Over shooting

Mashing
1

So I’m fixing to do my first maib and wondered if i should overshoot my desired OG a little just to compensate?

2

maib? Mash in a bag?

I wouldn’t hurt to figure a lower efficiency. You can always add some water at the end of the boil to bring the gravity down. Or leave it alone and have a higher ABV beer.

Here is a quick calculator to estimate how much water to add.

http://www.brewheads.com/newvolume.php
3

[quote=“Nighthawk”]maib? Mash in a bag?

I wouldn’t hurt to figure a lower efficiency. You can always add some water at the end of the boil to bring the gravity down. Or leave it alone and have a higher ABV beer.

Here is a quick calculator to estimate how much water to add.

http://www.brewheads.com/newvolume.php[/quote]

yes mash in a bag, I hate the beer in a bag term sounds like one of those nasty kits you can buy from a catalog. I don’t mind if it comes in bigger just don’t want to have a mgd 64 clone on my hands

4

If you have your own mill you can set a finer crush, or have the brew store double crush for you. This will more than adjust for efficiency issues. A lot of people actually get much better efficiency with BIAB/MIAB, lots of threads on this lately. I usually get 85% efficiency with my BIAB setup, so I actually have to undershoot or reduce my grain bill. Even so, I occasionally get a surprise. My last brew was 95% efficiency, I had estimated 82%, so wound up with much higher OG than I was planning. Just like with a 3 vessel system, it will take you a few brews to dial in your system.

Good luck! :cheers:

5

It isn’t unusual to build a known error into a system. In pre-GPS days it was common to modify a calculated course so that you would know which way to turn when the beach came in sight but the pass you wanted to enter was not in sight; you would have a better chance of avoiding a dangerous section of coast, would know which way to turn to find the pass, or could be assured of an easy down-wind run to the pass.

Intentionally overshooting your target OG means you can be prepared to dilute. An alternative is to check your gravity before and during the boil so you can adjust by boiling longer, adding water, or boiling more vigorously. Making mid-course corrections to boiling time and gravity also means you may need to also adjust the amount or timing of your hop additions. As you fine-tune your system you can reduce the size of the intentional error you include.

6

thanks Its good to know I’m on the right path