Quick help needed

[Nottsbeer]

Hi, in the middle of brewing a bitter. Preboil target gravity was 1.033. efficiency has spiked and I hit 1.042!! I've added more water to get preboil at 1.035. should I continue with hops at predetermined weights, or do I need to up the additions? Not sure how to calculate this...I think I should up the hops but will be guessing by how much! Volume in the boiler is 22.5l as was only planning to make a 15l batch. Maybe the small vol doesn't make much difference and I should just carry on as planned.

 

[MashBag]

carry on as planned.

You don't know how accurate your measurements are?

 

[Nottsbeer]

You don't know how accurate your measurements are?

I knew how accurate things were until the overshoot. Think I'll up the hops slightly and carry on as normal. Probably overthinking things! I am using brewfather app but not sure if I can add in the new preboil water vol to get new info. Cheers.

 

[Buffers brewery]

My thinking (and I’m probably wrong) is the gravity readings are an indication of potential alcohol content not flavour. Hop additions are to do with flavour, not alcohol. If your brew volumes are as planned I’d carry on as planned.

 

[Nottsbeer]

My thinking (and I’m probably wrong) is the gravity readings are an indication of potential alcohol content not flavour. Hop additions are to do with flavour, not alcohol. If your brew volumes are as planned I’d carry on as planned.

My thinking (maybe incorrect) is that by adding an extra 2.5l water, the final vol will be greater, thus diluting bitterness a bit, therefore to up the hop additions. Maybe it's not something to worry about in my small vol batch! In the past I have occasionally added water to reduce the OG after boiling to hit my target gravity and never thought about what this ma do, but the vol of water was never much more than 1l. Think a quick panic set in as was getting the boil going. End of day I'll have a nice brew and I'd probably not notice bitterness changes anyway

 

[An Ankoù]

Either, leave things alone with the bittering hops or recalculated the new bittering charge based on the new volume.
Maybe a small volume charge doesn't make much difference, but its not a small change, it'll be an increase of about a third so increase any late, flavour and aroma hop charges correspondingly.
(you should end u with about 20 litres, not 15, after the boil)
But, at the end of the day, if you just go with what you've got, it'll still be decent beer.

 

[Buffers brewery]

Alternatively, as you’re wort is at the gravity you want, run off the excess to get you to the pre-boil volume and gravity you were aiming for. And make note to reduce the grain bill next time as you are more efficient than you think

Edit: bit late. Sorry about that. As you say, it’ll still be a nice beer

 

[MashBag]

Alternatively tin the excess off and freeze it for a later purpose.

@Nottsbeer You & I can both overthink things

 

[RichardM]

My thinking (and I’m probably wrong) is the gravity readings are an indication of potential alcohol content not flavour. Hop additions are to do with flavour, not alcohol. If your brew volumes are as planned I’d carry on as planned.

But you want to get balance of IBU to ABV correct. Usually you need a higher IBU with a higher ABV.
Beer smith (and probably other software) shows the ratio

 

[Buffers brewery]

Yeah. Hmmm. Well… These software tools are supposed to “help” not to be “gospel”. It’s OK to deviate from the “norm”. I’m a bit of a brewing rebel

 

[Nottsbeer]

Thanks everyone for your input. I realized when transferring to the FV that my refractometer was out by at least 5 points . My OG after the boil was maybe 3 points under the target gravity when tested with my hydrometer. Normally I'll use both the hydrometer and refractometer when brewing to double check values, but today I failed to do that! Seems the refractometer has drifted alot since last use. Lesson today is not to forget to check calibration, and to stay to processes that work! Only 3 points under is fine, and the wort tasted nice and bitter. Will be a good beer . Also got 17l in the end. Not sure if the balance will be good...will find out in 4 weeks!!

 

[RichardM]

Yeah. Hmmm. Well… These software tools are supposed to “help” not to be “gospel”. It’s OK to deviate from the “norm”. I’m a bit of a brewing rebel

In this case the software is to help the brewer get the right balance of IBU and ABV.
Although in this particular instance it might not matter.

 

[Nottsbeer]

In this case the software is to help the brewer get the right balance of IBU and ABV.
Although in this particular instance it might not matter.

Yes, bit of a mess today. I did have a play with altering some numbers in the app once I had time and I think the balance of IBU and abv may not be too bad. Thankfully I didn't go OTT with upping the hop additions. Cheers all