Interesting question, Steve - couple of posts from rec.crafts.brewing. Anyone have any other data?
cheers
reg
From: M&L Davenport (
[email protected])
Subject: Re: O.G. and Hops
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Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Date: 2001-04-20 20:38:18 PST
> I use hop pellets with my kit beers. When I transfer the wort to the
> primary I strain out the hops. I notice there is some fine sediment of hops
> that makes it through the strainer. Won't this increase the O.G. ?
> Thanks in advance.
> -Tom
Simply put, no...particulate matter in water/wort/fluid will NOT have an
effect on the gravity of the fluid. Only truely DISSOLVED matter...in
our case, sugars...will raise the gravity.
Broken down hop pellets in your sample might, however, make it tougher
to read the scale, but that's pretty minor.
If it bothers you a lot, try either just leaving the hops in the
fermenter and rack off of the hops and the yeast after a week or so or
use hop bags.
If you use the bags and are picky about your EXACT bittering rate, I've
found that adding about 10% more pellets will take care of your lost
utilitisation.
I do it both ways, depending on how lazy I'm feeling on brew day and
haven't noticed any difference in the final product.
Oh...if you leave the hops in the ferment, you'll want to brew a little
more than normal...only about a quart to a half gallon, because you will
end up losing some in the racking.
Luck
Don't Worry...Brew Hoppy
Mike
Message 3 in thread
From: dcole100 (
[email protected])
Subject: Re: O.G. and Hops
View this article only
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
Date: 2001-04-22 03:17:10 PST
Floaters or sinkers will not affect the O.G. of wort. Example: If you are
sitting in a bathtub full of water, does the water get any thicker? No. But
if you dissolve 10 pounds of sugar, you will increase the O.G. of the
bathwater. However, make sure that you let the hydrometer sample settle
before measuring. Anything that clings to the hydrometer will pull down its
measured O.G.
Good luck,
Dan Cole
