Elderflower beer and high SG

[hill1649]

Hi there,

I've just brewed a beer and added 7.5g elderflowers (in a 15l brew) 10 minutes before end of boil. What I'm surprised by is how high the SG is - should have been 1051 but actually achieved 1064 at 22c. So what I would like to know is whether the elderflowers push up the SG or whether I did actually achieve 88% efficiency. I was hoping to brew a 5% beer - looks like it's going to be over 6%

Recipe:
3530g Pale malt (Maris Otter)
100g Crystal Malt (120)

Galaxy Hops
9g 60 mins
9g 30 mins
9g 10 mins
30g at Flame Off steeped for 20 mins

7.5g Elderflower added 10 mins before end of boil

Yeast Mangrove Jack M44 US West Coast

SG 1064
EBU 42

 

[Slid]

Bremate suggests 83% efficiency, which I don't believe either.

Have you checked your hydrometer with water at 22C (or thereabouts)?

7.5g Dried elderflowers add zip by fermentables, BTW

 

[hill1649]

Just checked my hydrometer and it's spot on. I guess I might have got the beer temperature wrong when I took the original reading.

Anyway, it looks and smells great and as long as it tastes good I'll be happy, just a bit stronger than I would normally have liked and I do like to understand what's going on when I brew!

 

[hill1649]

Or perhaps I misread the hydrometer!

 

[Simonh82]

83% efficiency is possible. I managed 82% on my last beer. I BIAB and for me a small grain bill and using pellet hops seemed to give my efficiency a couple of points boost.