A question on specific gravity.

G'day folks!

I have had this question for awhile but it was theory up until my brew day yesterday.

I was using some new equipment for an all grain Cream Ale and didn't re-measure my boil off rate before I started. I realized my oversight about halfway into my boil. In the end I boiled for 60 minutes but boiled off too much. I expected to have 5.5 gallons in the fermenter but only had 4.75. My gravity was supposed to be at 1.040 but instead I ended up with a 1.050.

I realize I could have added some water to thin it out a little but I didn't have the time to boil it to sterilize, let it cool, and add it to the fermenter. (I started brew day way to late and SWMBO was getting persnickety.)

So my overall question is: How will this change the recipe? I realize it will up the alcohol content but what will it do to the overall "mouthfeel" or taste? Any concerns about the higher ABV on this? It looks to be about 6.4% by the numbers of I am fully fermented.

I as an aside I am extremely happy with the estimated 81% efficiency I am getting with my all-grain setup!

Hello, I would think its going to be a bit stronger flavor, richer, thicker and more mouth feel.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Cheers

I address this topic in my last post While it is an apparent increase in efficiency, it isn't technically because the volume is not accurate. Really it's 82% * 4.75/5.5, which is about 70%.

According to that recipe, you are likely to hit ~5.9% with 1.050 SG, if you hit 1.005 as your FG, but again, that will depend on the attenuation you get.

And another question, more theory than anything, at what stages could water be added? Could it be added during any stage in the process? During bottling, fermentation, etc? (As long as the water is sterilized?)

Wyrmwood said:

I address this topic in my last post While it is an apparent increase in efficiency, it isn't technically because the volume is not accurate. Really it's 82% * 4.75/5.5, which is about 70%.

According to that recipe, you are likely to hit ~5.9% with 1.050 SG, if you hit 1.005 as your FG, but again, that will depend on the attenuation you get.

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Excellent, thank you very much for that! I am still working on understanding the numbers.

WileECoyote said:

Hello, I would think its going to be a bit stronger flavor, richer, thicker and more mouth feel.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Cheers

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Thanks for the input man, I will definitely report back!

Mark_ said:

And another question, more theory than anything, at what stages could water be added? Could it be added during any stage in the process? During bottling, fermentation, etc? (As long as the water is sterilized?)

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I would not recommend adding water after the boil. I tried this on my first hefe and it tasted thin, like I added water to it...

The post made earlier totally addresses this issue, by adding more water up front (anticipating a longer boil), you can then use the boil times to adjust for missed volumes.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/using-longer-boil-times-hav-e-flexibility-411880/

Wyrmwood said:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/using-longer-boil-times-hav-e-flexibility-411880/

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Thank you! I was looking for that!

The problem really wasn't anticipation of lesser volume, it was neglecting to recalculate my boil off. Now I know!!