Very High OG!!

[Davida]

I did a BIAB Pale with some West coast hop IPA flavors yesterday. I am rather new to BIABing. This is my 5th batch.
First off, I messed up by not accounting for temperature when I measured my first running.
Gravity was low (or so I though) so I added some DME after flame out to give it a boost.
I was shocked to find the gravity on my Tilt at 1.083 at 70 degrees once I got the beer cooled in the fermenter.
I used one pack of S-05 yeast hydrated before pitching.

This morning no activity. Gravity was still 1.083.

My first instinct is to draw off some of the beer from the fermenter and replace with sterile water to reduce the gravity and re-pitch.
Target OG should be around 1.060.
Any thoughts?

 

[JohnSand]

I have adjusted gravity in the fermenter successfully. While homebrewers don't often add water, they do add many other things to a fermenting beer: hops, fruit, candy sugar etc.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I'd add another packet of yeast and let it go.

Was your low gravity before the boil? Did you check the gravity after the boil before adding the DME?

 

[Davida]

I did not measure the gravity prior to the boil. The first running gravity right after the boil was 1.035. After adding the DME it was up to 1.045.

I do have another package of S-05 on hand. I will give it until the end of the day and repitch if there is still no activity.

 

[fluketamer]

i thought this was a contest.

 

[RM-MN]

First off, I messed up by not accounting for temperature when I measured my first running.
Gravity was low (or so I though) so I added some DME after flame out to give it a boost.
I was shocked to find the gravity on my Tilt at 1.083 at 70 degrees once I got the beer cooled in the fermenter.

This is the place to use a refractometer for the OG reading. I have a cheap one that reads the gravity directly and it matches the hydrometer when the wort is cooled. One or 2 drops of wort gets you the reading without needing to cool the wort. Mine is like this one.

https://www.amazon.com/V-Resourcing...67014519596982600-B06XSYH9L8-&hvexpln=73&th=1

 

[mac_1103]

My first instinct is to draw off some of the beer from the fermenter and replace with sterile water to reduce the gravity and re-pitch.

How big is the batch? How big is the fermenter?

 

[MaxStout]

Did you double-check OG with a regular hydrometer? Sometimes the Tilt can give spurious readings, due to trub material clinging to it.

Another vote for a refractometer. $15-$20 well spent.

 

[Davida]

How big is the batch? How big is the fermenter?

standard (for me) 5 gallon batch. Approximately 5.5 G in the 7.5 fermenter.

 

[PCABrewing]

standard (for me) 5 gallon batch. Approximately 5.5 G in the 7.5 fermenter.

So you've got room to add water without dumping wort.
You're still going to give it some more time though right?
How many hours since you pitched and at what temp are you?

 

[marc1]

I did not measure the gravity prior to the boil. The first running gravity right after the boil was 1.035. After adding the DME it was up to 1.045.

I do have another package of S-05 on hand. I will give it until the end of the day and repitch if there is still no activity.

Let's make sure we're on the same page.
What was going on with this measurement? First running is after the mash and before the sparge. Did you boil your mash?

 

[Davida]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I guess my terminology was wrong. I always considered first running to be right after the boil.

I pitched another package of S-05 last night. There is activity this morning and the SG has dropped to 1.079.

Just to be clear, my problem was not with measuring the gravity. The problem was not taking temp into account when I measured the hot wort.

While a refractometer (a great suggestion by the way) would have given me a more accurate gravity reading, it would not correct my OCD mistake of adding DME when I really didn't need to...

A friend of mine always says "learn to brew, then brew and learn"

I'm learning! Hopefully, I will eventually be enjoying an Imperial Pale.

 

[Miraculix]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I guess my terminology was wrong. I always considered first running to be right after the boil.

I pitched another package of S-05 last night. There is activity this morning and the SG has dropped to 1.079.

Just to be clear, my problem was not with measuring the gravity. The problem was not taking temp into account when I measured the hot wort.

While a refractometer (a great suggestion by the way) would have given me a more accurate gravity reading, it would not correct my OCD mistake of adding DME when I really didn't need to...

A friend of mine always says "learn to brew, then brew and learn"

I'm learning! Hopefully, I will eventually be enjoying an Imperial Pale.

You can always add water during fermentation or even afterwards. Just add a little bit of sugar if you decide to add it after fermentation to enable the yeast to use up the introduced oxygen.

 

[mac_1103]

Just to be clear, my problem was not with measuring the gravity. The problem was not taking temp into account when I measured the hot wort.

While a refractometer (a great suggestion by the way) would have given me a more accurate gravity reading, it would not correct my OCD mistake of adding DME when I really didn't need to...

If you use a refractometer to measure OG you don't have to worry about temperature correction, so it possibly would have prevented this mistake. Using a refractometer during or after fermentation does require a different kind of correction, and people who don't know about that often mistakenly think they have a stuck fermentation.

Anyway, you can still add water if you want to reduce the gravity (and ABV) of the beer. But you would need to add more than two gallons to get it down to 1.060, so unless you have another fermenter and want to split the batch you're probably better off letting it ride. You can still dilute with boiled and chilled water at packaging.

 

[Bobby_M]

I did a BIAB Pale with some West coast hop IPA flavors yesterday. I am rather new to BIABing. This is my 5th batch.
First off, I messed up by not accounting for temperature when I measured my first running.
Gravity was low (or so I though) so I added some DME after flame out to give it a boost.
I was shocked to find the gravity on my Tilt at 1.083 at 70 degrees once I got the beer cooled in the fermenter.
I used one pack of S-05 yeast hydrated before pitching.

This morning no activity. Gravity was still 1.083.

My first instinct is to draw off some of the beer from the fermenter and replace with sterile water to reduce the gravity and re-pitch.
Target OG should be around 1.060.
Any thoughts?

For the future, try to establish what the post mash/preboil wort gravity target is. This can be hand calculated of course, but brewing software makes it pretty easy. At the end of the mash, pull a sample and see where you are. Note that this wort would be considered "first runnings" but generally it's not a term used in BIAB brewing unless there's going to be a sparge step. The wort you're left with at the end of the boil doesn't really have a distinguishing name as far as I know. There's preboil wort and postboil wort.

You didn't mention if you sparged (rinsed) the grain after the mash. If you did, that would possibly account for reading a lower gravity if it wasn't mixed together well. It's also possible you're topping up the post boil wort with water and not mixing that together well enough to get the average gravity.

Given a lot of confusion, it may be beneficial for you to type up a detailed list of your brewing process steps and equipment specs if you want it vetted.