Very high OG

[OldGreg]

Hi everyone! Did my first brew last night. It was a 4 gallon BIAB American pale ale. The target OG is 1.056 and I measured 1.080 at 72F from the fermentation bucket. I followed the recipe from “brewing classic styles” adjusting the grain bill to 4 gallons instead of 5 (used 0.8 multiplying factor). When I went to my lhbs, they added 15% by weight to my grain numbers. I also got the grain milled twice. Final actual weight of grain was 12.21 lbs. I started with 5.5 gallons of water and ended with a little over 4 gallons of wort. I used one rehydrated pack of US-05 yeast.

I’m using a 5 gallon fermentation bucket so I didn’t add water to drop the OG because space was limited. I also didn’t realize 1.080 was so high because I’m new (sorry). I pitched the yeast as is. Did I screw up? I haven’t noticed any airlock activity but it’s only rested for about 6 hrs. What should I expect and should I adjust anything?

 

[shanecb]

Assuming the yeast is healthy/etc, it should still ferment fine. You might not see any activity for a day or so, so don't worry about that. It might finish a few points higher than it otherwise would have, but that doesn't mean it won't still be a tasty brew!

 

[mr_stout]

Looks good to me oldGreg.

 

[Roland_deschain]

You made beer!!! Mazal Tov!!!!!!!!

 

[Rob2010SS]

You didn't screw up. You had the grains milled twice and efficiency could have just been higher than planned, both which could have led to higher OG. What you'll end up with is a tasty beer that is higher ABV and as shancecb stated, will end with a tad higher FG.

How did you rehydrate the yeast just out of curiosity?

 

[OldGreg]

Awesome thanks guys!

 

[OldGreg]

I took 120g of wort at 15 min during the boil. Cooled it in a sanitized pot in the fridge till it hit 80F and sprinkled the yeast in. I let it sit for 30min then stirred it. Pitched it when the wort cooled.

 

[OldGreg]

Would adding a second pack of yeast be a good idea? Or should I just let it do it’s thing as is?

 

[Rob2010SS]

I would just let it do it's thing as is. US05 should take off in between the 24-36 hour mark (from my experience anyway). If you don't see activity after 2-3 days, then I would pitch more. But for now, leave it be. I think you're ok.

How did you aerate the wort?

 

[OldGreg]

I would just let it do it's thing as is. US05 should take off in between the 24-36 hour mark (from my experience anyway). If you don't see activity after 2-3 days, then I would pitch more. But for now, leave it be. I think you're ok.

How did you aerate the wort?

The airlock started bubbling! And I dumped the wort from as high as I could hold my pot to the bucket on the floor (5 ft) as slowly as possible. Is that a good method or should I have shaken the bucket also?

 

[OldGreg]

The airlock started bubbling! And I dumped the wort from as high as I could hold my pot to the bucket on the floor (5 ft) as slowly as possible. Is that a good method or should I have shaken the bucket also?

 

[tennesseean_87]

Why'd they add 15% to grain bill? That may be a contributing factor, as welll as better than expected efficiency.

 

[shanecb]

I took 120g of wort at 15 min during the boil. Cooled it in a sanitized pot in the fridge till it hit 80F and sprinkled the yeast in. I let it sit for 30min then stirred it. Pitched it when the wort cooled.

Just FYI for the future.. it's best to rehydrate yeast in sterilized water instead of wort, so they can start building up their cell walls before taking in the various substances that are in wort. You didn't ruin it or anything, though, so don't worry about it in this case. Sounds like fermentation is kicking off!

 

[OldGreg]

I’ll make sure to use sterilized water next time, thanks!

He said to add 15% bc BIAB is less efficient than what the recipe assumes. I think my efficiency was fine though so I may tell them to leave out the +15% next brew. May be due to squeezing the bag thoroughly and twice milled grain.

 

[Rob2010SS]

Just one last comment to make sure you don't make a mistake I did. Do not use distilled water for the reydrating step. I did this once and after 3 days of no fermentation activity, I did some digging and with the help of members on this forum, found that distilled water will kill the yeast.

