10 points off original gravity

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Martybhoy

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2014
Messages
741
Reaction score
253
Hi, so I brewed a Weizenbock today and my original gravity is 1.060 instead of the 1.070 in the recipe.

It's already in the fermenter before I thought about using DME to increase the gravity. My question is if I can still add DME (dissolved) to the fermenter (I pitched about 3 hours ago) or is this a no no?

And how big a difference is the 10 points I was off by?
 
You can, boil the DME in a small amount of water for 5-10 mins, cool then add it to the FV. You'll need about 25g/L to raise the gravity by 10 points.

Alternatively you could just leave it as is (probably what I'd do). Assuming 75% attenuation it'll be about 1% lower ABV than expected.

Be sure to work out your brewhouse efficiency so that you can modify your future recipes to compensate.
 
Yes you can add it now with no ill effect. If it's a standard 5 gallon batch then 500g will get you to about where you should have been. 10 points is a pretty big difference.
 
Did you end up with a larger volume than intended?

How much wheat was in the grain bill?
The crush on the wheat malt needs to be finer than other malts and can cause a drop in og from some recipes (my gh raspberry wheat beer for example...)
 
Yes, larger volume. My own fault. I missed my mash temp and had to cool by 5 degrees or so with cold water.

Wheat accounted for 50% of the grain bill. Have never missed gravity by more than a point or two until today. But my dilution was the cause today I think.

Ended up adding DME, as I has already overpitched the yeast. Deliberately, so as to enhance the ester profile of the beer. My worry was that by being 10 points off target, my overpitch would have been increased significantly.
 
Ended up adding DME, as I has already overpitched the yeast. Deliberately, so as to enhance the ester profile of the beer. My worry was that by being 10 points off target, my overpitch would have been increased significantly.

You've got that the wrong way round I'm afraid, under pitching increases esters because these are produced during the yeast growth.
 
I somehow managed a +6pt over efficiency in my last brew. I have had my processes nailed for ages, but every now and then I get a surprise 85% (plus) efficiency like this.

Within reason, sometimes, you've just gotta ride with it and accept and adapt to stronger than planned batch.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
😱😱😱😱

I was following the recipe in James Morton's 'Brew' for Banoffee Weizenbock. He says to pitch a third more yeast to emphasise the banana flavours. Which I duly followed.

Heigh ho. It is what it is. Who knows, it may turn out more awesome than the recipe intended.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top