5th AG - 1st mistake

[Mr_Zee]

I have just finished my 5th AG and have come across my first cock up.

Hop Back Summer Lightning - 25ltr batch
- OG should be 1:049, turned out to be 1:058 (I am pretty sure the grain bill was right but now doubting myself)
- Was aiming for 25ltrs. Ended up with 23 after draining the boiler.

Question 1 - Would miscalculating the batch size be the reason for the increase OG or just a factor towards it?
Question 2 - Can I boil 2 ltrs of water and just add it to the fermenter when cooled to make it up to 25 ltrs?
Question 3 - This was the recipe from GW's book. Has anyone used it and found it to be accurate?

Your comments are most welcome! :thumb:

 

[Mark1964]

Did you allow in your calculations for the losses due to evaporation dead space in the mash tun etc

As for the gravity wouldnt complain as your beer is now a bit stronger

 

[Moley]

If you boil, cool and add another 2 litres your 1.058 will become a net 1.053

 

[graysalchemy]

May be your efficiency was better but your evaporation greater or you simply didn't have the sparge volumes you thought. It could be a number of things dead space in mash tun and in boiler. The list is probably endless.

If you want the original gravity to be 1.049 then liquor back.

To liquor back you need to use the following calculation courtesy of aleman.

Current Volume*og/required og = New Total Volume . . .

New Total Volume - Current Volume = Amount To Add

23*58/49 = 27.22

27.22-23= 4.22l

I hope that is clearer than mud :rofl: :rofl:

 

[Vossy1]

Well done on your 5th AG Mr_Zee :clap:
I'd add the 2 litres, as per Moleys advice, that'll give you the volume you want and only 4 gravity points difference, which isn't a lot.
It takes a while to get to know your system/efficiency, only once confident in your process should you really be thinking about trying to 'dial' it in to get real accuracy :thumb:

At the end of the day the beer will be great, and to be brutally honest, most home brewers (myself included) would be hard pushed to taste the 4gp difference :drink:

 

[Mr_Zee]

Thanks for the swift replies guys.

My problem was tracking the amount collected during sparge as I tranfer it in a 5 ltr jug. All the indications point to being 5 ltr short of the required amount. When I was boiling the wort I thought it looked lower than usual.

....More reason to upgrade the brewery....WoHoooo :party:

 

[graysalchemy]

I use one of those big orange buckets from b&q 12 litres easier to keep track of.

: