Whirlfloc tablets and OG

[RedBeardBrewer]

I've just brewed one of my last extract brews before moving over to all grain and something I noticed today has made me question how much using whirlfloc tablets effects the Original Gravity.

I used the Morgan's IPA extract tin as well as a partial grain mash of 100g Crystal and 100g Caramalt. I would have thought I'd have got around toe 1050 mark, but instead the OG was 1031. This seems awfully low to me given the extract and partial mash.

Any thoughts on this? and if the whirlfloc tablets do make a difference, what would I be looking at as a rough estimate on the OG?

 

[razz]

Hi Redbeard, I’d say one has nothing to do with the other. The gravity error will be somewhere in your calculations or volumes (maybe some of both)

 

[S.E]

Or perhaps you forget to add the sugar or other ingredient?

 

[MHB]

Whirlfloc tablets do make a difference, just not to the OG. They help fine flock settle faster and that’s about all they do. Not saying that isn’t important it’s just pretty simple, they aren’t even listed as an ingredient (classes as a "Process Aid") in beer, the Carrageenan in Whirlfloc just falls through the wort pulling lots of fines with it.

If you wanted to put up your ingredients and volumes it won’t be hard to tell what the OG should have been.
Mark

 

[Dozer71]

Morgan's IPA extract tin as well as a partial grain mash of 100g Crystal and 100g Caramalt.

If this is all you had in 20 to 23 litres you are short around 1kg of fermentables, hence the sg of 1.031. The steeped grains will add a bit, but not a lot. Their base kit is 1.7kg lager plus "body blend" which is 1kg of fermentables (or close to) to get into the 1.04+ range.