Wtf happened to the SG?!

[AstroBrew]

Hey guys

I brewed a milk stout extract recipe today that I had found online and then inputted into beersmith. It had the SG coming out at 1.050 at 19litre

1.5kg amber liquid
1.5kg dark liquid
500g lactose

It ended up 1.090 after filling to 22l... What happened?

It isnt:

The hydrometer - checked with water

Temperature correction - checked this super acurately (difference is obviously huge thought between target and actual)



Is it the specialty grains?

The recipe called for about 8 different specialty grains totally 1.4kg that were steeped for 30mins in 11ltrs at 71c.

Or is it beersmith wrong calc? Wouldnt have thought this was possible

Thanks!

 

[Slid]

Hey guys

I brewed a milk stout extract recipe today that I had found online and then inputted into beersmith. It had the SG coming out at 1.050 at 19litre

1.5kg amber liquid
1.5kg dark liquid
500g lactose

It ended up 1.090 after filling to 22l... What happened?

It isnt:

The hydrometer - checked with water

Temperature correction - checked this super acurately (difference is obviously huge thought between target and actual)



Is it the specialty grains?

The recipe called for about 8 different specialty grains totally 1.4kg that were steeped for 30mins in 11ltrs at 71c.

Or is it beersmith wrong calc? Wouldnt have thought this was possible

Thanks!

Hi Astro

If you had 2 cans of Liquid Malt Extract, one dark and one amber, then added 500g Lactose, brewing as short as 19L will get you over 1050.

You mention "the 1.4kg of speciality grains"? That will add a LOT of sugars, perhaps as much as almost 1kg dry weight, many of which will not be readily fermentable. 1090 as an OG sounds like serious Barley Wine territory - is this what you wanted from a milk stout?

 

[AstroBrew]

No its not! Its my first stout attempt and I just followed a recipe id found.

Does beersmith not account for fermentables from specialty grains?

 

[TartanSpecial]

The amount of fermentable stuff (non scientific but you know what I mean) should come out about 1.050 ...maybe 1.055 or 1.60 if you used dry extract instead of liquid, but certainly not 1.090. I don't understand it..it doesn't add up... someone hasn't slipped in another tin of extract or a kilo of sugar when you turned your back?.:smile:
I replicated your recipe using crystal 150 as a surrogate for the specialities in beersmith...OG came out at 1.053. 4.7% abv (Nottingham)
On unfermentables I played around...substituting light extract for dark extract the gravity and abv stayed the same...I thought with the dark extract the abv should be marginally lower. Also played around with an AG test recipe changing the pale or speciality grains by a kilo to see the effect on gravity and abv. Gravities were almost identical (pale 0.001 points higher then specialities) Extra kilo pale = +0.9% abv, extra crystal 150 = +0.8% abv, extra crystal 250 = +0.7% abv, and extra choclolate =+0.8% abv.
To be honest I was expecting to see a bigger difference due to unfermenetables... but I'm not an expert so that may reflect reality...or maybe beersmith is underestimating impact??
Still doesn;t answer your 1.090 mystery though....

 

[dad_of_jon]

Hey guys

I brewed a milk stout extract recipe today that I had found online and then inputted into beersmith. It had the SG coming out at 1.050 at 19litre

1.5kg amber liquid
1.5kg dark liquid
500g lactose

It ended up 1.090 after filling to 22l... What happened?

It isnt:

The hydrometer - checked with water

Temperature correction - checked this super acurately (difference is obviously huge thought between target and actual)



Is it the specialty grains?

The recipe called for about 8 different specialty grains totally 1.4kg that were steeped for 30mins in 11ltrs at 71c.

Or is it beersmith wrong calc? Wouldnt have thought this was possible

Thanks!

I would have said an obscure software bug given 8 different grains. but if your calibrated hydrometer says 1.090 you can't argue with that. the grains may give a lot of unfermentable sugars but surely not THAT much.

The question now is what to do with a 1.090? I'd suggest 1 or 2 two litre bottles of tesco value water added to the wort to brew to 21 or 23 litres. If you don't have the capacity to brew that either store the excess or chuck it. Unless you don't mind a high abv beverage :whistle:

 

[AstroBrew]

Thanks for the great replys

Tartanspecial i really appreciate your investigation.

Dad_of_jon thats exactly what i did. Safely decanted and diluted.

New issue: i diluted after day one. Made sure not to system yeast intensive patches.

No fermentation

3 days later decided to add dry yeast

1 day after this progress isnt great.

So many uncontrolled variables with this one its going to be hard to learn specific lessons

 

[warra48]

Where and how did you take your sample to test your SG?

If you took it from the tap, it's very possible the ingredients were not mixed properly, and you took a high SG sample from partially or wholly undiluted extract from the tap body.

The calculations in BeerSmith or other brewing software will not lie if the ingredients and volumes are properly entered and mixed

 

[lancon]

If you change the type of brew from extract to partial mash then the SG changes dramatically

 

[AstroBrew]

Good spot!!

Isnt every extract brew with specialty grain a partial mash- i guess it only makes a dif in my case of such large grain volumes!

I guess this is it.. Interesting. Well you learn something every brew

Thanks for the input!

 

[Covrich]

Good spot!!

Isnt every extract brew with specialty grain a partial mash- i guess it only makes a dif in my case of such large grain volumes!
!

It is similar but ultimately not the same, with extract you will steep the speciality grains for 20-30 mins, at a similar temp to what you mash in but doesn't need to be as accurate or stable.. this will extract colour and flavour.

With a mash you will replace a percentage of your fermentables and you will dough in at specific temperature and want to hold maintain this for typically an hour maybe longer (maybe less).. because your grains have diastatic powers and convert starches to sugars..

 

[AstroBrew]

How do i stop this happen again? I trusted my beersmith app and it lieeeed to me! : p