Missed my target OG will I notice this difference??

[BillTheSlink]

I was doing a Bass Clone from AHBS. According to Beersmith with my 1% alcohol boost my OG should have been 1.058. It was 1.050. I was just wondering if this was a big deal or not as far as tasting it. I know what I did wrong in that I was boiling in the dark and didn't boil rapidly enough to evaporate enough down, as I was only supposed to get 5.25 gallon out of the fermenter and it looks more like 5 1/2- 5 3/4 gallon. Didn't leave much head space in my six gallon better bottle. Needless to say it is outside since the weather is conducive in case of a gooey kaboom.

 

[bertmurphy]

5.5 gallons of 1.050 wort should be fine in the carboy unless you're fermenting at like 80F. Next time just add some extract to hit your target OG. Were you boiling with a lid on the kettle by chance? That would of course affect your boil off percentage.

 

[frazier]

You'll still end up with good beer; just more of it.

 

[BillTheSlink]

5.5 gallons of 1.050 wort should be fine in the carboy unless you're fermenting at like 80F. Next time just add some extract to hit your target OG. Were you boiling with a lid on the kettle by chance? That would of course affect your boil off percentage.

No I never use a lid. I don't think you should do that because from what I have heard you want to drive off DMS and a lid would prevent that. It is that just normally I get a violent "volcano" boil going and lose about 15% to evaporation and that was what I had counted on. I was in the dark last night due to the short days and couldn't see the pot well enough to get it adjusted right. I know you can add extract but I didn't have any handy at the end of the boil last night. It really was a cluster &%$# in the dark. I already have airlock activity though. I pitched at 80 and it has cooled to around 67.

 

[logan3825]

Your beer will probably end up a little thinner than you originally anticipated.

 

[ajf]

If you ferment down to 1.012, then the OG of 1.050 should be just right for a Bass.
I think an OG of 1.058 is much too high for a beer like that.

-a.

 

[bertmurphy]

ajf, I have that binary pun t-shirt, love it except for how many times I have to explain what it means.