How Many Points Off Before Correcting?

[John Sand]

I'm still dialing in my outdoor brewing, trying to get the volume right. I mashed in 4 gallons, sparged in 3 (BIAB), squeezed the bag like an interrogation. Ended with more than 7 gallons (probably water from the canned pumpkin). Still, that should be okay, preboil calls for 7.47. But I finished with around 6.5, and 7 points low on gravity, 1.046 instead of 1.053. Clearly I'm not boiling off as much as expected, I was a bit low last time too, and a bit high on volume. When I miss gravity by 2 or 3 points, I don't worry. Brewing inside with a 5 gallon pot I always had to top off. I don't mind adding extract, I did sometimes early on. So, do you ever adjust gravity in the fermenter? If so, what is your standard?

[D_Rabbit]

I have missed before. Typically if I am off and have room in the fermenter I will do a quick boil of some DME and toss it in. It usually has to be way off though, like .010 - .015 off. I know when I did the pumpkin my conversion was somewhere around 55% instead of my typical 70-75% so I was almost .020 off. It is up to you, do it early though. I don't mind being high because I know my hops won't be effected too much whereas if you miss low than typically you will get a much bitter beer. I don't like that. If your really worried you can check on beersmith or somewhere and see how much 4oz of DME will add to the gravity and boil that in a cup or 2 of water and dump it in. That would be my go to. For that difference, I probably wouldn't worry too much.

I have issues still dialing in my boil off amounts. I just switched around my burners in hopes to dial it in a little better because my other one was boiling off 2-2.5 gallons because it was so powerful.

[Beer-lord]

Either I don't worry about it or I add some dried malt extract (though I've not done that in years) to make up the difference. It's a learning game until you get your system down. Might take 10 or so brews and by then you will be hitting your numbers much closer.
If you were trying for 5 gallons and ended up 1.5 gallons more, you did good. Had you boiled it down another gallon or so, you would have likely overshot your numbers.
Don't worry much about it, learn and brew on.

[alb]

But I thought one of the beauteous things about BIAB was that you didn’t have to sparge because you start with enough water from the get-go to account for grain absorption and boil-off. I’m reading more and more about people sparging their BIAB. Did I miss something along the way?

[John Sand]

Thank you for your replies. I know 1 pound of DME would bring it in line.
Alb, BIAB was originally designed for full volume mashing. There are two good reasons to sparge: Brewing bigger beers in a modest pot, and Improving efficiency. I use typical mash ratios, then "dunk sparge" in another pot while heating the "first runnings" to boil. Because many 5 gallon recipes call for about 7.5 gallons pre-boil, and I use a 7.5 gallon pot, I don't top off right away. The sparge is added as the wort boils off.

[alb]

Well, that’s good to know, since I have an 8.5 gal pot!

[John Sand]

And with a big beer, maybe 15 or pounds of grain, you can't fit all the water. But there is always a way.

And I decided to add a pound of Light DME.

[Kealia]

Another appropriate post. I brewed up my Nelson Sauvin Pale Ale this weekend and undershot the volume a bit and didn't account for the trub loss because I added a lot more hops <insert sound of applause from some Borg members here>.

As such, was 12 points over my intended gravity. Instead of being smart and using BeerSmith to adjust it accurately I decided to wing it - and added to much water coming in at 8 points UNDER when I took a second reading. D'oh!

I ended up adding about 1/3lb of light DME I had on hand for just an occasion. I could have left the original volume/gravity alone but I wanted to hit the numbers right on since I made tweaks to the recipe.

So....to answer the original question: 12 points over or 8 points under

[BlackDuck]

I added a lot more hops <insert sound of applause from some Borg members here>.

12 points over or 8 points under

You sound like a bookie!!!

[John Sand]

Another appropriate post. I brewed up my Nelson Sauvin Pale Ale this weekend and undershot the volume a bit and didn't account for the trub loss because I added a lot more hops <insert sound of applause from some Borg members here>.

As such, was 12 points over my intended gravity. Instead of being smart and using BeerSmith to adjust it accurately I decided to wing it - and added to much water coming in at 8 points UNDER when I took a second reading. D'oh!

I ended up adding about 1/3lb of light DME I had on hand for just an occasion. I could have left the original volume/gravity alone but I wanted to hit the numbers right on since I made tweaks to the recipe.

So....to answer the original question: 12 points over or 8 points under

Thanks!

[John Sand]

I bottled this tonight. It looks, smells and tastes great. I'm pretty optimistic.