Low OG

[Erik the Anglophile]

I am making a Porter, sparging atm. But i didn't adjust the efficiency for a higher gravity(1.065) aiming for 52 in pre boil gravity. Is light baking syrup something i could add in boil to raise gravity if it comes out way too low? The cane sugar was gone. Making a 10 l batch if that matters.

 

[McKnuckle]

That's not a familiar product to Americans. Looking it up shows that it's a Swedish syrup consisting of beet sugar and (maybe, for some brands) salt. Supposed to be similar to British golden syrup like Lyle's. Sounds fine for bumping up gravity, and would be traditional for an English recipe as well to include some kind of caramel/dark sugar.

 

[VikeMan]

I am making a Porter, sparging atm. But i didn't adjust the efficiency for a higher gravity(1.065) aiming for 52 in pre boil gravity. Is light baking syrup something i could add in boil to raise gravity if it comes out way too low? The cane sugar was gone. Making a 10 l batch if that matters.

Adding a sugary syrup will increase your gravity and ABV. Note that if you add enough to get to your original target gravity, you'll probably end up with a higher ABV than the original recipe expected, assuming that the sugars in the syrup are mostly fermentable. And the body will be thinner.

If you have any DME (or even, ack, LME), that would be better choice to replace the missing gravity points.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Adding a sugary syrup will increase your gravity and ABV. Note that if you add enough to get to your original target gravity, you'll probably end up with a higher ABV than the original recipe expected, assuming that the sugars in the syrup are mostly fermentable. And the body will be thinner.

If you have any DME (or even, ack, LME), that would be better choice to replace the missing gravity points.

We're talking maybe about 40-50g here to bump it up like 0.20 if the pre boil gravity is much too low, if it is just a little bit lower I don't mind.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

That's not a familiar product to Americans. Looking it up shows that it's a Swedish syrup consisting of beet sugar and (maybe, for some brands) salt. Supposed to be similar to British golden syrup like Lyle's. Sounds fine for bumping up gravity, and would be traditional for an English recipe as well to include some kind of caramel/dark sugar.

What I expected will add some if the pre boil gravity is way off.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Nvm, the gravity is pretty much where I wanted it. I thought the mash and lauter efficiency would drop more tbh...

 

[VikeMan]

Nvm, the gravity is pretty much where I wanted it. I thought the mash and lauter efficiency would drop more tbh...

It's also possible that mash efficiency did drop more than you think. Did you measure your actual volume that reached the kettle? I mention this because not taking actual volume into account is probably the most common cause of misunderstanding about mash efficiencies achieved. (With pre-boil gravities/volumes, this can happen when the amount of total water needed for the mash/sparge was not quite dialed in.)

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

The kettle volume was about 0.7 litre more than calculated, but then I remembered I forgot to adjust the pre boil vol in the recipe for a 90 min boil. The actual volume was about correct for a 90 min boil though so it's all good. I suppose this means the water absorbed by the grain was not as much as predicted, and I should cut back a little bit on the sparge water, correct?

 

[VikeMan]

The kettle volume was about 0.7 litre more than calculated, but then I remembered I forgot to adjust the pre boil vol in the recipe for a 90 min boil. The actual volume was about correct for a 90 min boil though so it's all good. I suppose this means the water absorbed by the grain was not as much as predicted, and I should cut back a little bit on the sparge water, correct?

It might mean that grain absorption was overestimated, or that dead space or transfer losses (if you have any) were overestimated. But ultimately, yes, the answer to too much wort is to use use less water.

 

[schmurf]

I always think of the light syrup as equivalent to lyles golden syrup, almost same amount of salt in it too.