Stout high OG

[larkinnm1]

All,

Brewed a stout just now and my OG turned out higher than I expected, 1.057 vs 1.050. I know it sounds silly to complain about higher than expected efficiency, but I would like to know why. I use Beersmith to calculate everything and I am wondering if the program doesn't use the correct potential for the dark grains I used. Below is the recipe with the potential gravity point values from beersmith. plan to throw some PB2 in secondary to make a nice peanut butter stout!

8.75 lbs 2 row - 1.036
1 lb roasted barley- 1.025
.25 lb black malt- 1.025
.5 lb chocolate malt- 1.028
.5 lb flaked oats- 1.037

Nottingham dry yeast
1 oz cluster @ 60 min

1 lb regular PB2 in secondary- 7 days
1 lb chocolate PB2 in secondary- 7 days

Measured OG-1.057
Calculated OG- 1.050
EstimatedFG- 1.010 (hope I get there, want it dry!)

Thanks for replies

 

[chickypad]

The beersmith default ppg are pretty standard. Do you have all your settings dialed in and usually hit your numbers with Beersmith? If that is the case and it's just this batch, was there anything different in your process? Same crush?

 

[slym2none]

It doesn't seem like any mistakes were made (like I have done) to get a higher percentage, so you had maybe a better crush, and your water extraction performed better than you expected.

As long as you don't end up 10 points or so above expected, you probably just had good efficiency. Anything above that, and I'd start looking for a cause, even a miscalculation I made personally (been there, done that.)

 

[larkinnm1]

Yeah my beer smith is pretty fine tuned at this point. I am usually within a point or two of where I expect. Crush my own grain and the settings were the same. Maybe with the darker grains my ph was in a better range (this was the first time I measured mash ph it was 5.3ish) but other than that I have no smoking gun

 

[hottpeper13]

I think your on the rite path with the Ph

 

[oljimmy]

I had a big efficiency jump when I went from 1.25qt/lb to 1.8 qt/lb mash thickness. Is your thickness constant?

 

[larkinnm1]

I had a big efficiency jump when I went from 1.25qt/lb to 1.8 qt/lb mash thickness. Is your thickness constant?

I kept my mash at 1.25 qt/lb as usual. Did you see the increase on mutiple mashes?

 

[chickypad]

My understanding is that pH is much less of a factor in efficiency than other things like crush but seems like that is the only thing standing out right now. Were the batches you dialed the efficiency in mostly pale beers? If your mash ph was 5.3 with that grainbill and no water treatment you probably have a fair amount of alkalinity in your water. I would think you'd need some acid with your lighter beers to be in optimum range.

 

[Calder]

5 gallons, 75% efficiency = 1.057. Doesn't seem too bad to me.

 

[larkinnm1]

Were the batches you dialed the efficiency in mostly pale beers?.

For the most part yeah. Never more than 15% crystal or other specialty grains. Water Chem is something I am just getting into but I did not think it would affect efficiency that much.