I don’t do alot of big beers (never nothing this big) and I’ve heard with such big grain bills there is often a drop in efficiency but 64% really made me miss the mark. The grist consisted of mostly Maris Otter, a pound of crystal 77, and 12 oz of invert sugar. IBU’s at 100, and the OG was supposed to be at 1.100 but at end of boil I had 1.090. My question is should I just leave it alone, add about a pound of sugar to bring it closer to my planned OG, or order some DME which I wouldn’t get for a few days?
It’s totally up to you, of course. Personally I would probably just leave it alone.
Around 65% eff. is pretty reasonable for a beer like that. I use all of my brewing water in the mash for barleywines/RIS and then just drain it into the kettle. 65% seems to be the number I hit every time plus or minus a percentage point. With the lower water to grain ratio that you get with big beers there’s really no avoiding it unless you want to boil for longer than 60-90 min.
Yup, that is about right for a big beer. I would have held off on the sugar until the fermentation was at high krauzen. You could always add another pound of sugar at that point. I don’t like to give the yeast desert until they have eaten most of their dinner or they complain and don’t finish the meal leaving a high FG.
Another vote to just leave it. At 64% and 1.090 SG for a beer that big is fine.
I am thinking 10 points for a 1.090 beer is not a big of a problem as 10 points in a 1.050 lager.
When I do my lagers I like to get no more than 70%. I like the malt profile there and much more seems to dilute the malt flavor for the sake of mouth feel. and gravity points.
Extra sugar would dry it out too much, so I guess I will just leave it alone. Thanks.
