Not enough boil off

[BehrBrews]

Look for help in my routine to help standardize my results. Today I attempted a partial mash Imperial IPA. Here is the recipe I used

Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 43.08 %
5.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 33.85 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 6.15 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4.62 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.08 %
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 40.7 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 37.8 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (60 min) Hops 12.3 IBU
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 17.3 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
24.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1.50 lb Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 9.23 %
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 200 ml] Yeast-Ale


I had caluclated a 12% boil off and was doing a 90 min boil and started with 8.5 gallons in my keggle. After cooling it was obvious I had to much wort, so I put 6 gallons in 1 carboy and have 1.5 in a different carboy. My questions are- Is this a learn as you go thing and now I know to not start with so much water in boil? My OG is low, what can I do during fermentation to raise the gravity (add Honey or other sugar)? Could I add a different yeast to the other carboy and then mix the 2 together after fermentation?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

Look for help in my routine to help standardize my results. Today I attempted a partial mash Imperial IPA. Here is the recipe I used

Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 43.08 %
5.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 33.85 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 6.15 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4.62 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.08 %
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 40.7 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 37.8 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (60 min) Hops 12.3 IBU
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 17.3 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
24.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1.50 lb Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 9.23 %
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 200 ml] Yeast-Ale


I had caluclated a 12% boil off and was doing a 90 min boil and started with 8.5 gallons in my keggle. After cooling it was obvious I had to much wort, so I put 6 gallons in 1 carboy and have 1.5 in a different carboy. My questions are- Is this a learn as you go thing and now I know to not start with so much water in boil? My OG is low, what can I do during fermentation to raise the gravity (add Honey or other sugar)? Could I add a different yeast to the other carboy and then mix the 2 together after fermentation?

Any advice would be appreciated.

I think it is a learn as you thing. I usually do 60 min boils and lose a gallon an hour indoors and 1.5 an hout on my burner... someone correct me if I am wrong but IMO until you learn your boil off rate wouldn't you be better to UNDERSHOOT and add top off water until you see what you get the first time or two? I mean if you start with 6 gallons and end up with 4.5 you will know next time to start with an extra 1.5 gallons.

 

[Yooper]

I know you didn't ask about the recipe, but that's WAY too much crystal in an IPA! Lots of gypsum too. Is your water lacking that much in calcium and sulfate? Even for a 10 gallon batch, I have never used 24 grams of gypsum!

Anyway.............you'll find that a % boil off is inaccurate. Why? Because in the same pot, with a 5 gallon batch, or a 10 gallon batch, I boil off 1.5 gallons per hour. So, the % is pretty meaningless. It's more a reflection of pot size (wider pots boil off more than tall skinny pots), humidity, and boil strength. I boil off more in the winter when the weather is drier, than in the summer because of the humidity. Next time, plan on starting will a boil volume of 6.5-7 gallons. That's much more reasonable for a 5.5 gallon batch. And as was mentioned, you can always add water afterwards to bring you to 5 gallons if you need to.

As far as raising gravity, you already have enough table sugar in there. I'd leave it be. Adding more honey, table sugar, etc, would only cause the beer to taste even "thinner" in the end. What is your OG, and your IBUs? If the IBUs are way too high, you could definitely boil up some malt extract and add it. But if the OG and IBUs are in reason, I would just leave it alone and have 6.5 gallons of beer in the end.

 

[BehrBrews]

Thanks for the replies and advice. That makes sense about the percentage and that it would be easier to add water than having to much. My last batch require about a gallon and a half of top off water after a 60 min boil so I just went over this time.

YooperBrew, I realized after your reply that was an error for the gypsum I add 2 teaspoon which is only 8 grams, correct? As for the crystal when I put the recipe through brewsmith it gave me an estimated color of 8 srm which was on the bottom end of the style color guidlines. would there be a better way to achieve the color?

My OG was 1.062 the IBUs from brewsmith were high at 189 but in the other brews I have done including the Blind Pig Clone from morebeer were always much darker and caramelly and less hoppy, so I was doing everything I though I could to go for a big hop, and drier beer.

Thanks again for the help I hope to get this squared away in the next couple batches.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the replies and advice. That makes sense about the percentage and that it would be easier to add water than having to much. My last batch require about a gallon and a half of top off water after a 60 min boil so I just went over this time.

YooperBrew, I realized after your reply that was an error for the gypsum I add 2 teaspoon which is only 8 grams, correct? As for the crystal when I put the recipe through brewsmith it gave me an estimated color of 8 srm which was on the bottom end of the style color guidlines. would there be a better way to achieve the color?

My OG was 1.062 the IBUs from brewsmith were high at 189 but in the other brews I have done including the Blind Pig Clone from morebeer were always much darker and caramelly and less hoppy, so I was doing everything I though I could to go for a big hop, and drier beer.

Thanks again for the help I hope to get this squared away in the next couple batches.

Well, two teaspoonfuls of CaSO4 is more like 10 grams, I believe, but that seems more reasonable. I'm not one for adding salts to my water without knowing the water chemistry anyway, but 24 grams seemed way out of whack for any water.

Color can come from other malts- I'm not a fan of too much crystal because not only do you get color, you get flavor. Usually, caramel malt provides too much sweetness in larger quantities. Even one ounce of carafa III can turn a beer dark without flavor, so there are ways to get color without flavor if you want. Caramel malts also mean that there will be unfermentable sugars in there, so you'll have a sweeter beer in the end. For your next recipe, we can help you figure a different way to get color in your beer if a drier beer is your goal.

 

[wyzazz]

Just a thought but I'm going to imagine that the 7lbs of DME added to the volume of water as well. When I do extracts/PM I add most of my DME after mashing/steeping and then add my water to the kettle to get to my proper volumes.

 

[BehrBrews]

Yooper thanks for the pointers I figured I should have put my recipe on here for feedback, I learned alot from my first recipe I posted. Wyzazz this is the first batch were I added all my DME with 15 min left in the boil so that could have raised my volume. I also now wonder if not having the Malt in the boil from the start would affect the boil off rate?

Also, if after 50 min and 2 hop additions, in a bag, realize that I'm going to have too much wort could I remove the hop back and boil longer to get to teh proper volume then add my whirlpool hops? Im sure I would increase my IBU's from any residual hops that escaped from the bag and from the wort concentrating, but would this be a way to fix this in the future (hopefully I don't need it)?

 

[CrustyBrau]

I have been boiling a gallon of extra water on the stove as my wort boils. I shoot for too much boil off, and then if I do indeed need to add some, I have boiling water to add.

 

[wyzazz]

could I remove the hop back and boil longer to get to teh proper volume then add my whirlpool hops? Im sure I would increase my IBU's from any residual hops that escaped from the bag and from the wort concentrating, but would this be a way to fix this in the future (hopefully I don't need it)?

No, that's going to really increase your IBU's and make your beer really bitter.