Lower than expected OG

[WelshPaul]

Hi folks, a quick question.
I was doing a couple of brews over the weekend and due to time constraints I used a 60 minute mash as opposed to the usual 90 minutes. The OG at the end was 1050 when I was aiming for around 1058; could this be explained by the shorter mash simply not extracting as much of the sugars?
It was also a slightly cooler mash, at 63°. Does this have any noticeable effect on the amount of sugar yielded?

 

[wigwamheed]

The low og is probably a combination of the shorter mash and the lower temp. 63° is about right for beta amylase conversion, which will require a longer mash time. You probably could have raised this by step mashing and increasing the temp to an alpha amylase stage for a while after but I don't think it really matters. I recently mashed a porter at beta temp and it gave me a nice full bodied beer. What sort of beer you making? Also this is as far as I understand things, still trying to get my head round the science side. Hopefully someone will correct anything I've said which is wrong, I like everyone here just want to learn but it is a lot of info when your just getting into it

 

[WelshPaul]

I'm making an American IPA. I've made it before using the same recipe, hence why I knew the expected OG after the boil. What I really ought to have done of course was to take a gravity reading before the boil as well.

 

[wigwamheed]

Sure it'll be great regardless, what recipe you using I'm looking for inspiration ATM?

 

[WelshPaul]

4600g Pale Malt
1000g Munich
300g Wheat Malt
680g honey

60g Amarillo, 10.4%, 90m
35g Centennial, 8.2%, 10m
35g Cascade, 7.0%, 5m
50g Cascade, 7.0%, 7 day dry hop

Safale US-05

It's a recipe that I've used a few times with good results but I'm still trying to get the hop balance right.

 

[robsan77]

What efficiency did you calculate to get 1058?

 

[WelshPaul]

What efficiency did you calculate to get 1058?

I don't know; it's what the previous two brews using the same grain bill yielded.

There was another thing that I did differently and that was to add the honey in the last 10 minutes of the boil rather than at the beginning, but I don't think that should make much of a difference.

 

[robsan77]

What efficiency did you calculate to get 1058?

I don't know; it's what the previous two brews using the same grain bill yielded.

There was another thing that I did differently and that was to add the honey in the last 10 minutes of the boil rather than at the beginning, but I don't think that should make much of a difference.

No, as long as it didn't drop and stick to the bottom but you would've noticed that when cleaning.

 

[WelshPaul]

Well... I haven't actually got around to cleaning the boiler as of yet. It was pretty late on Sunday when I finished so I thought I'd save it for this evening.... :whistle:

 

[wigwamheed]

Did you end with the same volume after boil as previously?