High OG for BIAB

[The Heavy Hopper]

Hey everyone! So, a few weeks ago I attempted my first all grain brew, and I went with a SMaSH pale ale for ease of it being my first time. I was hoping for an OG of around 1050, but somehow I got 1080. I've been reading some posts on different sites as well as watching some videos, so I have somewhat of an idea on what I am going to do differently next time, but I would like some of yalls opinions.

RECIPE

5 lbs Briess Pale Ale Malt
Mosaic Hops
SafAle US-05 yeast
5 gallon kettle

(2.5 Gallon batch)

I used 3 gallons of water and heated to 160 degrees F

When I dropped the grains in, I dropped to 151 (I was aiming for 152-157 ish), so I wasn't really concerned about the one degree difference. After about 30 mins, it dropped to 145. I left it at that for 10 or so mins, and then decided I was going to put it back on some heat for the last few mins to try and raise that temp back. I ended up hitting 147.

I pulled my bag of grain out and let it sit on a cooling rack over the kettle to drain out as much of the wort from the bag into the kettle as possible, and then I started bringing it up to a boil.

I intended to do a 60 min boil, but I may have technically done a little longer because I was trying to hit the 212 F boiling point, and it would not go over 210. It started having a boil at 208 though, so I probably should have started the timer then.

After that, I did my hop additions (60 min, 30 min, 10 min, flame out)

Cooled the wort down to the yeast pack standards, checked my OG, and pitched it.

I have learned since then I need to check gravity points and some different things, but any idea on what could have done this? I am assuming it could have been the boiling scenario, and it could have also been lack of water in the kettle (I need to find out how much I boil off on avg which I plan on doing tomorrow)

Thanks guys!

 

[Megary]

Assuming you measured gravity correctly and without knowing your post boil volume, it seems to me that you would have ended up with very little wort left and all your sugars were very concentrated in a small volume of water.

if you targeted a 2.5 gallon batch and started your mash with 3 gallons, by the time you factor in water lost to grain absorption and boil off, you were likely well under 2.5 gallons in the fermenter. If your intention is to package 2.5 gallons, you need about 3 gallons into the FERMENTER, not into the kettle. You could have topped off your 1.080 wort with water to hit volume and gravity, thereabouts.

 

[Minbari]

As @Megary said, without knowing the preboil volume, SG and the post boil volume, SG. It is kinda a guessing game.

But if I had to guess, you are well under 2.5 gallons if you didn't top up at all. This world account for the higher gravity.

If you can also let us know your measurements method. Hydrometer or refractometer would your most reliable method.

 

[Zambi]

Same as the others
The amount of grain for your batch size seems pretty OK.
So I also think you boiled off too much

 

[GFHomebrew]

Another factor but more unlikely is your brewhouse efficiency you'll dial this in as you brew and record your numbers such as Final volume and gravity readings vs your losses.

Enjoy the process sounds like your making beer.

 

[Donoroto]

Yes, it will be beer.

Use the recipe feature on this website to see what might be expected. Try to set your equipment profile accurately, as this has a significant impact.

I think you will find that between grain losses and boil of, your 1.080 SG was at somewhat less than 2 gallons, kinda normal.

Targeting 2.5 gallons at packaging means starting with maybe 4 or 4.5 gallons, because you'll lose maybe 3/4 gallon to the grain and a gallon to the boil (I guess?).

Once you get your numbers dialed in it becomes more predictable, but for now, it will be beer for certain.

 

[The Heavy Hopper]

Hey everyone! Thanks for all the replies. I was also thinking that more than likely I boiled off too much. I am going to brew another batch of it tomorrow. I put the recipe in here, and it gave me what my gravity levels should be. Before I do the batch, I am going to do a test of boiling some water to see how much I am boiling off.

I also read somewhere else about topping off with more water to reach my gravity. Does this need to be boiling hot water or does temperature matter? Secondly, when I pull my bag out to squeeze as much wort as possible out, should I squeeze that into the kettle? Or should I squeeze it into a separate vessel that I could use for topping off rather than using the water?

