Stuck sparge resulting in higher OG?

[Hoppy29]

I apologize in advance if this topic has been posted before, I did a search and did not find anything that pertains to this.

I brewed a SMaSH beer(All Grain) with citra a while ago using beersmith2.2 and nailed my target OG and FG. Lots of friends loved it so I decided to brew it again. I followed my same recipe exactly. The first brew I ended up with an OG of 1.058. The most recent brew of this resulted in an OG of 1.064. I have racked my brain and the only thing I can come up with is on the second brew while batch sparging I ended up with a stuck sparge on both of the sparges. It took me a while on both to get it free flowing again. Would this addition of time allow more fermentables to enter into the wort causing a higher OG? I nailed all of my mash and sparge temperatures and volumes, so I know everything between the two brews were the same other than the stuck sparges on the second batch. It is driving me nuts, anyone have any input? Also with the difference of OG's will there be a noticeable difference in taste? Obviously it will be higher in ABV, first batch was 6.3, looks like this batch will be 7.2 depending on the FG.

Like I said the only thing I can think of here is that with having two stuck sparges I ended up with more fermentable sugars causing higher abv.

 

[brewkinger]

Refractometer or hydrometer to test the gravity?

 

[RM-MN]

I apologize in advance if this topic has been posted before, I did a search and did not find anything that pertains to this.

I brewed a SMaSH beer(All Grain) with citra a while ago using beersmith2.2 and nailed my target OG and FG. Lots of friends loved it so I decided to brew it again. I followed my same recipe exactly. The first brew I ended up with an OG of 1.058. The most recent brew of this resulted in an OG of 1.064. I have racked my brain and the only thing I can come up with is on the second brew while batch sparging I ended up with a stuck sparge on both of the sparges. It took me a while on both to get it free flowing again. Would this addition of time allow more fermentables to enter into the wort causing a higher OG? I nailed all of my mash and sparge temperatures and volumes, so I know everything between the two brews were the same other than the stuck sparges on the second batch. It is driving me nuts, anyone have any input? Also with the difference of OG's will there be a noticeable difference in taste? Obviously it will be higher in ABV, first batch was 6.3, looks like this batch will be 7.2 depending on the FG.

Like I said the only thing I can think of here is that with having two stuck sparges I ended up with more fermentable sugars causing higher abv.

Yes. Your grains may not have been milled very fine and the additional time might have also increased the conversion as well as allowing more sugars to be leached out of the grains.

 

[hottpeper13]

It sounds like your grain got milled a little finer then before. I got ~ 10 gu more out of the same recipe after I got my mill dialed in. Also I've noticed that some base grains give more then others. And, ya 10 gu's is gonna make a flavor difference in a big way.

 

[Hoppy29]

Test gravity with Hydrometer.

What can I expect? More alcohol up front?

 

[Jsmtg32]

Test gravity with Hydrometer.

What can I expect? More alcohol up front?

Check to see If your Hydrometer is accurate. Stick it some distilled water at the temp. that it was originally calibrated at. Also the temp of your wort can affect the reading of hydrometer when reading was taken.

 

[RM-MN]

This beer might just be a stealth hammer beer, one that will hit you by surprise. You probably won't really notice the flavor difference.

 

[Hoppy29]

I did check hydrometer and it is still reading correctly. Wort temperature was 65 degrees when checked.

I did use about 3 ounces of hops during whirlpool so I doubt the extra hop residue effected the reading.

 

[brewkinger]

I did check hydrometer and it is still reading correctly. Wort temperature was 65 degrees when checked.

I did use about 3 ounces of hops during whirlpool so I doubt the extra hop residue effected the reading.

Ok, so that covers what I was thinking.


The hop residue won't matter unless you have a $h!t ton of it and it sticks to hydrometer.

So I'm going to go with stuck sparges being a positive impact this time.
Maybe not only because the longer mash time, but perhaps a better than usual sparge and rinse of the grains.
I would bet that you stirred the living bejeezus out of those grains trying to get them unstuck.
More stir = more sugars free = more gravity.

Well done sir! !!

 

[Hoppy29]

Ok, so that covers what I was thinking.


The hop residue won't matter unless you have a $h!t ton of it and it sticks to hydrometer.

So I'm going to go with stuck sparges being a positive impact this time.
Maybe not only because the longer mash time, but perhaps a better than usual sparge and rinse of the grains.
I would bet that you stirred the living bejeezus out of those grains trying to get them unstuck.
More stir = more sugars free = more gravity.

Well done sir! !!

You are right. I did stir the living bejeezus out of it to get it unstuck...TWICE. It all makes sense now. Note taken.