Color/Specific Gravity Concern

So today I attempted my hand at a non-beerkit. I got all the fixings for a porter style beer. Got my grains, my hops, my liquid yeast and followed the instructions I received from the guy at the shop.

Everything was working great, lots of good smells, good color. But when I finished the boil (after 60 minutes) I noticed there wasn't a whole lot of liquid left. I started with at least over 2 gallons of liquid for my boil. So I didn't think much of it (being a noob) and filled the rest of the fermenter with water. Taking the reading for the specific gravity, my sample looks very... light. And the reading is 1.016 for the starting gravity. Im thinking I did something wrong so here is my process...

Boiled the grains in a pot of water, approx 1 gallon of water at 155 degrees for 25 minutes. Then strained the mix into my wort (that had my hops, malt extract and about 1 gallons of water). Boiled for 60 minutes, adding in irish moss during the last 15 minutes and adding the half of hops after the boil and letting them sit for 10 minutes.

Thats the basics of my process. But the beer looks light, and the reading is really low. Im not one to worry, but something just doesn't feel right. Any ideas?

About how much liquid did you end up with after you strained the mix into your wort?

We will need the recipe details, especially how much extract and how much grains. Sounds like not enough extract.

It was probably close to 2 gallons of liquid during the boil. This was my first attempt at doing a non-beer kit (and second overall brew). And I feel like I overlooked the amount of water for my boil and messed it up


Recipe:
8lbs. Amber Extract
1/4lb. Blk Malt
1/2lb. Choc. Malt
1/2lb. Roasted Barley
1/2lb Crystal Malt (40L)
4oz. K. Golding Hops.

How big is your carboy? That 8lbs of extract alone should push the gravity way higher than 1.016.

With 8 lbs. of extract you should definitely have better than 1.016 OG no matter how much water you add post boil (assuming you are doing 5 gallon batch). I would suspect a misread of the hydrometer first.

Its a 5 gallon Carboy.

Second reading of the hydrometer is 1.022. So its a bit above what I said earlier. Im still puzzled. The color looks like a brown ale.

You must have a magical 5 gallon carboy that can fit 10 gallons.

What temperature are your hydrometer samples? Readings will increase as the wort cools.

Did you shake the carboy for a few minutes after adding the top off water to mix it all up? I'd suspect a poorly mixed wort. With 8lbs of extract, I do not see how you could only get a SG of 1.016

downinit said:

What temperature are your hydrometer samples? Readings will increase as the wort cools.

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1.022 was at 72 degrees.

underdog378 said:

Did you shake the carboy for a few minutes after adding the top off water to mix it all up? I'd suspect a poorly mixed wort. With 8lbs of extract, I do not see how you could only get a SG of 1.016

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Wow... So stupid me didn't realize I should shake it for a couple minutes. I just did a quick shake earlier and didn't think much of it. Shook it for a good couple minutes, and now the color is dark and the original gravity is correct. The simplest thing is the one I overlook. I feel embarrassed now. But thank you everyone for your help! Im very glad I found this place!

Brak23 said:

Wow... So stupid me didn't realize I should shake it for a couple minutes. I just did a quick shake earlier and didn't think much of it. Shook it for a good couple minutes, and now the color is dark and the original gravity is correct. The simplest thing is the one I overlook. I feel embarrassed now. But thank you everyone for your help! Im very glad I found this place!

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I did the same thing the other day. Was testing my OG, took a sample of my Irish Red without mixing it. It was a pale brown mustardy color, with a SG of something like 1.015.

Thought about it for a second, then stirred like mad for about 5 straight minutes. Took another sample, and boom! A nice shade of red with a SG of 1.080. Quite a difference.

I've said it once and I'll say it again, shake that carboy like it owes you something.

TTB-J said:

I've said it once and I'll say it again, shake that carboy like it owes you something.

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If it's a better bottle, place a tennis ball underneath (as recommended by manufacturer) this will allow you to shake it a lot(while off the ground) without lifting it off the ground, and doesn't stress the plastic so much.

I'm on my third batch, rehyrdated dry yeast and a lot of shaking, like a solid minute or two at least, and great success(yeast in after shaking).

Since I'm getting into middle age,I'm not going to finish ruining my back lifting 6 gallons of heavy liquid over my head to shake the crap out of it.

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Hehe, I don't know what sort of crazy King-Kong stuff you're imagining, but there's no heavy lifting required to get a good shake. Just put in a sanitized solid stopper, gently lay your carboy on a towel on its side, and roll it back in forth hard enough so the liquid inside violently sloshes and splashes around. If you've topped off with non-boiled water and shaken the carboy in that manner for about a minute or so, that should be plenty of oxygen to get the yeast going for medium OG batches and you'll have mixed up your wort enough to get a reliable gravity reading.

Another way to do it is to have two sanitized buckets and just keep pouring the wort back and forth between them, but I don't like that method as much because it exposes the wort to open air for a while and you risk spilling or splashing some of that precious wort on the ground, which in some states is a felony.