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Author Topic: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed  (Read 3716 times)

Offline ultravista

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Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« on: November 22, 2014, 10:20:08 am »
I brewed this yesterday and came-in a few points short of the target gravity. Beersmith calculated the OG at 1.072 and I came in at 1.067.

It is fermenting now @ 68F.

The gravity target is close but I am contemplating adding DME or sugar to bring it up.

If you were me, would you leave it as is or hit it with Corn Sugar (Dextrose) or DME while fermentation is active?

If adding Dextrose, would it significantly alter the taste? Beersmith tells me 8 ounces would bring it up to 1.072.

Your thoughts?

Offline Stevie

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2014, 10:23:11 am »
I'd leave it.

Offline Stevie

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2014, 10:24:17 am »
I'd leave it.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2014, 10:59:56 am »
Yep, leave it. It'll be good.
Jon H.

Offline archstanton

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2014, 11:13:43 am »
Pliny has simple sugar in it. Not knowing your recipe makes it hard though.  If you did not add any, I would add 8oz without a second thought. If you did have sugar in the recipe I would not add any more. Pliny finishes low at 1.009, so I would not add dme either way.

Offline majorvices

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2014, 01:13:53 pm »
that's an expensive beer to tinker with post fermentation. I'd recommend leaving it. It will taste just fine as is.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2014, 01:35:57 pm »
that's an expensive beer to tinker with post fermentation. I'd recommend leaving it. It will taste just fine as is.

Yep.
Jon H.

Offline ultravista

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #7 on: November 22, 2014, 02:24:03 pm »
The 5 gallon batch (MoreBeer's recipe) included 1 pound of sugar added to the boil.

I'll leave it as-is.

Thank you all for the guidance.

Offline majorvices

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #8 on: November 22, 2014, 03:35:37 pm »
The 5 gallon batch (MoreBeer's recipe) included 1 pound of sugar added to the boil.

I'll leave it as-is.

Thank you all for the guidance.

And make sure your hydrometer is calibrated. I've had hydrometers that have been off by 6 points.

Offline ultravista

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #9 on: November 22, 2014, 05:18:05 pm »
I use a refractometer pre ferment. I am confident it is accurate.

Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #10 on: November 23, 2014, 09:32:13 am »
I would not worry about a six point difference in an IPA.
Heck yeah I blog about homebrewing: Brain Sparging on Brewing

Offline ultravista

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #11 on: November 23, 2014, 10:16:23 am »
I am surprised that I missed the starting gravity. Mash was @ 151 for 90 minutes (while I did other things). That's < 70%.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #12 on: November 23, 2014, 10:19:09 am »

I am surprised that I missed the starting gravity. Mash was @ 151 for 90 minutes (while I did other things). That's < 70%.

How close did you hit your volumes ?  Was your post boil volume pretty spot on ?  You only have to be off a little to throw your OG reading off .
Jon H.

Offline ultravista

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #13 on: November 23, 2014, 10:25:39 am »
I targeted 5.5 gallons post boil to account for dry hop absorption. I am pretty close to 5.5 gallons.

Besides the low OG, everything else went well on brew day.

One thing I am questioning now is MoreBeer's crush. As a mash-in-a-bagger, I always request double crush. MoreBeer said "we don't double crush but have fixed/adjusted our milling." Apparently customers attributed low efficiency to poor crush. My customer service rep told me a lot of customers were dissatisfied with their crush, enough so that they changed their process.

This is my lowest efficiency yet and the first time ordering from MoreBeer.

Googling "more beer crush" yields similar experiences.


Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: Pliny the Elder - Missed OG by A Few Points - Advice Needed
« Reply #14 on: November 23, 2014, 10:29:44 am »
Yep, definitely the crush then. A single LHBS crush is an efficiency/OG killer. Been there- it used to drive me crazy. It helped for awhile to have the LHBS double crush, then I bought a mill. It'll still be good !
Jon H.