Thoughts on target OG

[Dawg LB Steve]

When I design a recipe or am working to clone/brew somebody else's recipe I do aim to hit the target OG so I have the beer I intended. If I'm a few points short, I roll with it. If I were to come up REALLY short I would make any adjustments with DME/LME so that I was nearer to it. I don't brew near as much as some on here so when I do it's "purposeful" in the sense that I do want the end product to be what I intended it to be. That way, I know I can make adjustments next time around to make it better/change something.

But like I said, a few points here or there don't keep me up at night.

Yeah, but I missed big time falling almost a gallon short and .006, that is why I stopped topping off.

[FedoraDave]

Dawg.

RDWHAHB.

If you don't have action in the airlock by now, you will shortly. If you pitched at a temp that didn't kill the yeast, and you're fermenting at a temp that isn't too high or too low, the yeast will take care of the rest. This is brewing, not a moon shot.

Gymrat posts quite a bit about how he gets action in the airlock after 4 hours, or something. I usually don't get action until at least 24 hours.

Who's right? Who's wrong? Who's better? Don't care.

The only question that matters is: Are we getting some darn nice beers out of it? And the answer to that is YES!

I'd be willing to share my brews with Gymrat any day, regardless of how long my lag time was between pitching and airlock activity. And I'd bet money that any of his brews he shared with me would be top-notch beers that I'd praise till the cows came home, and even after they woke up the next morning.

[Gymrat]

That would be a lot of fun Dave.
The lag time on this beer with the BRY-97 is going on 28 hours now It obviously does not go to work the way S 04 and Notty do.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Well Dave, I found out I more than likely pitched at 62 degrees and put the bucket in the basement, on top of an ice pack, where the ambient temp is 58, picked up a stickon thermometer this evening the wort is 57 degrees. Did a side by side with digital probe that I was using and the stickon and the probe read 20 higher! I freaked out and added about two hours to my brew day for nothing! Need to keep chanting RDWHAHB, RDWHAHB!

[Inkleg]

Lets see, brewed Belas IPA last weekend with my new set up that I'm still dialing in. OG was supposed to be 1.066, ended with 1.056. That's off by .010, what did I do, pitched the yeast and let it ride. It will be beer. I look at my process and can usually see where I messed up, but have yet to make any changes after the brewing is done. Heck even my Pliny was off by .005, nobody seemed to mind about that.

The brewer I mentioned earlier says he only adds DME if it's one of his competition beers. Beers just to be enjoyed are what they are, he said.

[Dawg LB Steve]

We need a like button on the Borg ! Big thumbs up to all !

[FedoraDave]

That would be a lot of fun Dave.
The lag time on this beer with the BRY-97 is going on 28 hours now It obviously does not go to work the way S 04 and Notty do.

Oh, man, you screwed up big time!

Yeah, S-04 is a fast starter, I've found. So is WLP001, and if you don't use a blow-off with it, you better have several rolls of paper towels! It's all good.

I made a Mr. Beer recipe yesterday, and pitched with about 9 gm of Fromunda (from previous recipes) at a temp of around 64/66. Whatever; good ale temp, is what I'm sayin'. Aerated the poo out of it with a wine degasser attached to a cordless drill before pitching.

Didn't get any activity until nearly 24 hours later.

Not much krausen, either.

RDWHAHB.

[mashani]

The last time I used BRY-97 I think it was about 36 hours before it did anything, but then it made a freaking mess - massive blowoff.

[Gymrat]

The last time I used BRY-97 I think it was about 36 hours before it did anything, but then it made a freaking mess - massive blowoff.

Yeah for me it usually takes 36 to 48 hours.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Update to my OG problem, made adjustments with DME and got the volume and OG where I would have liked it to be, 1.046. The weeks of stressing over it, I check FG on my MO Freedom SMaSH it finished at 1.005! And pitched the washed US-05 yeast from this to a Summer Honey-Lemon Wheat two days later, took off like a volcano 6-8 after I pitched it!