Mash Efficiency and Adding more fermentables to the primary

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manplant
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Mash Efficiency and Adding more fermentables to the primary

Post by manplant »

A recent Belgian I made had a mash efficieny lower than projection (79% vs 90). This will be corrected with correct sparge volume in the future. As a result, my OG was .006 lower than expected resulting in a 0.75% drop in alcohol content.

Can I add more sugars to the primary, or is it better to leave it alone and accept the alcohol reduction?
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Post by Matthew »

I would ferment as is.Chances are it will be a fine beer and next time you know what to do. You can add more fementables I've read but never done.Some recipes call for adding sugars late in the ferment, I wouldn't,
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Legman
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Mash Efficiency and Adding more fermentables to the primary

Post by Legman »

If it were me, I'd just leave it be and chalk it up to a learning experience. I had one of those awhile back due to poor sparge.

But, if that .75% alcohol is important to you, I don't see why you couldn't add some sugars to the primary.
Run your calculator with the 79% efficiency and figure out how much you need to make up the difference. Maybe boil it in a pint of water to sterilize, cool, then add it.

Another thing, are you consistently getting 90% efficiency every time? That may be something to consider next formulation.
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slothrob
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sugar in Belgian

Post by slothrob »

Sugar is a pretty common addition to many Belgian styles. Often it's added during primary. The questions would be how much sugar is already in the beer and what style are you trying to make.

Remember that that adding sugar will reduce the body and lower the FG. Appropriate for some beers and not for others.
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manplant
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Mash Efficiency

Post by manplant »

Ive been getting 90 on the last couple of runs, but they are lower gravity with less grain. Ive been using a crappy sparge volume calculator at brew365. Ive made adjustments for future batches.

Does the pc version of BT have a decent mash and sparge calculator? Ive always used the web program. I lost the PC version in a PC crash a couple of months ago.
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jeff
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Re: Mash Efficiency

Post by jeff »

manplant wrote:Does the pc version of BT have a decent mash and sparge calculator? Ive always used the web program. I lost the PC version in a PC crash a couple of months ago.
Did you download it again? When you purchase BeerTools Pro, you can always access your download here. You will need to update your license key, but that is pretty easy to do using the site too.
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