Congratulations on the brew. Now you just need to wait it out!

 

[OldGreg]

Just one last comment to make sure you don't make a mistake I did. Do not use distilled water for the reydrating step. I did this once and after 3 days of no fermentation activity, I did some digging and with the help of members on this forum, found that distilled water will kill the yeast.

Congratulations on the brew. Now you just need to wait it out!

I’m glad you said that! I probably would have bought distilled water. Should I just boil some tap water and let it cool? And thanks! Waiting is hardest part!

 

[OldGreg]

I’m glad you said that! I probably would have bought distilled water. Should I just boil some tap water and let it cool? And thanks! Waiting is hardest part!

 

[tennesseean_87]

I’ll make sure to use sterilized water next time, thanks!

He said to add 15% bc BIAB is less efficient than what the recipe assumes. I think my efficiency was fine though so I may tell them to leave out the +15% next brew. May be due to squeezing the bag thoroughly and twice milled grain.

What was your efficiency and what was the efficiency of your recipe? You need to know these things to avoid problems in future recipes.

You just made an imperial version of whatever you were trying to make. That's fine, but if you're really looking for a session beer, you want to know you'll make the beer you intend to make. If you track your efficiency with software on the web or something like brewtarget (or purchase beersmith), you will eventually see what kind of efficiency you get on your system with your process and adjust recipes you find.

 

[OldGreg]

The recipe says it assumes a 70% efficiency. I'm unsure of my efficiency. I'm downloading brewtarget now and will see if I can figure out my efficiency.

 

[stz]

Working out extract/efficiency is quite easy. Everybody seems to love software and calculators, but if you know the litre degrees (all malt has a spec sheet) just do it the pen and paper way because it is really quick and easy and the more you do it the faster you can visually gauge and assess a recipe and make adjustments on the fly. It sucks to be talking to somebody and realise that you or they need to go back to a computer and wikipedia. For example...

10kg maris 308L°/kg 3080° total
1kg malted oats 285L°/kg 285° total
1kg light munich 299L°/kg 299° total

Total 3664L°. Litre degrees mean number of potential degrees if mashed in 1 litre so divide this by your pre boil volume in litres to give the maximum specific gravity assuming maximum recovery. I should therefore be able to produce a wort of 1.073 for 50 litres. In reality you leave some behind on the grain though if you sparge well what is left should be no higher than 1.006-1.009.

This is how they determine efficiency. You don't want to get any more efficient unless you can monitor run off pH. Assuming a rough l/kg I'm going to lose 12 litres of 1.006-1.009 behind, a potential extract of 1.0072-1.0108 meaning a final wort of 1.062-1.066 depending on efficiency.

It is really easy to estimate final gravity as well. Just times your starting gravity by your yeasts attenuation. For a strain with 80% attenuation 66*0.8-66 gives a final gravity of 13 or 1.013. This is assuming you mash at 65.5C. If you mash a little hotter or cooler or shorter or longer add a little or take a little off. Per 10% of dark malt, crystal malt etc basically grain with a large proportion of caramelised sugars add another point or slightly less. So if you mashed warm assume 1.014 instead of 1.013. If you had 10% crystal assume 1.015ish instead of 1.014 and so on. You might round up or down depending on experience with certain yeasts, fermentation profiles, ingredients and temperatures.

Estimating colour on the other hand!

 

[doug293cz]

The recipe says it assumes a 70% efficiency. I'm unsure of my efficiency. I'm downloading brewtarget now and will see if I can figure out my efficiency.

Your brewhouse efficiency was in the range of 72% - 75%, which is pretty good. You don't need to boost your grain bills from the recipes, since as you found out, BIAB doesn't really have lower efficiency if done correctly.

Brew on

 

[shanecb]

I’m glad you said that! I probably would have bought distilled water. Should I just boil some tap water and let it cool? And thanks! Waiting is hardest part!

