Overshot OG

[BrewingTravisty]

Ok, so this is definitely not a complaint but I'm just wondering what I did to get such good efficiency.

My grain bill:
5lbs Red Wheat Malt
4lbs 2-row
1lb honey malt

It was a BIAB mash, first all grain I've ever done and I overshot my temp a bit. I was aiming for 154° and hit 158° but managed to cool it after 10 minutes down to 154 and kept that temp for 60 minutes for the most part (lost a couple degrees towards the last 15 minutes) and then did a quick sparge with 1 gallon of 170°f water and squeezed the bag lightly.

My target OG was 1.051 (using beersmith) and I hit 1.062. I calculated my efficiency to be 91%.

Is there anything specific that any of you see that caused that? The grain crush btw was just however Homebrewsupply crushed it. I'm just trying to learn, so I can keep consistent efficiency.

The wort tasted awesome btw lol so much better than the extracts I've tried just based on the wort.

Edit: also, do you think I got a lot of unfermentable from the short time at 158°? As long as it won't produce any off flavors I don't mind. In fact the extra body and head retention could be nice.

 

[Subdivisions]

What was the volume into the fermenter? Did you account for water lost in the grain and boil off? 91% is attainable. Not by me though

As long as you got the temp back down it's not a big deal. I drop a couple ice cubes in and it comes down in a couple minutes

 

[BrewingTravisty]

What was the volume into the fermenter? Did you account for water lost in the grain and boil off? 91% is attainable. Not by me though

As long as you got the temp back down it's not a big deal.

The volume into the fermenter is 5.5 gallons, and I accounted for water lossed in the boil off as well as I could. I was actually aiming for 5 gallons into the fermenter. So I ended up with more beer and higher ABV than planned for lol I guess I'll just keep doing everything pretty much the same and see if I can keep consistent results.

 

[Gerry_P]

That happened to me recently. I normally get around 75-80% and 2 batches ago I got 92%. My theory: the LHBS guy accidentally gave me 5 pounds of Maris Otter instead of 4 for a 2.5 gallon batch. I'm glad he did though, the beer turned out great.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

That happened to me recently. I normally get around 75-80% and 2 batches ago I got 92%. My theory: the LHBS guy accidentally gave me 5 pounds of Maris Otter instead of 4 for a 2.5 gallon batch. I'm glad he did though, the beer turned out great.

I'm gonna have to start weighing my grains haha not that I'm complaining at all. I did get a quarter ounce extra of CTZ though which should be nice as a little extra flame out lol

 

[Subdivisions]

The volume into the fermenter is 5.5 gallons, and I accounted for water lossed in the boil off as well as I could. I was actually aiming for 5 gallons into the fermenter. So I ended up with more beer and higher ABV than planned for lol I guess I'll just keep doing everything pretty much the same and see if I can keep consistent results.

All I'll say is keep your grain bill the same next time and don't be disappointed if you don't get 91%. It's awful hard to do with a standard grain crush and there may be some other factor (more grain than anticipated like @Gerry_P was talking about) that caused it to happen. If it stays that way please come back and give us the low down though!!!

 

[BrewingTravisty]

All I'll say is keep your grain bill the same next time and don't be disappointed if you don't get 91%. It's awful hard to do with a standard grain crush and there may be some other factor (more grain than anticipated like @Gerry_P was talking about) that caused it to happen. If it stays that way please come back and give us the low down though!!!

I definitely will, and I don't expect it to happen again. I was just hoping someone could tell me how I did it haha. Since this was my first ever all grain, haven't even done a partial mash before, I was half expecting to have a terrible efficiency. So even if it doesn't happen like this next time, I'm pretty happy about it this time lol especially since the wort smelled and tasted amazing. Best yet by far.

 

[JLeuck64]

that's the funny thing I noticed about switching to all grain from extract. All of a sudden my O.G. was ending up higher than with my extract batches. I started using Brewtarget software about the same time I switched to A.G. and the efficiency numbers were WAY up there. My simple solution to that ahem... problem was to make bigger batches to compensate for the higher ABV. So if you have the room in your boil kettle and the fermentor go ahead and shoot for... say 5.5, 5.75 or even 6 gal post boil. If you don't have the extra room then the other alternative would be to start scaling back on the grain bill some. Or... like you experienced with this batch, just run with the higher ABV LOL

As you brew more batches and also the same recipe over and over you will start to see the pattern from what your equipment will do. Plus the software should start to align with you measurements along the way too.

 

[Subdivisions]

I definitely will, and I don't expect it to happen again. I was just hoping someone could tell me how I did it haha. Since this was my first ever all grain, haven't even done a partial mash before, I was half expecting to have a terrible efficiency. So even if it doesn't happen like this next time, I'm pretty happy about it this time lol especially since the wort smelled and tasted amazing. Best yet by far.

