose, table sugar, honey, corn syrup, etc. Honey could be interesting in neipa.

Dextrose is supposed to be neutral, but you may want to look that up. I vaguely recall it might give flavor in large amounts. Maybe dried extract?

 

[dn151864]

Run your recipe on brewersfriend and see what it says. If the OG agrees with BS then it not the software. Its user error.

Maybe something changed on your equipment settings? Efficiency setting? Water leak in your chiller?

No changes to your mill?

As for this beer you’re gonna need to add sugar somehow. You’ve got the usual suspects - dme or lme (boiled), dextrose, table sugar, honey, corn syrup, etc. Honey could be interesting in neipa.

Dextrose is supposed to be neutral, but you may want to look that up. I vaguely recall it might give flavor in large amounts. Maybe dried extract?

Thanks. I'm so torn on adding sugar to this. I really want the beer to have a higher abv but I don't want the flavor, mouthfeel, or aroma to get messed up.

I'm definitely going to throw my recipe into brewersfriend. I really hope it's a setting in beersmith. I've had 2 people with a lot of experience brewing beer, brew with me, and both of them have never mentioned anything wrong with my brewing. I can almost guarantee I'm not leaking water in during cooling. Ugh!

 

[dn151864]

Well... It must be me! That's frustrating. I just put the recipe into brewersfriend and the estimated OG is supposed to be 1.062. I'm at a total loss. I have no idea what i'm doing wrong...

 

[SanPancho]

Start a new equipment profile on BS and go through the steps. Hopefully that solves any issues about profile settings.

If you compare the old and new and theres no difference, its not BS.

Maybe you shorted some grain?
Is your mill working well? Check the settings on the gap?
You using alot of wheat? Some wheat is small kernal and will have poor crush/efficiency.
Thermometer working right?
Mash ph?


Is this just the neipas or all recipes?

 

[dn151864]

It's been with all my recipes but I thought it was my refractometer so I bought a hydrometer, for this last batch, and they are both showing the same.

I just made a new equipment profile in BS and it didn't change things much.

When I mash I eye ball the water but I'm putting in enough that it makes a "watery oatmeal" looking consistency. This last batch I used about 5 gallons of water and sparged with another 3.

To be honest, I think it might be my homebrew guy. When I looked at the grains he milled they didn't look very crushed. My buddy has a nice mill so I'm going to try his next time I brew. If that works I'm going to buy my own mill and stop having them milled at my homebrew shop.

I am brewing again next weekend, I will try my best to update this.

Update: just put it in my calendar to give an update on this thread after brewing next week. I really want to figure this out.

 

[doug293cz]

If you collect the following data on your next brew, or have it for a previous brew, I can do a detailed diagnostic on your mashing and lautering process. This can tell you where the problem lies. Although I'm guessing that it is most likely a coarse crush giving you low conversion efficiency.

Data needed:

• Grain bill weight
• Strike water volume
• Type of sparge and volume for each sparge step
• Initial runnings SG
• Pre-boil volume and SG
• Post-boil volume and SG

Brew on

 

[dn151864]

If you collect the following data on your next brew, or have it for a previous brew, I can do a detailed diagnostic on your mashing and lautering process. This can tell you where the problem lies. Although I'm guessing that it is most likely a coarse crush giving you low conversion efficiency.

Data needed:

• Grain bill weight
• Strike water volume
• Type of sparge and volume for each sparge step
• Initial runnings SG
• Pre-boil volume and SG
• Post-boil volume and SG

Brew on

OK, I'll definitely do that. I really appreciate your help!

 

[RM-MN]

When I mash I eye ball the water but I'm putting in enough that it makes a "watery oatmeal" looking consistency. This last batch I used about 5 gallons of water and sparged with another 3.

To be honest, I think it might be my homebrew guy. When I looked at the grains he milled they didn't look very crushed. My buddy has a nice mill so I'm going to try his next time I brew. If that works I'm going to buy my own mill and stop having them milled at my homebrew shop.

I am brewing again next weekend, I will try my best to update this.

Update: just put it in my calendar to give an update on this thread after brewing next week. I really want to figure this out.

You've identified the most likely cause and have mentioned the best fix for this. The biggest cause of missing the projected OG is the crush. If someone else controls the crushing you are at their mercy.

 

[Sparkncode]

How's your preboil gravity?
I recently had an issue with og being low but preboil being ok and i found out i had accidentally reverted to an old profile in beersmith with the wrong boil off rate.

I don't see too much variation in efficiency on my herms with a 60m mash between just cracked and really well crushed but i guess thats a benefit of herms.