Gravity way lower than predicted

How the hell does this happen!?

I made this recipe (http://hopville.com/recipe/1647055) and for some reason the original gravity came out way too low. I wanted this to be a stronger beer, but I am going to end up with a pretty average ABV.

I just don't get it. My batch is nearly exactly 5 gallons and I put 9lbs of LME in. When I took the gravity reading after I had cooled it, it was 1.052. Adjusting for temperature (took it at about 76F) that would put the OG around 1053-1054. Anyway, anyone have any clues?

If it's an extract recipe, and you put the right amount of extract in, and your volume of wort was correct, then it's very unlikely you undershot your OG. It's safe to assume your gravity was what the software said it should be.

Did you do a partial boil and top off with water? It's pretty difficult to get it to mix right so sometimes the sugars are heavier towards the bottom and it can throw your reading off. It's very common to get bad hydrometer readings when topping off with water...

Bottom line: If you're sure you put everything you said in there, and the final volume of wort wasn't off, neither was your OG. So no worries!

9 pounds of DME in 5 gallons of water will make a wort with a gravity of 1.079 every time. If you added that much extract to your recipe, you will have a beer with about 8% ABV. Chances are your extract was not fully mixed into the wort, and your hydrometer sample was slightly watered down. Dont worry, it is impossible to "miss your gravity" with extract. It is very common to have inaccurate hydrometer readings with extract, though.

It didn't, it just APPEARS to be.

Attention New Brewers, yes your original gravity reading is wrong, don't panic.