My OG is too high..Why?

[Bulls Beers]

I've done three all grain recipes and my OG was high on all of them.The last batch was only a few points off. Not bad. This last recipe I did, the OG should have been 1.038. It turned out to be 1.050. I'm not sure what I did wrong. What is the reason for such a high OG?

 

[ChemE]

You might have brewed with greater efficiency than the software you used assumed you would. If software assume you would get 75% brewhouse efficiency (BeerSmith's default value) and you got 90% you would see a higher OG than BeerSmith expected.

That said, you may also have one or more mistakes in your measurements, recipe entry, grain weight, etc which is artificially inflating your brewhouse efficiency. If you give us more information on your last batch we can try to spot any likely culprits.

 

[Bulls Beers]

You might have brewed with greater efficiency than the software you used assumed you would. If software assume you would get 75% brewhouse efficiency (BeerSmith's default value) and you got 90% you would see a higher OG than BeerSmith expected.

That said, you may also have one or more mistakes in your measurements, recipe entry, grain weight, etc which is artificially inflating your brewhouse efficiency. If you give us more information on your last batch we can try to spot any likely culprits.

7lb row
1 lb wheat
1/2lb honey

Mash temp 153 for 90 minutes. Hit all my temps perfectly. Batch sparged with split sparge.
Doughed in with 2.65 gallons. 1st runnings was a little over 1.5 gallons.
1st sparge with 3 gallons for 15 mins and got a little over 2 1/2 gallons.
2nd sparge with 3 gallons for 15mins and got a little over 2 1/2 gallons.
I had just about 7 gallons. Boiled for 90 minutes. Boiled it down to 5.5 gallons Before I pitched the yeast. I checked the OG and it read 1.050. It was suppose to be 1.038.

 

[EvilTOJ]

Sounds like your efficiency is higher than 75%. I don't have beersmith at work, but I'd guesstimate it's around 90%. Geez what a problem to have. Next thing you'll complain about is your wang is too big

 

[Bulls Beers]

Sounds like your efficiency is higher than 75%. I don't have beersmith at work, but I'd guesstimate it's around 90%. Geez what a problem to have. Next thing you'll complain about is your wang is too big

Thanks....

 

[ChemE]

Okay so:

7# 2-row = 7(36) = 252
1# wheat = 1(37 depending on which wheat) = 37
0.5# honey = 0.5(37) = 18.5

8.5# malt = 307.5

5.5 gallons of 1.050 implies:
points = 5.5(50) = 275

and brewhouse efficiency of:
275/307.5 = 89.4% brewhouse efficiency

I'm guessing you either used 1) a finer crush, 2) different (more acidic) water, or 3) a slower sparge on this batch.

 

[ChemE]

I'm wondering about your ability to measure volume though. I just looked at the volume of your runnings and somehow your 8.5# grainbed absorbed 2.1 gallons of water! That is just a bit higher than the often assumed 0.1 gallons/pound.