Lastly, how could I maintain my temperature better? Like I said, I was going for 152 F, but I ended up dropping down to 147 (I had to heat it back up to that). Could that have had an effect on my high gravity? Any help or advise is highly appreciated. Tomorrow will be my 3rd brewday. I am still extremely new to this stuff, but I love it and want to learn as much as possible

 

[Donoroto]

Hey everyone! Thanks for all the replies. I was also thinking that more than likely I boiled off too much. I am going to brew another batch of it tomorrow. I put the recipe in here, and it gave me what my gravity levels should be. Before I do the batch, I am going to do a test of boiling some water to see how much I am boiling off.

I also read somewhere else about topping off with more water to reach my gravity. Does this need to be boiling hot water or does temperature matter? Secondly, when I pull my bag out to squeeze as much wort as possible out, should I squeeze that into the kettle? Or should I squeeze it into a separate vessel that I could use for topping off rather than using the water?

Lastly, how could I maintain my temperature better? Like I said, I was going for 152 F, but I ended up dropping down to 147 (I had to heat it back up to that). Could that have had an effect on my high gravity? Any help or advise is highly appreciated. Tomorrow will be my 3rd brewday. I am still extremely new to this stuff, but I love it and want to learn as much as possible

Top-off water needs to (eventually) get sterilized, so it can be plain tap water that you bring to or near boiling.

Squeeze wherever works best, but squeezing a heavy bag of boiling-hot grain over a boiling-hot pot can get, er, uncomfortable. Don't ask how I know. A separate pot is fine, but ALL of that wort should go back into the pot for the boil. The 'goodness' in there is the goal, don't throw it away.

Note that Palmer is pretty adamant about not squeezing the bag. I've done both squeezing and not, without noticing a difference.

Maintaining heat is basically either adding heat to compensate for losses, or insulating to reduce those losses. Wrap a towel around the pot perhaps, and over the lid. But dropping from 151 to 145 is not terrible.

 

[The Heavy Hopper]

Top-off water needs to (eventually) get sterilized, so it can be plain tap water that you bring to or near boiling.

Squeeze wherever works best, but squeezing a heavy bag of boiling-hot grain over a boiling-hot pot can get, er, uncomfortable. Don't ask how I know. A separate pot is fine, but ALL of that wort should go back into the pot for the boil. The 'goodness' in there is the goal, don't throw it away.

Note that Palmer is pretty adamant about not squeezing the bag. I've done both squeezing and not, without noticing a difference.

Maintaining heat is basically either adding heat to compensate for losses, or insulating to reduce those losses. Wrap a towel around the pot perhaps, and over the lid. But dropping from 151 to 145 is not terrible.

So, I said "squeezing", but I have like an oven rack that the bag just sits on, and I let it drain right out. Another question I probably should ask would be how do I know how much water to add to adjust my gravity?

One last thing, since I am doing a 2.5 gallon batch, would I need to pitch less yeast, or would pitching a whole pack still be ok? I am doing a smash pale ale using the Safale us-05 yeast if that info is needed. Thanks!

 

[The Heavy Hopper]

Another factor but more unlikely is your brewhouse efficiency you'll dial this in as you brew and record your numbers such as Final volume and gravity readings vs your losses.

Enjoy the process sounds like your making beer.

A few days ago, I found this article on calculating your efficiency. I plugged my numbers in and my efficiency seemed to be 110%. Granted this was for sure off because there is no way I could pull more than what the grain had to offer which would be 100%. My water volume was a guess though because I have no idea how much I boil off.

 

[The Heavy Hopper]

As @Megary said, without knowing the preboil volume, SG and the post boil volume, SG. It is kinda a guessing game.

But if I had to guess, you are well under 2.5 gallons if you didn't top up at all. This world account for the higher gravity.

If you can also let us know your measurements method. Hydrometer or refractometer would your most reliable method.

So, I started off with 3 gallons of strike water. I used a hydrometer for my gravity reading. I was hoping for something around 1052 and got 1080. I am pretty sure what happened was that I just boiled off way more than half a gallon. I just wanted to get some more experienced opinions before I went on saying that is what I did.

 

[Donoroto]

So, I said "squeezing", but I have like an oven rack that the bag just sits on, and I let it drain right out. Another question I probably should ask would be how do I know how much water to add to adjust my gravity?

One last thing, since I am doing a 2.5 gallon batch, would I need to pitch less yeast, or would pitching a whole pack still be ok? I am doing a smash pale ale using the Safale us-05 yeast if that info is needed. Thanks!

