OG, ABV, and such

[ARaces23]

I'm tucking into my 7th brew day Saturday and I am desperate to find how to heighten my OG, in turn having a higher ABV.
My previous brews have all missed OG, thus having a lower ABV and being out of balance in general.
I'm hopefully brewing an IIPA, so a low number would be bad. How do I increase sugars, fermentables without going too far off recipe?
Thanks!
Chris

 

[25518]

Man. I'd love to know too.

 

[speedyG]

I know Austin homebrew sells a 1% ABV boost when you buy their kits. Find out what is in the boost Andy buy that separately.

 

[ratbastrd05]

Are you doing extract or all-grain? Either way, you could just add a lbs or two of dry extract. Since it's a IIPA, adding some hops to make sure it balances isn't all that risky. Just plug it in a program to see if you have enough IBUs.

Alternatively, you could add a lbs or two of honey, which I think is nearly 100% fermentable and if you add it around 30 in the boil shouldn't leave much residual taste. Or, do it like a Belgian brew and just add some plain table sugar to get the high ABV you're looking for, should ferment out nearly 100% too.

 

[chickypad]

As was mentioned it's pretty simple, to increase your OG and ABV you need to add fermentables - grain, extract, sugar, etc. I guess my main question though would be why/how are you missing your OG? If you're extract brewing it's almost impossible to miss by much if your volumes and weights are correct. It would be much more common to have a false reading - i.e. mixing issue from topping off, didn't measure volumes accurately, etc. If all grain then I assume you are talking about an efficiency problem, so may be some things folks could help you trouble shoot there. I'd get those issues straightened out first and then work on altering recipes.

 

[unionrdr]

An Imperial IPA is higher gravity than a regular one to start with. They seem to be 7 or 8 percent to start with. That's pretty good already.

 

[ARaces23]

I'm doing all grain. LHBS thinks I'm mashing too high? Usually 162°. So, there is one efficiency issue possibly. Was using dry yeast, they had me switch to liquid.
For instance I've been hitting 5.8% instead of estimated 6.6%. FG was almost right on estimate, but OG was well short
I like the idea of honey, but that seems like it would impart some flavor or consistency. May go that route though in the end.
Any other thoughts? Anybody live close? Haha

 

[unionrdr]

Mash temp of 162F is def too high. Cut it 10 degrees to 152F,& you'll get higher efficiency,& thus higher OG.

 

[chickypad]

I'm doing all grain. LHBS thinks I'm mashing too high? Usually 162°. So, there is one efficiency issue possibly. Was using dry yeast, they had me switch to liquid.
For instance I've been hitting 5.8% instead of estimated 6.6%. FG was almost right on estimate, but OG was well short
I like the idea of honey, but that seems like it would impart some flavor or consistency. May go that route though in the end.
Any other thoughts? Anybody live close? Haha

Is that your strike temp or the actual mash temp? Even so, I think a mash temp of 162 would affect the final gravity more than OG (from Kai's experiements on braukaiser), so there may be other stuff going on.

If efficiency is the issue then you would up the grainbill, not add honey or other sugars as that would alter the character of the recipe and may not be appropriate for style. But we should be able to help with your efficiency if you spell out exactly the steps in your process. Give us a recipe and your exact readings. Also double check all the calibration on your thermometer, hydrometers. How are you measuring your volumes? Are you letting the sample cool before measuring OG? I find that the correction tables don't work well above about 85-90 degrees.

 

[LovesIPA]

If you're actually mashing at 162, then yes, it's too high. I mash my IPA's at 148 but I've had some tell me that's too low, others say it's right.

There is a simple way of correcting your OG using malt extract.

- Pre-boil, measure the gravity (be sure to correct for temperature, or even better, cool the sample in a water bath to get it down to 60*)
- Measure the volume of the pre-boil wort.
- From these two numbers, you can calculate the total GU (gravity units). This is the significant part of the gravity reading times the volume. So if you have 7.8 gallons of 1.039 wort, multiply 39 by 7.8 to get 304.2 total GU.
- Divide 304.2 by your post-boil volume. If you're targeting 5.5 gallons, divide 304.2 by 5.5 to get 55. This means you will end up with 5.5 gallons of 1.055 wort post-boil.

How short are you from your target? If you are shooting for 1.068, you need to add some extract to correct.

(Total gravity (target) - total gravity (actual)) / Extract/lb value

DME yields 45 GU per pound. LME yields 38 GU per pound.

So the total gravity (target) is 5.5 * 68 (remember, we are trying for a 1.068 wort).

5.5 * 68 = 374

Total gravity (actual) is our calculated final GU * estimated post-boil volume. This is 304.2.

(374 - 304.2) / 45 means we need to add 1.55 lbs of DME, or 1.84 lbs of LME.

This is all from the book "Designing Great Beers", chapter 6. I paraphrased, so there are no copyright issues.

 

[unionrdr]

I goofed on reply #8. I should've said it would likely raise your FG. Higher mash temps give more unfermentable,long chain sugars that give color & flavor. There is a way to calculate how much. I use BS2 so it sems to do all that.

 

[LLBeanJ]

Sounds like you have an efficiency problem, which means you need more grain to match your system to expected outcomes. This is where brewing software like BeerSmith can help a lot. It can help you figure out what your current efficiency is and how much more grain would be needed to bring it in line with OG expectations. Once you figure out where your actual efficiency falls, then you can take steps to improve it if necessary.

