I brewed a California common the other day and I missed my starting gravity by about .03. I know that many people don't worry a lot about that, but I had really formulated the recipe to hit a certain IBU/OG ratio. Plus, if I would have missed it any more than that, I'd have left the style limits (not a huge deal, but I'd rather brew to the style until I get my recipe down.)
I think the problem must have been poor efficiency on my partial mash. I used 1.3 pounds of Munich and did a mini mash in a Coleman 2 gallon cooler. I tossed the Munich in with 1.5 pounds of 2-row (figured that might help the conversion) and held the temp at 154 for about 30 minutes. Then I cycled the wort a few times and then sparged with a gallon of water at 170. This was my first mini mash.
Long story short, when I took my SG I was lower than my recipe estimate. By this time it was really late at night and I had to get some sleep before work so I pitched my yeast starter in and hit the sack.
For future reference, what do you all do in this situation. I guess I could have brough the volume up to 4.5 gallons and checked my gravity, then slowly added more water until I hit my target (in this case made a 4.7 gallon batch instead of a 5 gallon batch). The other option is boiling up some more LME/DME and adding that. I didn't have any extra malt around, but is it common practice in this situation to add another ~1/3 pound of LME/DME to boost up the gravity?
I think the problem must have been poor efficiency on my partial mash. I used 1.3 pounds of Munich and did a mini mash in a Coleman 2 gallon cooler. I tossed the Munich in with 1.5 pounds of 2-row (figured that might help the conversion) and held the temp at 154 for about 30 minutes. Then I cycled the wort a few times and then sparged with a gallon of water at 170. This was my first mini mash.
Long story short, when I took my SG I was lower than my recipe estimate. By this time it was really late at night and I had to get some sleep before work so I pitched my yeast starter in and hit the sack.
For future reference, what do you all do in this situation. I guess I could have brough the volume up to 4.5 gallons and checked my gravity, then slowly added more water until I hit my target (in this case made a 4.7 gallon batch instead of a 5 gallon batch). The other option is boiling up some more LME/DME and adding that. I didn't have any extra malt around, but is it common practice in this situation to add another ~1/3 pound of LME/DME to boost up the gravity?