Original Gravity...

[Bradley33]

Ok here's my plan. Basically what I'm trying to do is bypass the kits. I'm planning on starting brewing with unhopped malt extract and hops and pretty much jumping in nuts deep. With any luck after I've developed a bit of a touce for it I'll be moving onto AG. Unfortuanately, with all the possibilities I'm suffering from synapse overload. ha ha Hopefully by the time Ian gets back to me about the stuff I need I'll have decided what my first brew is going to be. Meanwhile you gentlemen are burdened with my inane questions. ha ha. Thanks again.

1) When it comes to malt extract:
-Assuming that what I've read that LME gives an OG of 1.034-38 ppg and DME gives an OG of 1.040-43 ppg does this mean that a higher proportion of extract will provide a higher OG?

2) When it comes to Original Gravity:
-Seeing as I'll be brewing with malt extract to start with should I be that concerned about OG aside from calcing my alchohol content?
- If my assumption about extract and and getting a higher OG is correct what are the effects on the beer of starting with a higher OG? I would think there would obvious flavour effects and alchohol content?

3) I'm sure I had some more questions about this but can't get my hands on them. Bad enough I'm dreaming about brewing... ha ha ha I'm in bad shape fellas. Can't wait to go shopping. Thanks for the help. :

 

[tubby_shaw]

Ok here's my plan. Basically what I'm trying to do is bypass the kits. I'm planning on starting brewing with unhopped malt extract and hops and pretty much jumping in nuts deep. With any luck after I've developed a bit of a touce for it I'll be moving onto AG. Unfortuanately, with all the possibilities I'm suffering from synapse overload. ha ha Hopefully by the time Ian gets back to me about the stuff I need I'll have decided what my first brew is going to be. Meanwhile you gentlemen are burdened with my inane questions. ha ha. Thanks again.

1) When it comes to malt extract:
-Assuming that what I've read that LME gives an OG of 1.034-38 ppg and DME gives an OG of 1.040-43 ppg does this mean that a higher proportion of extract will provide a higher OG?
Yes mate spot on :thumb: the more extract you add for a given volume the higher the gravity will be

2) When it comes to Original Gravity:
-Seeing as I'll be brewing with malt extract to start with should I be that concerned about OG aside from calcing my alchohol content?
- If my assumption about extract and and getting a higher OG is correct what are the effects on the beer of starting with a higher OG? I would think there would obvious flavour effects and alchohol content?
Of course the OG will give you an idea of what your abv will be but you can only calculate when you have your FG.
The starting gravity has all kind of effects on the final flavour of your finished beer
Some rules of thumb are, the higher the gravity derived from malt the more residual gravity at the end, giving a maltier brew with more body.
Hop utilisation is lower with higher gravities so you will need to add more hops to achieve your desired bitterness.
The final alcohol content also affects the flavour of course :thumb:

3) I'm sure I had some more questions about this but can't get my hands on them. Bad enough I'm dreaming about brewing... ha ha ha I'm in bad shape fellas. Can't wait to go shopping. Thanks for the help. :

When you remember what they are just ask :) Somebody will help :

 

[Bradley33]

Thanks Tubby. Off to put pen to paper now and come up with something. I'll run it by you guys when I've done it for any advice. :thumb:

 

[prolix]

1) When it comes to malt extract:
-Assuming that what I've read that LME gives an OG of 1.034-38 ppg and DME gives an OG of 1.040-43 ppg does this mean that a higher proportion of extract will provide a higher OG?

A conversion blatantly stolen from Brewdog posted some 4 years ago on another site.

OG = 1 + (((lbs LME * .036)+(lbs DME * .044))/batch size in gals)

So, 5 lbs of LME + 3 lbs of DME in a 5 gal batch comes out to an OG of: 1.0624



higher OG's reduce bittering therefore more hops needed also for balance higher OG's need bitterness so again more hops needed

you could start adding sugars to increase OG at the expense of body thereby getting a stronger beer but with the same characteristics of a weaker one, used to avoid extra hop additions and maltiness of strong beers as added late in the boil.

Beers like Tower of Strength 7.6%abv are a good example it does not taste sticky or syrrupy as sugar has been used to gain higher OG but it is well balanced and dangerously quaffable