As others have already mentioned, mashing at 162° is going to be high for all but a small handful of styles. Assuming that's your actual mash temp and not strike temp, but the fact that your FGs are coming out as expected suggests to me that 162 is your strike temp, not mash temp. As far as at what temp you should be mashing, that depends on the recipe, but most recipes will fall into the 150-154 range.

 

[Stauffbier]

I'm doing all grain. LHBS thinks I'm mashing too high? Usually 162°. So, there is one efficiency issue possibly.

We definitely need to clear up whether 162 is strike temp or mash temp before we can help.

Also.. Does the LHBS crush your grain, or do you have your own mill and crush yourself?

 

[ARaces23]

No that is mash temp. I've been getting strike to 170°. So further crap. Ah, the trial & error of homebrew.
The LHBS does crushing, but I'm in process of building my own. So next time on, it'll be me.
I have some leftover DME, so I could go that route, but when to add it? Also, I'd rather do it right than fudge and correct.
12# 2 row
2# crystal 20
1# Am Victory
.5# special roast
Is grainbill FYI
Thanks

 

[rodwha]

Add it at flameout.

 

[ARaces23]

@rodwha add 1# at flameout? I'm thinking this route, I'll add updated info after Sat.
And yes, to the previous Q, I do cool before taking readings.

 

[rodwha]

1 lb may be a bit much. Do you have a brew calculator?

 

[rodwha]

But it may be good...

 

[rodwha]

Is this a 5 gal brew?

 

[ARaces23]

5.5 gallon, been playing around with fermenticus

 

[Stauffbier]

No that is mash temp. I've been getting strike to 170°. So further crap. Ah, the trial & error of homebrew.
The LHBS does crushing, but I'm in process of building my own. So next time on, it'll be me.
I have some leftover DME, so I could go that route, but when to add it? Also, I'd rather do it right than fudge and correct.
12# 2 row
2# crystal 20
1# Am Victory
.5# special roast
Is grainbill FYI
Thanks

Get your mash temp down to +/- 152F, and either have the LHBS double crush your grains, or when you have a mill do a finer crush than what the LHBS does. I'd be willing to bet that your efficiency will go way up after that.

 

[ARaces23]

I know there are many apps/software out there. Ive been reading through the threads, and I'd like to try before I buy something, but I'll take someone else's word. I'll be using my iPhone/iPad exclusively.
So which route should I go? Not digging this fermenticus, it's more log than anything. I know beer smith has full version coming at some point...but that doesn't help me now. So...beer alchemy or ibrewmaster?

 

[chickypad]

What were the recipes on your last couple batches and what were the OG's? We still don't know where your efficiency is so it's hard to advise you how to alter the recipe. If you can fit it in your mash tun I would add a few lbs of grain to adjust your recipe rather than DME. You can keep the DME on hand in case you're off target after mashing.

Can't help you with advice on those programs I use Beersmtih.

 

[ARaces23]

What were the recipes on your last couple batches and what were the OG's? We still don't know where your efficiency is so it's hard to advise you how to alter the recipe. If you can fit it in your mash tun I would add a few lbs of grain to adjust your recipe rather than DME. You can keep the DME on hand in case you're off target after mashing.

Can't help you with advice on those programs I use Beersmtih.

I don't have those recipes handy, but I gave the OG examples earlier. Missed last one by .008, previous one was .011. So...progress?

 

[rodwha]

I've been using hopville.com, which will become a part of brew toad soon. It's been OK, but most of my recipes have come up over OG... It's free.

 

[ARaces23]

I've been using hopville.com, which will become a part of brew toad soon. It's been OK, but most of my recipes have come up over OG... It's free.

Kinda liking it, full page loads fairly quickly even without an app

 

[Demus]

What efficiency does your recipe assume? With that info, plus your readings, you can figure out how much more grain to add to hit the target. As you get better you may start having the opposite problem, but that's easier to remedy. That's why I love my refractometer; I just mash a little extra grain and stop the sparge when I have what need. There are MANY factors in mash efficiency. Water profile, temperature, pH, grain bill, crush size, sparge technique, and prolly a few more I forgot. It's smart to track your results, and tweak something each time till you get it sorted out...

 

[rodwha]

I like it too. Easy to use. I've been using it for quite some time. But my results are often (85%) higher than expected. But as Demus stated there could be reasons for that.

 

[ARaces23]

What efficiency does your recipe assume? With that info, plus your readings, you can figure out how much more grain to add to hit the target. As you get better you may start having the opposite problem, but that's easier to remedy. That's why I love my refractometer; I just mash a little extra grain and stop the sparge when I have what need. There are MANY factors in mash efficiency. Water profile, temperature, pH, grain bill, crush size, sparge technique, and prolly a few more I forgot. It's smart to track your results, and tweak something each time till you get it sorted out...

Thanks Demus. 74% is assumed in recipe. From a friend's recent brew I enjoyed.
So, should I always get a grain excess above grainbill? My LHBS is 40 minutes away, so if I'm going to be topping off, I'll need to plan ahead. I have a random mixed bag of stuff left over from a brew day in the fall. 2 3# bags of DME, a de-bittered chocolate, and an unlabeled bag of malts.

 

[rodwha]

I'd certainly up the grains until it's all figured out.