Well, math comes to our rescue yet again, as does Brad Smith, whom I must fully credit for this. Thank you Joseph! It is rather frustrating after all the time and money you invest in it. Could you please help also with some tips how to define my efficiency? I believe it will help me to scale every recipe to meet the OG target. Your tips are highly valuable! Thanks for writing in Ben. In your basic instructions you recommend taking the OG reading when the wort is in the fermenter, just before adding the yeast.
Is that when you recommend adding the DME? Is there a contamination risk? Thanks for that awesome question. Thanks so much for your feedback. I got my gravity much closer this time with a little extra grinding using our ninja blender to break up the grains more. Next time I will get them double milled, lesson learned.
I am still dialing in the amount of boil off. I am sure I will get it more precise. My first batch was low. The next was closer, but it was becoming a Braggot a type of mead made with malt and honey so I raise the SG with honey to where I wanted it.
This batch with the extra grinding was the Dry Stout, and came out a little high, so I am getting closer. This post was really handy to know that pre-boil I was right where I should be. Thanks for writing in Jim! Hi joe — I just received your American ipa kit and the formulation is very different from what is listed here — is there a specific reason for this? Every recipe is different. There are so many hop varieties available to us that we can create infinite variations on a single recipe.
Good luck with the brew! Joe: My OG on an American pale ale extract batch came in way too high — like, 1. The recipe calculated it should be 1.
Anyway, your solution above says to add water at the calculated ratio. Hi Bill, Yes, you could try that, if you have room in your fermenter for the added liquid, and ideally before fermentation starts. Once further question regarding hitting the OG.
How much does sparging have to do with this? I get the boil volume up to about 10 L and boil away, hitting close to 1. Have you kept a close eye on mash temperatures? I wonder if the temp is dropping too quickly? Or maybe you need to circulate your mash several times to ensure heat is evenly distributed. Hi, I was wondering about the end product of the alcohol fermentation process.
Joseph, love your site. I really was, and somewhat still am, having a hard time understanding the concepts on this page mainly due to one thing.
I cannot understand why the volume of the batch throws the whole thing off. If your beer is supposed to be at 1. Is it determined by volume? All-grain brewers need to include more comprehensive notations: mash-in temperature s and time s , strike temperature of water, amount of time wort is recirculated through lauter tun, temperature of sparge water, and length of time mash is sparged to reach desired measure.
When building a beer, brewers must account for color and malt flavor by using the correct combination of specialty grains or malt extract.
These combinations act in conjunction with the amount of pale malt or total extract to determine the original gravity. For beginning brewers original gravity may be one of the more frustrating targets to reach and then consistently maintain brew after brew. What can be more disconcerting than brewing a perfect English special bitter at 1. Extract brewers may find that 6. Many extract sources maintain a variable range of malt extract per weight, making accurate predictions of original gravity difficult.
Homebrewers combat this problem by blending dried and liquid malt extract, with one or the other known for consistent malt content. In all instances refer to past batch notations to fine-tune a recipe. For example one recipe for five gallons of American pale ale called for 6. The original gravity measured 1. Another recipe for the same style ale called for 6.
Dividing the last two numbers of the original gravity measurement by the weight of extract used produces the extract potential per weight for each extract source:.
Batch one had 1. Batch two had 1. Batch three and four had 1. The light dried extract maintains 8 to 9. The light liquid extract consistently produces 7. To complicate things further the dried extract beers tasted slightly thin, while the liquid extract beers tasted a bit too malty for style. Combining the liquid and dried extracts may stabilize the original gravity while maintaining a taste appropriate for style.
The recipe now calls for three pounds 1. Reversing the above equation can help estimate the original gravity:. The improved American pale ale recipe will now produce a brew between 1. Only experimentation and strict notation will help turn any problematic recipe into a fine beer. All-grain brewers may encounter the same problems with inconsistent original gravities from brew to brew.
Mashing begins and ends with the extraction efficiency: Drawing out a reasonable amount soluble substance of the malt, but drawing out too much may be detrimental for your beer.
At first an iodine test can help reveal whether any problems exist. As with extract brews, malted barley should maintain a consistent level of extract potential per weight of grain. For example batch notes describe how an American pale ale recipe that called for 11 pounds 5 kg of two-row pale malt and eight ounces 0.
The notes state that every observable element, up to the evaporation rate during the boil, was the same for both brews. With such a disparity in original gravities and with the batch notes suggesting that nothing in the brewing schedule could cause such a different result, the problem must exist before mashing.
Batch one suggests a serious challenge because 3. Either the crush of the grain may be inconsistent from brew to brew, with too many whole grains comprising the total grist, or the grain may be old and stale or stored incorrectly, with too much moisture interfering with the stability of the malt. Again, strict notation and observation will usually point to an area that needs attention when problems arise.
Fermentation also leaves behind dextrins non-fermentable sugars , proteins, and peptides, all of which combine to form the density of final gravity readings. Again, make sure you have adjusted for temperature if necessary. So, if you have a beer that has an original gravity of 1. This is the most practical way for the typical home brewer to estimate their ABV.
Benjamin Stange is a freelance writer specializing in craft beer and home brewing. He lives in Springfield, Missouri with his family, who graciously tolerates his obsession with all things beer. I agree but you never gave us an idea of how far off it could typically be. Can you tie accuracy to brew styles like light, medium and dark brews? BTW, I never thought the amount of alcohol was that important anyway however I do understand it changes the taste.
It will rarely be off by a lot, and a hydrometer will serve for all practical purposes in the home brewing world. I tried dividing, I tried multiplying but neither resulted in 5. Why all the different formulas like I said, I am math stupid.
Regarding the equation trouble, try Ben — great explanation and background, thank you! How far off will my ABV appoximation be? Just brewed for the first time last week. I boiled and then I did not have a filter so I poured it all into my bottling bucket so I could pour it into my carboy from the spigot.
I took a sample from the spigot for the OG, I got 1. I wonder if I should have racked some from the middle of the batch instead of the sloppy bottom?
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