High OG

I'm a noobie but I am getting really high OG's and I don't know why. The last two batches (I have done probably 10 batches) have had really high OG. They have had .02 above what it is supposed to be. Tested the hydrometer and it is accurate so looking for suggestions. Reading was done around 80 degrees. Remember, I'm a noob, don't chop my head off. Thanks!

Describe your process (details help) and we can help figure out if anything seems out of ordinary.

Extract or All grain? The two batches that came out high, have you brewed the same recipe before and came out at lower OG?
Have you changed anything, pot size, or the way you measure volumes?
Have you changed the software you use to calculate your recipes, in case you use a software?

It was an extract. I have brewed the pale ale before with not so high OG. All equipment is the same.

I also don't use software

Can you describe the ingredients you use and the batch size? For instance 7lb of liquid extract, and some specialty grains making a 5 gallon batch. That'll help determine the approximate OG of what to expect, it may be that your using way too much extract/malt/sugar for the size batch you are making. Maybe you are doing a partial boil and not diluting with water post boil?

If your end volumes are on target, it's pretty much impossible to be off from the OG of an extract recipe. Gravity is a measurement of the amount of sugar dissolved in the water. Extract only has a certain amount of sugar in it, and you only have a certain amount of water, so there's really not any factors that can change in that regard (unlike all grain where the amount of sugar you get out of an amount of grain can vary, sometimes wildly).

So my guess is that one of two things is happening:

- You are ending up with a smaller volume than usual, either due to not adding enough top-up water and/or boiling off more water than you usually do.

-If you are adding top-up water, you just simply didn't mix it up enough and managed to take a sample from a spot in the wort that had a higher concentration of sugar.

Im starting to think that when I topped -up to 5 gallons I didn't mix well. Or maybe i pulled from just the wort and not the mix of water and wort. That makes sense to me now. Thanks!

We get this question every day

It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain revcipes) to have an error in reading the OG...In fact, it is actually nearly impossible to mix the wort and the top off water in a way to get an accurate OG reading...

Brewers get a low reading if they get more of the top off water than the wort, conversely they get a higher number if they grabbed more of the extract than the top off water in their sample.

When I am doing an extract with grain recipe I make sure to stir for a minimum of 5 minutes (whipping up a froth to aerate as well) before I draw a grav sample and pitch my yeast....It really is an effort to integrate the wort with the top off water...This is a fairly common new brewer issue we get on here...unless you under or over topped off or the final volume for the kit was 5 gallons and you topped off to 5.5, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"

More than likely your true OG is really what it's supposed to be. And it will mix itself fine during fermentation.