Efficiency Trouble Shooting

[IPADave]

Yesterday I brewed a Russian Imperial Stout with a target OG of 1.103 at 75% efficiency. This was my third batch on this equipment set up and my ninth all grain batch overall. My first two batches on this set up both came in slightly above target OG. Yesterday I missed low by 25 points - coming in at 1.078. I need some help identifying where it went wrong. Thanks.

 

[IPADave]

Nothing from the experienced brewers? Need some help here. I have no idea as to what went wrong.

 

[twallin]

Your effiency will go down when you try to make beer that big. I get 90 percent efficiency on my electric setup for beers with smaller gravities and when I make something big like your stout it drops to about 80 percent.

 

[IPADave]

So increase the grain bill?

 

[hops2it]

Could add some DME as needed on beers of that size as long as you have solid results on most everything else. That beer is huge.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Yes. If you way to hit a specific OG on big beers you need to up your grain totals. I usually hit around 85% in regular gravity beers but only around 65-70% when I brew a High gravity Ale. Some brewers will keep some DME on hand to push the OG to the desired level. I usually just take what I get.

 

[twallin]

Another option if your bk is big enough would be to sparge extra and increase your boil time.

 

[IPADave]

Another option if your bk is big enough would be to sparge extra and increase your boil time.

I went to a 90 minute boil for this RIS as opposed to a 60 minute boil used for all prior brews.

I did not realize that, as a general proposition, efficiency drops for higher gravity beer. This is, at least in part, where I messed up. Oh well, still going to bulk age this batch for about five months (per the recipe) and bottle for the year end holidays.