Another "Forgot to take OG reading"

I know this has been covered before, but I couldn't find any good threads on this.

How do you estimate an OG based on the ingredients of an extract recipe.

6Lbs of light dry malt extract
1Lbs Dark dry malt extract
2Lbs specialty grain (some kind of light crystal)

Wyeast American Ale yeast with a 24 hr starter

Beersmith, free trial:
http://www.beersmith.com/download-beersmith/

I usually just ignore it. Only thing it really tells me is what my alcohol content is. Wouldn't worry about it unless you're making your own recipe that you've never made and is nothing like any other brews.

I try to remember to pull out the old refract-o-meter after chill down but don't about half the time.>>>

PTBYOOJ said:

How do you estimate an OG based on the ingredients of an extract recipe.

6Lbs of light dry malt extract
1Lbs Dark dry malt extract
2Lbs specialty grain (some kind of light crystal)

Click to expand...

The easiest way is to use a program. There are some free ones available. I think I used Qbrew sometime in the past.

How do you do it! You add up all the gravity points of the fermentables, and divide it by the total volume in the fermenter. For your recipe:

1 lb of DME has 45 gravity points (it will make a gravity of 1.045 if dissolved and made up to 1 gallon). Therefore 7 lbs = 315 gravity points.

Steeping crystal will yield about 50% of it's fermentables, so you will get about 16 to 17 points per lb ..... lets say 35 points for 2 lbs.

Total = 315 + 35 = 350.

Divide that by the total volume in your fermenter. If 5 gallons. your OG will be 1.070.

Hope this helps.

Great info, thanks. Tried a couple programs, your post definitely helped make sense of them.


Thanks again!