Simple math. Say you have a gallon (4 quarts) at 1.050. Add a quart of water, it should then be 5 qts at 1.040. Alternatively, add some water, measure, and repeat until satisfied.

Overpitching is generally OK. Only a few styles are 'hurt' by that, and maybe hurt is too strong of a word. For a smash ale, a whole pack of US-05 is fine.

As for boil-off, I suspect your measured rate will be over a gallon per hour. If the water volume is just a guess, then the efficiency is just a guess too.

Good luck with your brew session today!

 

[Donoroto]

For dilution: old volume divided by new volume, multiplied by the gravity (without the "1").

So 4/5=.8, 0.8x 50 = 40. Hope that helps.

 

[GFHomebrew]

A few days ago, I found this article on calculating your efficiency. I plugged my numbers in and my efficiency seemed to be 110%. Granted this was for sure off because there is no way I could pull more than what the grain had to offer which would be 100%. My water volume was a guess though because I have no idea how much I boil off.

Boil off can be calculated in your kettle by boiling a set volume of water for a set time.

Like for Instance 10lt of water boiled for 30 mins.

Take volume measurement at end of the boil.

Mash efficiency is total mash liquor discounting sparge.

Brewhouse if Final volume into fermenter and final gravity.

After a few brews you'll get it all dialed in just keep taking measurements .

 

[Minbari]

So, I started off with 3 gallons of strike water. I used a hydrometer for my gravity reading. I was hoping for something around 1052 and got 1080. I am pretty sure what happened was that I just boiled off way more than half a gallon. I just wanted to get some more experienced opinions before I went on saying that is what I did.

Honestly, just add water to get your gravity where you want it. A little less or more volume, but at the correct SG that way

 

[Sandy Feet]

BIAB needs more water than you think. I brew 5 gallons. Through experience I know what my general boil off is for my climate.
My quantities for 5 gallons:
Strike water: 8 gallons. I lose about 1 gallon from grain absorption leaving me 7. I lose about 1 gallon from the boil, leaving me 6. I have a big kettle, and I lose close to another gallon from trub and/or what I can and can't fit into the fermenter.
I use spring water, and if desired, you can have some extra water on hand to top off if needed. If you don't want to screw around with water profiles, bottled spring water works well with a number of styles.
The grill grate should work well for smaller batches. As the bag gets heavier and you get older, pulleys are cheap and can be hooked to a ladder if your burner is low enough to the ground. I wonder how I know these things about a grill grate LOL. I made a pumpkin beer that made the bag heavier than hell..to the point I needed help from a neighbor. After that, I bought a pulley.

 

[Megary]

So, I started off with 3 gallons of strike water. I used a hydrometer for my gravity reading. I was hoping for something around 1052 and got 1080. I am pretty sure what happened was that I just boiled off way more than half a gallon. I just wanted to get some more experienced opinions before I went on saying that is what I did.

You are getting some good advice here.

To me, your issue seems clear: you started with too little mash water. If you are designing a recipe for 2.5 gallons, that usually means that you want 2.5 gallons of packaged beer...2.5 gallons into bottles or a keg.

It took all of us a good bit to "dial in" our volumes so that we have the correct amount at each stage of the brewing process. Mash volume, pre-boil volume, post-boil volume, fermenter volume, packaged volume.

As one example, here is how I determine my Mash Water volume for a typical 2.5gallon batch:

(The volume numbers I have settled on have come from jotting down what happens during every brew. Eventually, once I got my grain crush where I wanted, all the numbers kind of fell in line and became easily repeatable.)

Goal is to finish with 2.5gallons of beer to fill my keg.

Recipe uses 6.5 # Grain for a 1.047 OG beer

Grain absorption = .11 gallons/lb (influenced by how hard you squeeze the bag)
Boil Off Rate - .67 gallons/hour (my boil off rate on my stove, everyone's rate will be a bit different)
Kettle Loss - .625 gallons (how much gunk and trub I typically leave in the kettle after cooling, a completely fungible number. Many people dump everything into the fermenter and their number would be zero)
Fermenter Loss - .5 gallon (yeast, hops, trub, gunk, etc. left in the bottom of the fermenter)

Doing the easy math, counting backwards...
2.5 gallons packaged beer in my keg
+ .5 gallon Fermenter Loss
+ .625 gallon Kettle Loss
+ .67 gallon boil off (assuming a 1-hour boil)
+ .715 gallon grain absorption (6.5 * .11)
--------------------------------
Total Mash water = 5.01 gallons. Or 5 gallons for homebrewing purposes.

