OG not even close to what it "should" be

Here is the recipe I brewed last night. I read it was supposed to have an O.G of 1.043-1.047. My OG was 1.06. Should I expect flavors to be off because of this?

2lbs Muntons Pale Ale
1lb Briess Wheat Malt
1lb Briess Caramel 40
3lbs Muntons Extra Light DME
1oz Northern Brewer Hops (boiling)
1oz Saaz Hops (flavor)
1oz Hallertau Hops (aroma)
1oz coriander seeds (crushed)
American Ale Yeast - Wyeast 1056 (with the crush pack inside)

What size batch is this?

5 gallon batch

Did you mash or steep the grains?

You cannot get a gravity of 1.060 from those ingredients with a 5g batch.
You either added more ingredients, ended up with less than 5 gallons, or didn't mix the wort thoroughly before taking the gravity smaple. My guess is that you didn't mix enough, and drew the gravity sample from the bottom of the fermenter. If that guess is correct, then RDWHAHB, because the yeasts will do the mixing for you during fermentation.

-a.

ajf said:

You cannot get a gravity of 1.060 from those ingredients with a 5g batch.
You either added more ingredients, ended up with less than 5 gallons, or didn't mix the wort thoroughly before taking the gravity smaple. My guess is that you didn't mix enough, and drew the gravity sample from the bottom of the fermenter. If that guess is correct, then RDWHAHB, because the yeasts will do the mixing for you during fermentation.

-a.

Click to expand...

I think this may be it, but one other detail: I started off with about a gallon of cold water in the bottom of the carboy. There was about 2 gallons of wort (that is a guestimate, not anything scientific). I pour the wort through a strainer and into the funnel. when the strainer is filled with hops (i use whole leaf hops), I pour cold water over it until it runs clear and then add more cold water to top it off. I would think that this method would mix it, but I could be wrong.

You would be amazed (scratch that, you're in the process of being amazed) at how poorly viscous liquids will mix.

Unless you're using direct agitation (paint mixer, spoon or similar) once all the ingredients are in the fermenter, there's almost no way to get a homogeneous mix.

Yep! Even vigorous mixing can give you a sample with a wildly "off" reading. I get this all the time with my partial boils. The advise I got here was that it's safe to assume the calculated OG when brewing with extract. Commercially produced extract is so consistent, that unless you deviate very far from the recipe your "real" OG will be within a fraction of a point of the calculation.

In any case, the end result will be beer!

The primary fermentation has settled down in the last few days (over a minute watching and no bubbles). I decided to check the gravity and it is reading 1.012-1.014. I decided to taste it and it's like I'm chewing hops/sucking on tea bags. I'm going to bottle this up in about a week and let sit a while, but I'm wondering if at this stage this is a normal flavor or if i messed something up (notice wondering, not worried. My friends will drink anything).

I think it'll be fine. I mean it doesn't sound like an infection-taste or anything catastrophic. It won't taste right until it's finished and conditioned (carbonation adds an extra dimension of flavor too). You can safely let it sit in the primary for 3-4 weeks before bottling. It's actually beneficial to give it a little extra time as the yeast clean up some off flavors. Many of us have come to swear by a 3-4 week primary rule-of-thumb.