OG reading SIGNIFICANTLY higher than expected...am I ok?

Good Morning,

Stay warm if you're in New England today...

I brewed a 2.5 gallon IPA last night, only my second brew (first non-kit brew). Here was my recipe:

4lbs Briess Light Golden Malt
0.5lbs Crystal 15
0.5lbs Corn Sugar

0.25 Magnum 45min
0.25 Cascade 30min
0.50 Citra 15min
0.50 Citra 10min
0.50 Citra 5min
0.50 Citra 0min

Safale US-05 American Yeast

Boil Volume: 3 gallons
Batch Size: About 2.5

I was expecting my OG to be around 1.06/1.07 or so, based on a few calculators that I used online. However, when I took my OG reading my jaw dropped...1.09

Is this beer doomed? Should I ferment longer than the anticipated 2 weeks primary, 1 week dry hop, then bottle? I don't want to take too many hydrometer readings because it is fermenting in a 5 gallon bucket so that is a lot of head space, so I want to try to get a good idea of when I should start taking readings.

...Whoops...I guess 4 lbs was too much?...

Side note: anyone know how to insert a picture? I added the pic of my hydrometer reading as an attachment, not sure if that works or not.

Thanks for any help!

I assume that 4 pounds is extract? If so, I think you're fine - I calculate an OG of 1.066 or so. As long as your volume is accurate it is unlikely for your OG to deviate far from expected - a known amount of extract dissolved in a known volume will yield a known OG. Did you correct for temperature when taking the reading? Have you calibrated your hydrometer in water? Are you sure you ended with 2.5 gallons?

Hi JLem,

Yes it was 4 lbs of dry extract. I think it was pretty close to 3 gallons original boil volume, and eyesight says around 2.5 or slightly less batch size.

As for my hydrometer, I have checked a reading at room temp with water and it seems to be spot on at 1.00. When I grabbed the sample it was around 68 degrees, but I left it sitting on the counter like that for an hour plus to see if anything changed but it stayed at 1.09

What do you think as far as fermentation time? I had originally planned on 2 weeks in the primary, 1 week dry hop, then bottle. Do you think with this high of an OG I should let it ferment an extra week before taking a hydrometer reading? Like I said, with that much head room I don't want to mess around with it too much for fear of oxidation.

Thanks for the reply!

It should be fine. At the projected SG, you should be pitching 2 packets of S-05, and at the measured OG, you'll need to add an extra packet. Unless you make a starter, but probably too late for that.

So should I go grab another US-05 packet and pitch or let it go a week and pitch again?

603Brew said:

What do you think as far as fermentation time? I had originally planned on 2 weeks in the primary, 1 week dry hop, then bottle. Do you think with this high of an OG I should let it ferment an extra week before taking a hydrometer reading? Like I said, with that much head room I don't want to mess around with it too much for fear of oxidation.

Thanks for the reply!

Click to expand...

Every fermentation is different. S05 is an excellent, vigorous yeast strain and it should burn through the wort in about a week for the primary fermentation, but your mileage may vary. I like fermenting on the cooler end of the tolerance for my yeast, which is around 59 F for the "preferred" range on S05. Actually, keeping the wort anywhere in the low 60's should be just fine for S05. I like setting my fermenter for about 62f for that strain. Let it go until you can't see any visible airlock activity and then slowly raise the temperature up to 70f during the diacetyl rest.

Don't worry about oxidizing the beer too much when you sneak some samples. Do it slowly and carefully and you won't disturb the CO2 blanket the beer has created for itself in the headspace. Just avoid splashing and getting O2 directly into the finished beer and you should be fine.

603Brew said:

So should I go grab another US-05 packet and pitch or let it go a week and pitch again?

Click to expand...

Grab another packet and pitch it as soon as you can with the others. Then, shake the devil out of the primary container. Tilt it on it's edge (bucket or carbouy) and shake shake shake. Yeast needs oxygen in the beginning to multiply and divide and will use any ambient O2 in the wort, so forcing a little extra air into the wort BEFORE fermentation begins is very beneficial.

Just don't do it AFTER the fermentation.

OP, if you used the correct amount of extract and hit your intended volume, just use the gravity reading for the recipe. Extract contains a fixed amount of sugar - you can't screw it up.

This is a common newbie concern. I remember thinking I was some kind of mad brewing scientist on my first two brews, as I was also over my gravity mark... when in actuality I just didn't have my wort properly mixed.