OG issue

[Ren06]

Hey guys I have a simple question, does anyone know why my OG is normally different than my estimated OG?
For example I brewed a Belgian saison and the estimated OG was 1.067 but my actual was 1.057 how can I get it to be exactly to estimated one?

** I’m an all grain brewer btw**

 

[kiwipen]

The simple answer is that your brew house efficiency does not match the efficiency in the recipe. What about your volume? Do you get the same amount of wort as the recipe says?
My simple answer is that more grain = higher OG, but it's not the only solution.

How many times have you brewed? It can take some brews to get to know your system and what efficiency you can expect.

 

[Abhishek Dewan]

Temperature plays a big role in efficiency, hope you mashed as per recipe instructions.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

how can I get it to be exactly to estimated one?

Short answer - yes you can. You just need to learn how to count sugar points and adjust your preboil volumes and post boil volumes.

Longer answer - every pound of extract and grain has a potential amount (points) of sugar that it will add to your wort. Recipes use these potentials when estimating preboil OGs by estimating the number of points that would be extracted in a homebrewers setup and then dividing those points by the target preboil volume. As sugars do not boil away, the final OG will be the points / post boil volume. Your realized OG can differ from the recipe for a number of reasons including not extracting the targeted amount of sugars (mash and lauter efficiency) and/or not ending up with the final post boil wort volume. If you want to hit the OG every time, you will need to understand your efficiency relative to the recipe's and adjust your pounds accordingly to end up with same amount of sugars. You can also adjust the preboil points by taking a preboil gravity reading, determining the points and making up shortages with DME or pouring off a little wort and replacing with water. Note if you boil rate differs from the recipe you will miss your OG at the end of the boil, so track you boil rate, adjust the intensity, and like preboil, you can always add sterile water after the boil. While this may sound complicated it really is not. You just need to refractometer and decent volume measurement accuracy. I believe there are online calculators than can help you with the calculations.

 

[marc1]

Short answer - yes you can. You just need to learn how to count sugar points and adjust your preboil volumes and post boil volumes.

Longer answer - every pound of extract and grain has a potential amount (points) of sugar that it will add to your wort. Recipes use these potentials when estimating preboil OGs by estimating the number of points that would be extracted in a homebrewers setup and then dividing those points by the target preboil volume. As sugars do not boil away, the final OG will be the points / post boil volume. Your realized OG can differ from the recipe for a number of reasons including not extracting the targeted amount of sugars (mash and lauter efficiency) and/or not ending up with the final post boil wort volume. If you want to hit the OG every time, you will need to understand your efficiency relative to the recipe's and adjust your pounds accordingly to end up with same amount of sugars. You can also adjust the preboil points by taking a preboil gravity reading, determining the points and making up shortages with DME or pouring off a little wort and replacing with water. Note if you boil rate differs from the recipe you will miss your OG at the end of the boil, so track you boil rate, adjust the intensity, and like preboil, you can always add sterile water after the boil. While this may sound complicated it really is not. You just need to refractometer and decent volume measurement accuracy. I believe there are online calculators than can help you with the calculations.

Tracking gravity and volumes accurately throughout your process will allow you to adjust things to end up where you want.

 

[hotbeer]

If you are using brewing software, then you could just figure out what your efficiency is for your current processes and then adjust the efficiency value in the software to match. You can just change that efficiency number till you see it come up with the same OG as what yours is. Then for your next batch adjust your fermentable quantities to give you the OG of the original recipe.

But it's not a simple answer to your question. There are a lot of possible reasons why your OG didn't match the recipes OG.

Many times just a better crush on your grain will get you a higher SG. You'll have to get your own mill unless you have a local supplier that will mill it finer.

And too much water sparging resulting in too much preboil volume, Or too little evaporation during the boil will leave you at a lower OG than the recipe. So keeping notes on your volumes at every point in your process will let you compare to volumes in the recipes and see where you might be getting off.

Though if you are using recipe kits, sometimes their instructions simplify everything too much and they won't have the info you need to figure out where you went wrong, or what you need to correct.

 

[Ren06]

The simple answer is that your brew house efficiency does not match the efficiency in the recipe. What about your volume? Do you get the same amount of wort as the recipe says?
My simple answer is that more grain = higher OG, but it's not the only solution.

How many times have you brewed? It can take some brews to get to know your system and what efficiency you can expect.

I brewed 3 successful batches and have had no issues but testing to figure out how to improve it. I mill my own grain also and it’s crushed very well.

 

[Ren06]

If you are using brewing software, then you could just figure out what your efficiency is for your current processes and then adjust the efficiency value in the software to match. You can just change that efficiency number till you see it come up with the same OG as what yours is. Then for your next batch adjust your fermentable quantities to give you the OG of the original recipe.

But it's not a simple answer to your question. There are a lot of possible reasons why your OG didn't match the recipes OG.

Many times just a better crush on your grain will get you a higher SG. You'll have to get your own mill unless you have a local supplier that will mill it finer.

And too much water sparging resulting in too much preboil volume, Or too little evaporation during the boil will leave you at a lower OG than the recipe. So keeping notes on your volumes at every point in your process will let you compare to volumes in the recipes and see where you might be getting off.

Though if you are using recipe kits, sometimes their instructions simplify everything too much and they won't have the info you need to figure out where you went wrong, or what you need to correct.

Thank you I’ll try to see how my water sparging goes and if that changes anything.

 

[Kickass]

There are ways to improve/adjust efficiency which will drive your OG. This is what you should focus on.

Chasing some random recipe’s estimated OG is a fool’s errand if you don’t know your system and the one the recipe was designed on.

Learn your systems efficiency and work with that. You’ll be much more consistent.

 

[hotbeer]

Do you have notes about your past brews?

If you care to share the particulars about your process like malt and other fermentable quantities and how much volume of water you used to mash and sparge, then what the resulting amount of wort was. As well, knowing how much wort was put in the boil kettle and what the resulting volume of wort was at the end will help too. And any SG's you might have taken along the way.

While OG matters for the recipe, knowing SG's you had all along the process helps when looking to find issues.

 

[rock_n_herm]

More often than not, I seem to overshoot my OG, but not by large differences. That is not something I worry too much about. My recipes are designed on Brewer’s Friend, which always suggests I update my equipment profile to dial in my numbers, but I feel that I’m generally close enough. Currently, I’m using a brewhouse efficiency of 80% in my recipe design, and I achieve efficiencies from 78-83%. All through my process, I record volumes and specific gravities (SG) so I know how things are likely to end up. It really is a matter of knowing your process and system.

 

[Ninoid]

Not fresh or insufficiently crushed grain, less water evaporation during boil, insufficient mixing during mash, ...
But that is not a problem at all. If you care about having the right number of OG just add a little simple sugar.

 

[bracconiere]

hmm, i'll chime in...

How do you sparge?

What was the effec you were supposed to punch in for the recipe?

i punched it into my software...for what most recipies assume as 75% effec you used 12lbs4oz's grain, for 5 gallons...but only got 63% effec...when i had problems like that i was sparging to fast with a fly sparge....