Correct. Boiled and cooled tap water is perfect. The reason you don't want to use distilled water is that it contains no salts, minerals, or anything at all. The osmotic gradient will just kill the yeast. Plus they need those salts and minerals in water to rehydrate properly. I've read 250 -500 ppm hardness is ideal, and useless you have really extreme tap water in either direction it will work perfectly!

 

[mgortel]

Your mash efficiency was probably about 80% based on your grain bill and wort volume. (rough estimate assuming 36 points of gravity potential per lb of grain / gallon water)

This can be explained probably from milling of grains twice.

I typically have an efficiency of 70% on my setup....but yours will be different likely.

Best to determine your efficiency on next batch so you can adjust recipes to suit your setup.

So since your efficiency was higher than the 70% and the LHBS added 15% more grains (why) this would explain the higher OG.

But hey...you made beer...just a bit stronger than expected. I think someone else covered this but you could have boiled some water and diluted the wort with it to achieve the anticipated OG

 

[OldGreg]

Thanks for all the info everyone! I've got a couple more questions though. Will my timeline be good for this stronger style of beer? Any suggestions are welcome! I'm pulling information from all over the place, so I'm not 100% confident in this plan.

Plan:
*2 weeks in primary (plastic bucket) at room temp (60F +/-2F)
*Transfer to glass carboy
*Cold crash at 32-34F until desired clarity (3 days?)
-this is the highest temp i can get my keezer to at the moment
*Transfer to keg and force carb

 

[yankeroo]

Working out extract/efficiency is quite easy. Everybody seems to love software and calculators, but if you know the litre degrees (all malt has a spec sheet) just do it the pen and paper way because it is really quick and easy and the more you do it the faster you can visually gauge and assess a recipe and make adjustments on the fly. It sucks to be talking to somebody and realise that you or they need to go back to a computer and wikipedia. For example...

10kg maris 308L°/kg 3080° total
1kg malted oats 285L°/kg 285° total
1kg light munich 299L°/kg 299° total

Total 3664L°. Litre degrees mean number of potential degrees if mashed in 1 litre so divide this by your pre boil volume in litres to give the maximum specific gravity assuming maximum recovery. I should therefore be able to produce a wort of 1.073 for 50 litres. In reality you leave some behind on the grain though if you sparge well what is left should be no higher than 1.006-1.009.

This is how they determine efficiency. You don't want to get any more efficient unless you can monitor run off pH. Assuming a rough l/kg I'm going to lose 12 litres of 1.006-1.009 behind, a potential extract of 1.0072-1.0108 meaning a final wort of 1.062-1.066 depending on efficiency.

It is really easy to estimate final gravity as well. Just times your starting gravity by your yeasts attenuation. For a strain with 80% attenuation 66*0.8-66 gives a final gravity of 13 or 1.013. This is assuming you mash at 65.5C. If you mash a little hotter or cooler or shorter or longer add a little or take a little off. Per 10% of dark malt, crystal malt etc basically grain with a large proportion of caramelised sugars add another point or slightly less. So if you mashed warm assume 1.014 instead of 1.013. If you had 10% crystal assume 1.015ish instead of 1.014 and so on. You might round up or down depending on experience with certain yeasts, fermentation profiles, ingredients and temperatures.

Estimating colour on the other hand!

Are there any threads on here that delve into calculating efficiency and all that fun stuff a bit deeper? I am newish to brewing and ready to start diving into the more technical aspects.

 

[Kee]

Thanks for all the info everyone! I've got a couple more questions though. Will my timeline be good for this stronger style of beer? Any suggestions are welcome! I'm pulling information from all over the place, so I'm not 100% confident in this plan.

Plan:
*2 weeks in primary (plastic bucket) at room temp (60F +/-2F)
*Transfer to glass carboy
*Cold crash at 32-34F until desired clarity (3 days?)
-this is the highest temp i can get my keezer to at the moment
*Transfer to keg and force carb

Two weeks is probably rushing it a little, depending on yeast count and health, fermentation temperatures, etc. It's best not to use a fixed time schedule but decide that the beer is done when the beer has mostly cleared and the gravity is stable over a few days.