Low OG

[jwyz1960]

I just brewed a all grain batch. After the boil and cooling to 75F I added yeast.
My OG was 1.032, What is wrong? please assist with my concern.

Thanks'
Jerry

 

[kh54s10]

A lot more information will be needed.
Recipe and procedure for sure.

 

[jwyz1960]

6 pound 2 row
1 Pound rice solids I made from boiled cooked rice
1 pound flaked maize
This all went in to my mash tum at 170F for 1 hour
I sparged for 50 minutes to collect 5.5 gallons wort.
boiled for 1 hour adding .5 oz Liberty hops at start of boil and .5 oz at 1 minute remaining.
Yeast was White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast.
took gravity reading in fermenter bucket and got a reading of 1.032

 

[TromboneGuy]

6 pounds of 2-row sounds low for a 5.5 gallon batch. I use twice that much for a 6 gallon batch.

Also, 170 is high for mashing - you won't get much starch conversion that hot. 170 is a mash-out temp to STOP enzyme activity.

 

[kh54s10]

As close as possible I plugged your ingredients into Beer Calculus.

It gives: OG= 1.038
FG=1.009
IBU= 6.4
SRM= 3
ABV= 3.9

The closest style I found was Blonde Ale but the bitterness (IBU) should be at least 15.
More hops and/or boiled longer.

Looks like a BMC lite.

 

[JuanMoore]

This all went in to my mash tum at 170F for 1 hour

170 is a mash-out temp to STOP enzyme activity.

Yep. Mash temps are generally between 148F and 158F. Anything above ~162F will completely kill the beta amylase enzymes, and slow the alpha amylase enzyme activity to a crawl. A lot of the gravity points you got may have been unconverted starches from the rice and maize. Any chance you did a conversion test? You actually got ~61% efficiency if it did convert. What OG were you shooting for?

 

[jwyz1960]

Yep. Mash temps are generally between 148F and 158F. Anything above ~162F will completely kill the beta amylase enzymes, and slow the alpha amylase enzyme activity to a crawl. A lot of the gravity points you got may have been unconverted starches from the rice and maize. Any chance you did a conversion test? You actually got ~61% efficiency if it did convert. What OG were you shooting for?

I converted a LME recipe with help from my local brew shop. 1.044 was my goal

 

[jwyz1960]

As close as possible I plugged your ingredients into Beer Calculus.

It gives: OG= 1.038
FG=1.009
IBU= 6.4
SRM= 3
ABV= 3.9

The closest style I found was Blonde Ale but the bitterness (IBU) should be at least 15.
More hops and/or boiled longer.

Looks like a BMC lite.

Thank for the info. Is this batch scrap? What do you think?

Thanks'
Jerry

 

[kh54s10]

Thank for the info. Is this batch scrap? What do you think?

Thanks'
Jerry

I would say no to scrapping it. It will not be what you intended. It will be a sweet/malty beer with a low alcohol level but it might be nice. Only letting it go will tell. To get some more flavor in it you might try dry hopping.

 

[jwyz1960]

I would say no to scrapping it. It will not be what you intended. It will be a sweet/malty beer with a low alcohol level but it might be nice. Only letting it go will tell. To get some more flavor in it you might try dry hopping.

Thank you.
Being new this please elaborate on dry hopping.

 

[Bradinator]

I highly recommend reading this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/The_Theory_of_Mashing

It really cleared things up for me when I moved into All grain. I did a mash at too high of a temperature as well for one of my first and ended up with a grain soup, which I ended up dumping. Yours looks much more salvageable then mine was though.

Drying hopping is adding hops to a beer (usually into the secondary) after the wort has been cooled. Because you are not boiling the hops, you will not get any of the bitterness, just to aroma and flavour. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Dry_hopping

 

[kh54s10]

You can add hops to your primary fermenter after fermentation is finished. Usually a week before bottling. Or if you are using a secondary, then the same, add about a week before bottling. You can use a mesh bag to contain the hops, just make sure it is not too tight as to keep the beer from soaking all the way through. I plan to do my first dry hopping on my next batch so I cannot advise on how much or what type would be best. I am still researching that.

 

[jwyz1960]

Thank you for the information. I will read it well.