OG question

Ok, so I made my first brew tonight. It was the Brewers Best Pumpkin Spice Porter kit. I followed the instructions explicitly. When I measured my OG it was 1.048. The instructions said that it should be 1.057-1.061. This was at 75 degrees F. I strained the trub as much as possible with a SS strainer that was sanitized. There was nothing left but a mud like consistency that I could get no more liquid from. Did I add too much water when I brought it up to 5 gallons? Is this going to effect the final beer a lot? Is this just going to make it have a weaker final ABV? Thanks for all of the help.

I had a similar experience on my second batch. I was convinced I didn't have enough malt but my LHBS told me I probably didn't give it a good long stir after adding water before reading an OG. I ended up adding 3lbs of DME late and mine went up to 1.060.
I have since done this good stir on every batch (without adding more malt) and am always getting .058 and beyond.

So maybe a good stir will help

And it shouldn't affect the final beer much besides just a lower abv. Looks like you'll still get a solid 5-5.2% Porter which is still not bad.

You also want to be sure to adjust your gravity reading for temperature as the higher the temp the lower the reading will be. You generally want to cool it the temp the hydrometer is calibrated for. Most are 60F I've seen a few at 68F it should note it somewhere on the paper inside the hydrometer.

Yep, it said 60. It seemed that the correction was .002. I added that to the physical .046 to get .048. Still seemed off. I mixed it fairly well I thought. Oh well, I guess I will see what the FG is... Also still not sure if I should secondary, or just keep in primary longer. Thoughts?

That's a highly debated topic. I only use secondary's if adding a fruit addition or if doing LONG term aging. Otherwise I just let it ride in the primary.

I aerate the hell out of my wort after topping off. I use 5 gallon carboys, so I just plug in the stop and rock the baby for a good 2-3 minutes before taking any hydrometer readings. My second batch freaked me out because I didn't mix it well when I took the reading, it was low low. Then I remembered that I didn't mix it as well as I should have. If you have a bucket, I have no advice besides stirring because I have no experience with bucket fermenters.

If you used the right amount of extract and the right total gallons, the gravity will be right. As stated above, the gravity reading can be off because the mixing isn't perect. I don't worry about perfect mixing any more - the action of fermentation seems to mix it well.

i guess i should have taken a gravity reading on my first brew... damn, noob mistake. got excited and forgot. i just wanted to pitch the yeast.

This seems to be the question of the week. This is like the 20th time in the last 3 days...

Attention new brewers, yes your original gravity reading is wrong. Don't panic.

Thanks Everyone! I guess I wont worry too much about it, as I have been told not to. Next up is Caribou Slobber. I love Moose Drool, and I am tired of having to pay $10 a sixer for it, so I hope that it is as good!