SG seems to come out always1.069

[Elmo Peach]

I have been brewing with all grain for some time now. My last 3 brews have all come out the same sg. 1.069 I went on Brewfather and entered in the ingredients and Brewfather gave me a est/. SG of 1.055. I would like to brew a lighter abv but am unsure of how to gauge the abv. I know "add less fermentables" but I would still like to get an idea of the potenial ABV before I start.

Any help would be a blessing.

 

[hotbeer]

If your water amounts are bang on for everything, then adjust that efficiency value on the recipe builder until it comes out more to what your actual OG is been from that recipe. You are likely getting more from the base malts because your mash is more efficient.

Then you can reduce the base malt amounts back to the OG or ABV prediction you desire. If you are reducing a recipe made for a particular ABV to a lower ABV, then you might need to scale hops back even more. In that case watch your IBU/GU ratio.

If your water amounts are not hitting the values in the recipe builder, then figure out why first and get that corrected. If your ending boil is less volume than predicted then you will have a higher OG from that fact alone.

However I just started doing this recipe adjusting stuff, so I might not be the best source of info for this.

 

[jdauria]

Assuming you hit your recipe's OG, which is not currently the case, potential ABV is easy to guesstimate if you assume 1.010 as final gravity. A 1.050 beer would be 5.25% (1.050-1.010 = .040 x 131), 1.040 beer would be 3.93%, etc.

As for the issue of too high OG for last few batches. What do you use for your estimated brew house efficiency when entering a recipe in Brewfather? You can enter a recipe and then scale it up to what your currentently getting for efficiency. For example, if you use 65%, you may want to bump to 75%, which in turn will reduce the amount of grain you actually need due to better efficiency.

But before that, you really want to check everything else in your equipment profile. Are you using the exact amount of water BrewFather calls for for mash? Is your grain absorption rate correct? That would be starting water less water after mashing before sparging. Is your pre-boil volume accurate to what the software says? Is you boil-off rate correct? If you are boiling off more than what software says, that would cause higher OG.

 

[kevin58]

Does Brewfather allow you to customize your equipment profile? I don't use it but have Beersmith and it is a must that you fine tune your equipment profile or your estimated numbers will never match your actual results.

 

[Bobby_M]

Brewfather and any other software estimates OG based on the amount of grain in the recipe and the mash efficiency in your equipment profile. If you continuously under or overshoot the OG, you immediately go into the equipment profile and edit to a higher or lower mash efficiency. In fact, in brewfather, when you're in the batch mode and you update the actual measured results in that batch, it will tell you the actual mash efficiency you achieved. Use that number to edit your equipment profile.

So, in the above case my equipment profile was set to 68 but I actually hit 65%. I'd go and update it to 65% in the equipment profile.
Next time you import a recipe, switch to your saved equipment profile and click "yes" when it asks if you want to scale the batch.

 

[bracconiere]

i mean if you're not counting calories....i'd maybe say whoopidy, and mash at 158f or something for a higher FG, if all you're worried about is not getting a bit tippsy. bonus would be rich creamy mouth feel..

honestly...i might even do a decotion, like mashin with strike water for 158f, let it rest for maybe 20 minutes then crank it to 162f...for like 30-40 minutes to set in the low fermentablity, thus lower ABV...it will have the same, more actually, calories though...but rich creamy mouth feel...

 

[Bobby_M]

i mean if you're not counting calories....i'd maybe say whoopidy, and mash at 158f or something for a higher FG, if all you're worried about is not getting a bit tippsy. bonus would be rich creamy mouth feel..

honestly...i might even do a decotion, like mashin with strike water for 158f, let it rest for maybe 20 minutes then crank it to 162f...for like 30-40 minutes to set in the low fermentablity, thus lower ABV...it will have the same, more actually, calories though...but rich creamy mouth feel...

Yes, but if you're trying to brew a specific style of beer that lives around 4% ABV and finishes dry, that's not going to get you there.

 

[bracconiere]

Yes, but if you're trying to brew a specific style of beer that lives around 4% ABV and finishes dry, that's not going to get you there.

very true.....i thought this was the twilight zone? wanting a session beer, and can't stop getting too GOOD effec.....lol

I know "add less fermentables" but I would still like to get an idea of the potenial ABV before I start.

i was just going on that.....