My first all grain I got 65% efficiency. Luckily I anticipated that and added some extra grain onto my recipe. I get in the mid 70's now with some more experience and the LHBS crush (which can vary week to week). My next purchase is a grain mill and a large sack of 2 row. Good luck!!

 

[BrewingTravisty]

that's the funny thing I noticed about switching to all grain from extract. All of a sudden my O.G. was ending up higher than with my extract batches. I started using Brewtarget software about the same time I switched to A.G. and the efficiency numbers were WAY up there. My simple solution to that ahem... problem was to make bigger batches to compensate for the higher ABV. So if you have the room in your boil kettle and the fermentor go ahead and shoot for... say 5.5, 5.75 or even 6 gal post boil. If you don't have the extra room then the other alternative would be to start scaling back on the grain bill some. Or... like you experienced with this batch, just run with the higher ABV LOL

That's the funny thing was I miscalculated on the amount of boil off and ended up with an extra half gallon on top of the higher gravity lol I'll definitely run with it, more beer and more ABV. Who could complain? Lol

 

[BrewingTravisty]

My first all grain I got 65% efficiency. Luckily I anticipated that and added some extra grain onto my recipe. I get in the mid 70's now with some more experience and the LHBS crush (which can vary week to week). My next purchase is a grain mill and a large sack of 2 row. Good luck!!

I actually almost bought equipment on Craig's list When I first started that had a grain mill but I decided against it because I didn't know what all was needed lol I could kick myself now, it was cheaper than a new kit and came with more stuff. Pretty much everything you could need. Oh well, live and learn =P

And I figured I would keep the same grain bill even though I might get less efficiency, it was more of a learning experience type of thing. So glad it went the opposite xD

 

[CA_Mouse]

My simple solution to that ahem... problem was to make bigger batches to compensate for the higher ABV. So if you have the room in your boil kettle and the fermentor go ahead and shoot for... say 5.5, 5.75 or even 6 gal post boil. If you don't have the extra room then the other alternative would be to start scaling back on the grain bill some. Or... like you experienced with this batch, just run with the higher ABV LOL

I agree with this. I started out with 5 gallon batches and was getting a huge Starting Gravity. I changed to 5.5 gallons and that compensated for some. Increased it to 6 gallon batches and now I get a better repeatability.

To the OP, grain crush is the one variable that you cannot control unless you get your own mill. I routinely hit 78-83% mash efficiency, getting my mill and conditioning my grain before crushing it gave me an increase from my LHBS crush. I was getting 72-75% having them crush it. I have crushed too finely and gotten stuck sparges (or forgotten rice hulls), those have resulted in better than 90% both times, so it is perfectly possible to get.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

I agree with this. I started out with 5 gallon batches and was getting a huge Starting Gravity. I changed to 5.5 gallons and that compensated for some. Increased it to 6 gallon batches and now I get a better repeatability.

To the OP, grain crush is the one variable that you cannot control unless you get your own mill. I routinely hit 78-83% mash efficiency, getting my mill and conditioning my grain before crushing it gave me an increase from my LHBS crush. I was getting 72-75% having them crush it. I have crushed too finely and gotten stuck sparges (or forgotten rice hulls), those have resulted in better than 90% both times, so it is perfectly possible to get.

Well, I do know the 2 row had a lot of flour in it. I had added half a pound of rice hulls to be safe. I'll probably end up getting a mill soon.

I lost a lot of my wort to the hot/cold break though so I ended up with less beer than expected. About 4 gallons roughly, the bottom of my kettle was pure sludge (I just put it in primary, let it cool over night).

 

[lolcats]

If you don't want this to happen again take a pre-boil gravity reading and top off to reach your targetted pre-boil OG. Easier to do with a refractometer. Or adjust the hydrometer reading by temp.

If you know your boil off rate, you will hit your targetted post boil OG consistently.

For example if you are doing a 2 gallon batch with a 20% boil off rate you should target pre-boil OG of 1.040 if you are boiling for 60 minutes to end up with 1.052

 

[BrewingTravisty]

If you don't want this to happen again take a pre-boil gravity reading and top off to reach your targetted pre-boil OG. Easier to do with a refractometer. Or adjust the hydrometer reading by temp.

If you know your boil off rate, you will hit your targetted post boil OG consistently.

For example if you are doing a 2 gallon batch with a 20% boil off rate you should target pre-boil OG of 1.040 if you are boiling for 60 minutes to end up with 1.052

Thanks! I'll work that into my brewing, that should help me get more consistent results I hope.

 

[BrewingTravisty]

Ok, so I did it again, almost lol just brewed a blonde, 12lbs pils and 2lbs white wheat and I hit an OG of 1.092 which the calculator showed as an efficiency of just over 85%

My mash temp was fairly low starting at 151 and lowered to about 146 for about 10 minutes before I heated it back up to 149. I also mashed for 90 minutes, biab and then sparge with 2 gallons of water at 170. Grain was bought and crushed at LHBS this time.