correcting a cock up og too low!

[paul m]

Hi Guys,

i put down a brew today- ordinary bitter, first time using the esky mash tun, all seemed fine but didn't check any gravity through the process until after  I pitched yeast (windsor)  was hoping to get an og of 1044 ish but ended up with 1030. was supposed to produce 23 litres but i got 25 in the fermenter. I've now calculated it will give an ABV of 2.5 ish. I've got jsut under a kg of sugar i can use in the question is how much?

is there an online calculator that can help me without using brewsmith (more $$)

thanks

Paul

[Kelly Milligan]

You could plug it into hopville (http://beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe) and then adjust the Mash Efficiency down + Batch Size up to balance at your current situation. Then start adding the sugar as a primary fermentable and you should be albe to get a pretty accurate calc on it :) Hopville knows not to apply mash efficiency to adjuncts and stuff. 

The alternative is just keeping it at 2.5 and drink it as a lawn-mower beer!

[MrC]

I agree with Kelly.

Personally I would use DME rather than sugar for an ordinary bitter.  You'll need about 800g of sugar or 850g of DME to get from 1.030 to 1.044.  850g of sugar is a lot for a small beer and could easily end up cidery and/or tangy like a kit & kilo.

 

Either way, make sure you add enough water to dissolve it, boil it for 15min to sterilise it and cool it to wort temp before adding it to the beer.

[Scarrfie]

What about steeping a bit more crystal and adding that, to counter the thinning out the sugar will do? Just thinking on the fly here.

[Barry]

Personally I'd keep it at 2.5% - it'll still be awesome.

[paul m]

thanks guys- website just the job, added sugar to boiling water, stirred to disolve and allowed to cool then added to fermenter. The website calculated that my efficiency was 65%. I'm trying to understand this cockup- used two notches coarser than the factory setting on the crankenstein (i was worried about slow filtration through the MT. As it happened filtration was real good- Half inch tap to Tee, two lengths of notched 12mm copper pipe in base of mash tun. It looked like each grain was cracked. Thats all you need right?

My temp in the mashtun was all over the place . I mashed in as 72 deg and that settled around 65 once mixed with the grain. I then got distracted and put in some more at 78 deg to bring temp to 69deg. Then was up to 72deg. coolled it by stiring for 10mins then put lid on temp after 1hour was 65. The chilly bin is a 25L willow brand- anyone use these? I thinking i should read john palmers online book again!! Any tips on controlling the temp of the chilly bin MT?? I'm on roof collected water and added 5g of gypsum

The next cock up was cutting corners with pitching the yeast- danstar Windsor yeast. Just sprinkled on to wort in fermenter and immediately stirred in. Anyone else tried and got away with that? rather than recommended on packet, - rehydrate in sterile water at 30 to 35 deg and no stir for 15min then add wort to it slowly. Anyway no action after 24 hours, tried rousing it, very sluggish after 36 hours one bubble in airlock every 30min sort of stuff. I'm guessing i killed/shocked most of the yeast. Last few times i've used windsor and pitched as per the packet its gone like the clappers after 12-24 hours at 20 deg. So re-pitched another packet ( Jeez- there goes another $7!!). God know what this one will taste like!

thanks for your comments

cheers

Paul

Oh well.. this beers gonna taste "different". I'll just have to try brew it again.

[Fairlane]

Here is some math for you if you want to do it easily....

Convert your OG reading to g/L of sugar.

Sugar Conc = (OG - 1) * Sp.Gr to g/L conv. factor  => (1.030 - 1) * 2358 = 71 g/L

Total sugar = Sugar Conc * Vol => 71 g/L * 25L = 1,769g

 

Desired OG

Sugar Conc = (OG - 1) * 2358  => (1.045 - 1) * 2358 = 106 g/L

Total sugar = Sugar Conc * Vol => 71 g/L * 25L = 2,653g

 

Sugar to add = 2,653g - 1,769g = 884g

 

As for the yeast....   Yeast are actually reasonabbly delicate when they are in a dried format.  They need to rehydrate properly at the right temperature so that their cell membrane have the right level of fluidity for reproduction and ferment.  Be nice to your yeast and it should be nice to you back.

Maybe some yeast nutrient also....