Nike_Eayrs
Well-Known Member
Does adding sugar affect a hydrometer reading? I was trying to lighten up a partial mash recipe. I subbed some sugar for malt extract and the numbers were a bit low. Cheers!
I used 1lb of sugar, mashed out 6lbs of grain and 2lbs of dry malt extract for a 5 gallon batch. It's also the first time that I mashed out that much grain. I was just curious if sugar affected the reading the same way DME or mashed out grain did. Original gravity was 1.041, I figured it should have been around 1.050.
did you happen to do a partial boil and take the reading after topping off? wort and water are difficult to mix well enough to get an accurate reading. if not, then you got very poor efficiency (~32%). what was your mash temp, time, and amount of water? was the grain bag tight?
1LB of sugar (dextrose) is roughly equal to 0.8lbs of DME gravity wise.
I used a paint strainer bag to mash the grain. I mashed with 1 1/2 gallons of water at 122 for 20 min, 152-160 for 60, and mashed out at 170 for 10 min. I then rinsed the grain with 2 1/2 gallons of water over a fermenting bucket. I boiled that for an hour, and added dme and sugar 15 before flame out. It was then topped off with water to get to 5 gallons. I have purchased a steel 7 1/2 gallon pot and a propane burner for the next batch. Do you think that is the reason for the reading? Could it be higher or lower than the reading I got? Cheers!
Make your life easier. Not only is there almost never a need for a 122 rest, it could be detrimental to the head and body of your beer.
It's common to get incorrect OG readings when you top off. Even if you think you have it well mixed, the wort is heavier and will sink to the bottom, meaning you'll be taking a reading from the watered down wort on top.
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