Need a little help with 2nd brew

[TNTgill]

So I just finished with my second brew and for a Magic Hat clone for the SWMBO. Everything went very well except my OG was a little off. Expected OG was 1.054 mine was 1.049 (corrected for temp). I didn't boil off as much as I expected this brew (~1 gallon vs ~1.25 for the first brew) so I added a bit too much pre-boil and ended with 5.25 gallons. I assume this is where my low OG is from. Will this affect the beer at all or is there something I can do to help raise my specific gravity a few points. Thanks all

 

[jmprdood]

I would suspect that the lesser boil off is the cause of the lower than expected OG (that or not getting it mixe dwell enough) - no real issue tho'. If you want to increase the OG you can add some DME to boiling water, cool and add - but there really is no reason. You got beer! So go with it and no wories!

Cheers!

 

[cmybeer]

That's not a big enough discrepancy to worry about. We're only talking about a couple of gravity points. If you're really worried about it though you could add the DME as suggested.

 

[TNTgill]

Thanks guys just wanted to make sure it wouldn't cause a huge problem. Its already chugging away in the fermentor so I'll just relax and give it a couple weeks.

 

[brockettbrews]

i have never used a hydrometer amd always got great beer.

 

[Channel66]

i have never used a hydrometer amd always got great beer.

I dont think its a question whether or not you can brew great beer without a hydrometer. Its more a question of whether or not you want to be able to exactly replicate your results, or tweak your recipes to get exactly what you want. Having hard data about the brew you are making is the best way to improve the little things with the beer. I write down a lot of things for each batch. Everything from the temps and volumes of the water used to mash, sparge etc. to the hydrometer readings, temperatures of the fermenters. Brewing is a science and if treated as such you can make the same exact beer over and over and over again without fault.