Personally, I squeeze the brew bag just enough to hit my "Pre-Boil" volume and stop there. My "Pre-Boil" volume is ALWAYS 4.3 gallons (2.5 + .5 + .625 + .67).

This leads to another point if you are using a standard kettle: Try and find a reliable way to measure your kettle volumes. There are a lot of ways to do this, but I ended up filling my kettle to different levels and measuring with a stainless steel ruler. As an example, my typical strike volume of 5 gallons in my kettle = 7-1/4" on the ruler. My "Pre-Boil" volume (the volume to which I squeeze the bag) of 4.3 gallons = 6-1/4".

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[Zambi]

You are getting good advice here.
One of them is what made a big difference for me.
Brew by SG, not by volume!
You can top up, you can boil longer

I got quite a primitive set up.
To maintain mash temperature I put pot and bag in a coolerbox that is lined with a duvet.
You could just put duvets or sleeping bags all around your pot/kettle.. It maintains the temperature good enough.

 

[west1m]

You are getting some good advice here.

To me, your issue seems clear: you started with too little mash water. If you are designing a recipe for 2.5 gallons, that usually means that you want 2.5 gallons of packaged beer...2.5 gallons into bottles or a keg.

It took all of us a good bit to "dial in" our volumes so that we have the correct amount at each stage of the brewing process. Mash volume, pre-boil volume, post-boil volume, fermenter volume, packaged volume.

As one example, here is how I determine my Mash Water volume for a typical 2.5gallon batch:

(The volume numbers I have settled on have come from jotting down what happens during every brew. Eventually, once I got my grain crush where I wanted, all the numbers kind of fell in line and became easily repeatable.)

Goal is to finish with 2.5gallons of beer to fill my keg.

Recipe uses 6.5 # Grain for a 1.047 OG beer

Grain absorption = .11 gallons/lb (influenced by how hard you squeeze the bag)
Boil Off Rate - .67 gallons/hour (my boil off rate on my stove, everyone's rate will be a bit different)
Kettle Loss - .625 gallons (how much gunk and trub I typically leave in the kettle after cooling, a completely fungible number. Many people dump everything into the fermenter and their number would be zero)
Fermenter Loss - .5 gallon (yeast, hops, trub, gunk, etc. left in the bottom of the fermenter)

Doing the easy math, counting backwards...
2.5 gallons packaged beer in my keg
+ .5 gallon Fermenter Loss
+ .625 gallon Kettle Loss
+ .67 gallon boil off (assuming a 1-hour boil)
+ .715 gallon grain absorption (6.5 * .11)
--------------------------------
Total Mash water = 5.01 gallons. Or 5 gallons for homebrewing purposes.

Personally, I squeeze the brew bag just enough to hit my "Pre-Boil" volume and stop there. My "Pre-Boil" volume is ALWAYS 4.3 gallons (2.5 + .5 + .625 + .67).

This leads to another point if you are using a standard kettle: Try and find a reliable way to measure your kettle volumes. There are a lot of ways to do this, but I ended up filling my kettle to different levels and measuring with a stainless steel ruler. As an example, my typical strike volume of 5 gallons in my kettle = 7-1/4" on the ruler. My "Pre-Boil" volume (the volume to which I squeeze the bag) of 4.3 gallons = 6-1/4".

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Yup, I just put a couple of marks on my spoon at the gallon intervals

 

[Minbari]

You are getting good advice here.
One of them is what made a big difference for me.
Brew by SG, not by volume!
You can top up, you can boil longer

I got quite a primitive set up.
To maintain mash temperature I put pot and bag in a coolerbox that is lined with a duvet.
You could just put duvets or sleeping bags all around your pot/kettle.. It maintains the temperature good enough.

This is how I do it as well. Volume might change a little, but the product turns out the same this way.

I use a cider press to the squeeze the bag. Gets another 1/2 gallon of pure sweet out