Original Gravity
- Thread starter Copper502
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pointcity-homebrew
Crafting openers 1 at a time
I wouldn't sweat 4 points, I missed mine by 5 on the last batch, wanted 1.056 ended up with 1.051.
I am still trying to dial my new rig in, only brewed on it twice.
You can always keep some DME on hand just in case your gravity is way off.
One more thing, be sure that you are checking your gravity with a calibrated hydrometer, you can google how to it is pretty simple. You could be closer or farther from you expected OG.
RAHABB
I am still trying to dial my new rig in, only brewed on it twice.
You can always keep some DME on hand just in case your gravity is way off.
One more thing, be sure that you are checking your gravity with a calibrated hydrometer, you can google how to it is pretty simple. You could be closer or farther from you expected OG.
RAHABB
I agree. I would not worry over 4 points.
Hard to say what could've caused it based on the info, but I doubt it will be a huge deal. One thing I would do (if you don't already) is document and track your OGs over a series of batches so you can get your equipment dialed in as soon as possible.
TravelingLight
Well-Known Member
When you calculated your gravity (assuming you used a calculator online) what did you set your efficiency at? When I first started brewing AG, I was missing my gravities similar to yours. Then someone told me to change the efficiency from the preset 75% to 65%. Once I started doing that I basically nailed it every time.
It just means that your efficiency is a little lower than the recipe assumed. It takes a few batches to dial in what your typical efficiency will be. So long as you don't change the process, efficiency should be pretty consistent.
We brewed our biggest all grain beer to date this weekend (OG = 1.100) and the efficiency was a little lower than the 79% we always come within a percent of. Next time we'll know on big beers to lower the efficiency a bit when formulating a recipe.
When we brew something with wheat, it always comes in a few points lower due to the crush (too lazy to crush it separately from the barley malts). We now compensate by adding a bit more of it.
I've found that the length of the sparge doesn't have a huge impact. We fly sparge and shoot for about 45 minutes but 30 and 60 minutes have given us the same results.
Edit to add, 4 points in a 1.06'ish beer is about half a percent alcohol. You can probably make up the 4 points by boiling a little longer or more vigorously, if you really want to.
We brewed our biggest all grain beer to date this weekend (OG = 1.100) and the efficiency was a little lower than the 79% we always come within a percent of. Next time we'll know on big beers to lower the efficiency a bit when formulating a recipe.
When we brew something with wheat, it always comes in a few points lower due to the crush (too lazy to crush it separately from the barley malts). We now compensate by adding a bit more of it.
I've found that the length of the sparge doesn't have a huge impact. We fly sparge and shoot for about 45 minutes but 30 and 60 minutes have given us the same results.
Edit to add, 4 points in a 1.06'ish beer is about half a percent alcohol. You can probably make up the 4 points by boiling a little longer or more vigorously, if you really want to.
Measuring gravity without measuring your volume accurately is sort of meaningless. Perhaps your volume was high, hence your gravity would in turn be low.
Temperature also will effect gravity readings, higher temps will yield incorrect low gravities, there are correction factors that can be used as your hydrometer is likely calibrated at 68 degrees.
4 points is not a big deal IMO, and could be inaccurate for several reasons.
Temperature also will effect gravity readings, higher temps will yield incorrect low gravities, there are correction factors that can be used as your hydrometer is likely calibrated at 68 degrees.
4 points is not a big deal IMO, and could be inaccurate for several reasons.
