Overshot OG
- Thread starter Garmoni
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flars
Well-Known Member
Check your hydrometer for accuracy in water at the calibration temperature for your hydrometer before considering diluting the bittering and flavors of the beer. Was the specific gravity sample at the calibration temperature? Are you sure the wort was well mixed before drawing the SG sample.
Extract or all grain? Extract recipes are usually the recipe OG if all the fermentables have been used and the volume in the fermentor is correct.
chickypad
lupulin shift victim
It kind of depends. If you overshot due to being under volume then definitely topping up is a fine idea. If you're volume is on realize that by topping up you're also diluting your IBU's. How much are we talking and what was the full recipe? If just a few pts and volume is on you may just want to leave it be. If you're way off then we need more info to give a better answer.
Edit: good point above, make sure it's really an accurate measurement before you try to fix something that doesn't need fixing
Edit: good point above, make sure it's really an accurate measurement before you try to fix something that doesn't need fixing
whiskeyjack
Well-Known Member
If you are on target with your volume, you could always remove some and add the exact amount of water back. It wont change your volume, but will drop your gravity. Do about a quart or so at a time until you hit your gravity. How much over are you? I hit 79% efficiency today and was expecting 72ish. Said oh well and tossed it in the fermenter
I was just wondering as a general rule. My efficiency has bumped up over 80% and I find a lot of recipies are based on 70% so my last few brews have overshot the gravity readings. I'm going to try to adjust the amount of base grain I use when I brew this weekend.
This is in the all grain and partial mash forum, is it a partial mash or all grain. If partial mash and/or you added any top up water it is just as likely that you didn't get a good mix as it is that your OG is high. The difference between getting 80% efficiency and a recipe made for 70%, IMO, would not make the OG so high that I would do anything to try to correct it.
If you dilute the wort/beer to correct the OG and ABV you will lower the hop bitterness. Considering that the hop bitterness is likely already too low due to the high OG, dilution will just make things worse.
I rarely miss my OG now with my system, but when I did I would top off with RO water to get the OG I wanted, unless it was close enough for my liking.
A higher OG may be ok in many cases, but for me when I am looking at the OG/IBU ratio for bittering and balance, I generally want to be fairly close to my desired OG so I would top up to get there.
A higher OG may be ok in many cases, but for me when I am looking at the OG/IBU ratio for bittering and balance, I generally want to be fairly close to my desired OG so I would top up to get there.
For me it is about 10 points. So for a 1.050 it could be anywhere from 1.040 to 1.060 and I wouldn't mess with it. But I am usually within a couple of points.
So over shooting by 5-7 isn't a big deal? Reason I ask is that my efficiency has increased too.. was going to dial it in on Brew Smith to compensate (per a thread I started not too long ago). Maybe I'll just leave it as is.
If you are consistently overshooting by a similar amount, then adjust your Beersmith profile to take that into account. The only thing that should change would be the amount of base malt since you are getting more sugars from that. All other grains remain the same.
It is as big of a deal as you want to make it. I have not made adjustments despite this much error and still get beer. However, I can tell the flavor is not what I intended. If you want to get a specific result you need to be fussy. If all you want is beer then you can be casual with the recipe and process. Be sure to stay fussy with the sanitation no matter how casual you are with the rest.
5 to 7 points and you are worried? I've had a 20 point overshoot and still found the beer to be quite drinkable, although it doesn't take nearly as much to notice the alcohol. I didn't believe the first batch so I did another and still got the 20 points so I then adjusted the amount of base malt to account for the extra.
