EisBerg

Recipes 

I just finished an AHS Texas Blonde (extract) kit and all went well except for the gravity reading. Target Gravity was stated as 1.042 and my reading was about 1.034. I can understand being off a little but this seems a bit much. I did all as the recipe called for. Boil at 2 1/2 gallons (stove can barely keep this up). Only one hop addition at 60. Brew Vint yeast fuel at 10. Chill in sink (took about 30 mins to reach 80). Then racked to primary. Two things come to mind. I aerated before sample (splashing between buckets) and I took the pale that the extract came in and looked inside and noted left over extract. Here are pictures of the pale.

A profile to note size of pale



And inside pic to show content.



Could it be the leftover amount of extract that is giving me a lower reading (not much but pale was onlt half full too) and if so how bad will this affect the outcome? Can aerating before taking a reading cause a false gravity? Many tiny air bubbles were present in thief and I swirled to shake them off but...

Thanks for your help.

EB

EisBerg

Recipes 

Just to add...I do know that more extract will raise the gravity and that that is the most likely reason why but the total amount left over is probably enough to, say, fill a shot glass or a little more. Not much. Thanks.

EB

EvilTOJ

Recipes 

That little bit of extract left in the bucket isn't going to make .012 points of difference. Neither will aeration. The most common cause of this is the top up water didn't mix fully with the topup water. It takes a full 5 minutes of hard mixing to get the extract mixed in with the plain ol' water in order to get a good reading.

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Marko73

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Also make sure to calibrate your hydrometer and make any adjustments based on your temperature. My gravity readings have been much more accurate and on target since I did this.

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EisBerg

Recipes 

Yeah...i checked the gravity right after mixing so hopefully that's the case!! Also I have never calibrated the hydrometer. I'm assuming you just check it in water and add or subtract that result. Would that be correct?

MacBruver

Recipes 

Side note, for future batches... if you want to get that last bit of extract out, ladle some of your hot wort into the bucket and swirl it around. I get pretty much all of the extract out by doing this.

EisBerg

Recipes 

I know what happened now. I bought two 2.5 gallon jugs of spring water thinking "Perfect...that makes 5 gallons!!!" I didn't take into account the extract added. So I'm afraid I did dilute this batch. Can only wait and see how it turns out now. Thanks for everyones help though. I have a batch of AHS Sweet Stout cooking right now. I'll make d*** sure I don't repeat this mistake!!!!

pizzaman

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EisBerg, someone needs to make a t-shirt out of your avatar. The iceberg picture on the front of the shirt and "Just the tip, I promise!" on the back. That would be the bees knees.

Patterson860

Recipes 

How did the beer turn out? I recently experienced a similar problem. I brewed an oatmeal stout with extract and my OG was way low. I'm guessing it's because the wort and water I added to get to 5 gallons wasn't mixed when I took the reading. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

ghostbrewer

Recipes 

I think Patterson 860 and EvilTOJ are on to something. I had a similar experience with a Hophead 75's SoBourbon Stout recipe (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/subourbon-stout-90830/). My OG came out at 1.042 when expecting 1.063. However, I popped the top on the first one about a week ago and it hit me like a 1.06 or 1.07 OG. So, after reading this thread, I'm thinking I had some poor mixing after toping off to 5 gallons with fresh water. I think in the long run, the initial poor mixing resolves itself. I suppose if I knew the pre-top up gravity, I'd have a better idea...

Giving credit where due, Hophead 75's recipe doesn't disappoint. I've no complaints and will gladly use again!

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