I made the extract version of this on Tuesday, following the recipe to exactness. My problem is, two things…I started out with the 6.5 gallons of of wort, boiled for the 90 minutes, but ended up with just a bit over 6 gallons. I suspect that is the reason I ended up with 1.057 OG instead of the 1.061 the recipe said I should hit.
The wort is very good and has some GREAT potential. I just took a hydrometer sample and I’m already down to 1.016 and the recipe said 1.02 for a final SG. I, of course, tasted the sample, since I couldn’t put it back and it is a very good IPA, even without dryhopping yet.
So the question…what happened to the OG? not enough boil off to get to 5 gallons? If that’s the case, can you just continue boiling past the hop times?
yup, if the recipe was for 5.5 gallons and you ended up with 6 your gravity will be a bit low. It’s best to find that out at the begining of the boil, then you can boil longer before adding your first charge of hops. but you can boil longer when you realize your boil off was low (or starting volume was high). If you’ve already added your finishing hops that’s probably not a great idea though as you’ll get a ton more bitterness and less aroma and flavor. at that point just enjoy it as is.
Thanks Jonathon…let me ask this…if the batch is supposed to end up at 5 gallons, but the recipe says to start with 6.5 gallons…NEXT time, should i just start with 5.5 since it appears that i only boiled off about .5 gallons in 90 minutes? If I am a bit low, then, is it a problem to just add some water to get to the 5 gallons OR to get to the desired OG?
I don’t see any way you’d boil off only a half gallon in 90 minutes, regardless of kettle shape, unless you’re barely simmering and not actually boiling. Do you measure your volumes closely? I use a piece of wooden dowel marked incrementally in quarts up to 8 gallons. This is critical to hitting the right preboil volumes, hitting OGs consistently, and to measuring your boil off rate accurately.
well…it boiled like crazy for most of the boil… Bought a new 210,000 BTU bayou banjo to fire up my keggle. Ran it on high. Funny thing, seems like towards the end, my flame went down a lot…propane tank ended up about 1/3 full. So possibily not as good a boil as it could have been, but it was a good rolling boil. From what i can tell so far, i will DEFINITELY be making this recipe again, so I can start out with less water to boil next batch. I also got a HUGE hotbreak and couldnt stir it down fast enough, so i boiled over, but didn’t lose that much over the side.
i did measure the water going in and have made a dip stick accurately marked. I’m pretty certain my pre-boil volume was 6.5 gallons. My keggle is a 16 gallon keg with about an 11" hole cut out of the top and no, it wasn’t covered, although i do have a lid to fit it. Let me ask this…when the wort came to a boil and i got the hot break under control, that’s when I started my hop boil. Perhaps I should have boiled longer before adding the hops?
I wait ~ 10 minutes after hitting boil to add my first hop addition, for the same reason. And if that really is your boil off rate with the banjo, I guess you know how much to account for from now on. Good luck !
Jon,
About your dowel rod, what do you use to mark it? And do you use the same rod on every batch? Is it sanitary to use over and over? I have seen mention of this method several times, but am only asking now as I have purchased a rod for this purpose but shied away from using it much today due to my concerns. Did you cut notches into it, sharpie, electrical tape, etc?
If you miss low on your OG, the best way to approach it is to either let it ride (if it’s close enough for your liking), or use DME to raise the gravity to where you want it. Boiling longer will end up increasing your IBU’s and driving off some of the flavor and a lot of the aroma from your late hop additions.
I’ve since bought a short piece of thin aluminum stock @ the hardware store, and notched it in quart increments. With the dowel, I notched it then marked with a sharpie.