Problem getting a higher OG

[JPHand1708]

Hello all,

I am a new homebrewer. I am currently working on my fifth batch. One of my most pressing problems is not getting a higher orignal starting gravity. I will explain.

My current batch is a all extract ipa. The ingrediants are as follows
5.6lb Pale Malt Extract LME
1lb Dark Maltg Extract LME
2lb Briess Sparkling Amber DME

1oz NZ Cascade hop pellet @ 60 min
1/2oz NZ Cascade hop pellet @30 min
1/2oz NZ Cascade hop pellet @45 min
1oz Sorachi Hop Pellet @5 min

I am using Wyeast 1318 London Ale III as my yeast

My starting gravity reading was 1.052. Everything went well during the boil, and in fact I have wonderful activity in my plastic primary. However, my concern is, when designing this with the manager of my local home brew store she stated that with the LME and DME that I have I should be getting a beer with a alcohol level around 8.0.

If I am doing my calculation correctly to reach this %8.0 I will need my starting gravity to be around 1.072 or so.

Is there something I am not doing during my boil that is not allowing all usable sugar to be accounted for?
Or, was the employee of the store incorrect about what the starting gravity should be? It seems like my previous batches have had similar problems. The amount of Malt Extract used in the boil there I should have hade a higher OG reading.

Please help, thank you

John

 

[unionrdr]

Looks like you have 8.6lbs of extract in there. In my current brew,I used 10.5lbs of DME/LME & got OG 1.065 in a 6 gallon batch. My usual pale ales use about 6.75lbs of malts to get an OG of around 1.050. With 8.6lbs,it seems to me that a 5G batch would be higher than 1.052. Unless you didn't get the wort & top off water mixed well.
What was the batch volume?

 

[Shooter]

Those ingredients on my 5.5 gallon end of boil calculation should give an OG of 1.056.

 

[JPHand1708]

My batch volume pre-boil was 6 gallons. Post boil and before pitching the yeast was just shy of 5 gallons. I topped off with 2X16 oz bottles of drinking water (that is all I had). Which brought the wort to just over 5 gallons.

 

[unionrdr]

That's about 1.8lbs more than the amount I use in my pale ales. Weird how it comes out only.006 higher on your calculations than my 6.75lbs @ 6G for me. I got a max of 1.050OG in those?...interesting.

 

[JPHand1708]

I found it a bit off too. I the beer I did before this one had a good pound and half less extract and had the same OG. I am wondering if there is something in my process that is producing the lower OG.

If you have any other thoughts let me know

Thanks

 

[TopherM]

The most common mistakes extract brewers make that affects OG is adding too much top off water or not mixing the top off water well enough.

In extract brewing, like you are doing, the efficiency of LME and DME is a set variable, assuming you get it all out of the container, so really the only variables that would affect OG would be water volumes and the amount of LME+DME in the wort.

Even though the instructions may say to ALWAYS top off to the 5 or 5.5 gallon mark, if you don't get every single drop or grain of LME or DME out of the container, you are going to have a slightly lower OG, and might need a little less top-off water.

Also, if you don't MIX THE CRAP out of the top-off water and the wort so that the density of the wort is uniform, you'll get a low OG reading.

So, keep these two variables in mind.

Most of all, however, RDWHAHB!!!!! Weather your beer is 7% or 8% alcohol, it is still going to taste FINE. Many experienced homebrewers that don't care about replicating past brews don't even use a hydrometer, including me, because unless you are determined to control this variable, ABV in itself isn't really a big deal, it's how you get there. Happy brewing!

 

[gr8shandini]

What are you using to measure your volumes? My "back of the envelope" calculations say you should get an OG of about 1.062 with that much extract. The lines on ale pails are notoriously inaccurate, so I wouldn't use those. Also, as was noted earlier, you may not have got a good mix between your wort and the top-off water.

Finally, although it's a bit off topic, why no steeping grains? You'll get much better flavor, body, and head retention if you were to use 9.5 lbs of light *ME to get you in the 1.070ish range and steep some crystal malt and maybe some biscuit to make up the rest.

 

[JPHand1708]

@TopherM
As a new homebrewer I am concerned with my technique. Am I following all directions, am I getting all use out of the ingrediants? I am in full agreement that the beer will be a good tasting one. It smells great already, and i am looking forward to dry hoppoing once i transfer to secondary.
I do want to make sure that if the beer is supposed to be around 7-8% ABV and I am only getting 5.5%, then what I am missing? If my ingrediants will not get me that high then i am perfectly content with what I have. thank you for helping. I am willing to listen to someone that has far more brewing experiance that me.

 

[JPHand1708]

@gr8shandini
if the ale pale is inaccurate then what should i use as a measurement? To answer your question. I want to do a all extract brew. My previouse batches have all been partial boils with some grain and then adding extract. I was wanting to see the difference in how the two may differ. thank you for posting. Any other ideas or thoughts are welcome
thank you

 

[gr8shandini]

if the ale pale is inaccurate then what should i use as a measurement? . . .

I have a "calibrated stick" for my boil kettle. Just use a good measuring cup or any other known source to add a quart or 1/2 a gallon to your kettle / bucket, mark the stick, rinse, and repeat until you have all the marks you need.

Or, if you have an accurate scale, a gallon of water weighs about 8.3 lbs at 70F. You could calibrate the same way, but without the errors involved in repeatedly measuring small volumes.