Missing Target OG Lately

[kjung]

After brewing for the past four years, and always within a couple of points on my OG, suddenly I'm missing by a lot more. My last two brews have missed by 7 and 6 points, respectively. What could I be doing to suddenly cause this?

 

[cvstrat]

Poorly crushed grains, channeling on sparge. Hard to say for sure.

 

[kjung]

I haven't changed anything, tho. That's what's throwing me off. My last beer, before today, was a Dunkelweizen, and I used a 1/2 lb. of rice hulls to help the sparge, so channeling shouldn't have been a problem there.

 

[BrewThruYou]

You're missing 6 or 7 points low?

 

[r8rphan]

I haven't changed anything, tho. That's what's throwing me off. My last beer, before today, was a Dunkelweizen, and I used a 1/2 lb. of rice hulls to help the sparge, so channeling shouldn't have been a problem there.

Do you crush your own grain?

Has your water changed?

 

[kjung]

You're missing 6 or 7 points low?

My target is 1.059, I hit 1.052.

Do you crush your own grain?

Has your water changed?

Yes, I crush my own, and I changed from bottled spring water to tap treated with campden tablets.

 

[bob1852]

Is it possible that your malt has changed and your PPG is lower? Maybe malsters are cutting corners to save costs?

Or, calibrated your thermo/refracto/hyrdo lately and/or mill gap?

 

[beerkrump]

Are these last two the ones with the tap water + campden?

I'd suggest going through your next brew as if it were your first AG. You may be running on autopilot and either speeding through or missing something. (Not saying that you do this, but I know I do, ) Examine the crush, double stir the mash, lauter slowly...

I found that I sometimes catch an issue that I over looked when I do this.

 

[kjung]

Is it possible that your malt has changed and your PPG is lower? Maybe malsters are cutting corners to save costs?

Nah, I doubt that's the issue. My LHBS owner runs the Mid-Country warehouse, and would have said something. He fills us in on EVERYTHING that's going on!.

Or, calibrated your thermo/refracto/hyrdo lately and/or mill gap?

I'm using the old fashioned hydrometer, so I doubt that's it either. Especially with this big of a drop, so suddenly.

Are these last two the ones with the tap water + campden?

Yes, but nothing I've read, anywhere, suggests that campden lowers gravity.


The only thing I can think of is that my mill MIGHT need to be tweaked, but again, with THIS big of a drop, this suddenly..........

 

[beerkrump]

It may not be the campden, but something else in your tap water that's giving you problems. Try the bottled water again and examine your crush. If you efficiency is back up, you may have your answer.

Also, see if you can get a water report. There's a couple of water spreadsheets that help manage your water chemistry and let you know what specific minerals and ions you need to know.

This site is by an HBT member and has a downloadable spreadsheet.

 

[baafowin]

You might check the calibration of your hydrometer. I dropped mine from a few feet into my plastic sink a few weeks ago. It didn't break or anything, but it's now about 4 gravity points off.

 

[bob1852]

Yeah, maybe the paper inside slipped...

 

[kanzimonson]

Confession: I made a voodoo doll of you and I poke it good and hard, once a day.

 

[kjung]

I checked the hydrometer and it's fine. The only other possibilities are the tap water or my mill, both very hard to fathom, IMO. I'll have to look into both, though.

 

[BrewThruYou]

I haven't changed anything, tho. That's what's throwing me off. My last beer, before today, was a Dunkelweizen, and I used a 1/2 lb. of rice hulls to help the sparge, so channeling shouldn't have been a problem there.

My personal experience makes me think that the wheat didn't get crushed well enough for the dunkelweizen.

I've been hitting over my OG by a few points on my last few batches (ever since I got my own mill I've had to gradually raise the efficiency in Beersmith). Expected of 1.050 turns into 1.052, 1.064 is 1.066. But then I brewed a wheat with an expected of 1.071 and got 1.064. My next couple brews were spot on or barely over OG.

I'm attributing it to the mill gap being too large for the wheat kernels. Next wheat beer, I'm going to tighten the gap, grind all the wheat, open the gap back to factory and mill the rest of the malt. I purchased some feeler gauges at Pep Boys for measuring the gap, but I really haven't used them yet.

 

[kjung]

My personal experience makes me think that the wheat didn't get crushed well enough for the dunkelweizen.

I had thought about that, but it doesn't explain missing by 6 points on my EIPA.