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Steinfiller

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So it was my first time brewing and everything seemed to be going fine until I took my initial sp gr reading.
Supposed to be anywhere forom 1.05 to 1.06 but my reading was 1.015?

What exactly does this mean? Boiled too long?
:(
 
It probably means that you are not accounting for the temperature. What temp was your wort when you took it?
 
How long did you boil? The longer the boil usually means the higher the OG. But if you measeured it hot, it will read low. Usually take a reading when the temp gets down to around 70-ish. The hydrometer is calibrated to be accurate at 60 degrees. If you take a reading at 70 degrees...add .001, and at 118 degrees, add .01. So temp makes a big diff when taking OG. Was this an all grain, partial or extraxt? AG or partial, you may have had a mis calculated recipe.
 
loopmd said:
It probably means that you are not accounting for the temperature. What temp was your wort when you took it?
Click to expand...

It was at 72 degrees but I am not home right now to check the correction on the hydrometer. I do not think that .035 would be correction for that temperature.

BeeGee said:
Post the recipe, as well.
Click to expand...
I will have to post this later. Sorry, its a German Altbier recipe.
 
72 degrees would not make up the differance. You can go here to look up what to add for the 72 temp. Like everyone else said, post your recipe later and we can probably go from there. It is also possible that you misread your hydrometer. 1.015 is pretty much where you want to end up at, not start.
 
Beermaker said:
How long did you boil? The longer the boil usually means the higher the OG. But if you measeured it hot, it will read low. Usually take a reading when the temp gets down to around 70-ish. The hydrometer is calibrated to be accurate at 60 degrees. If you take a reading at 70 degrees...add .001, and at 118 degrees, add .01. So temp makes a big diff when taking OG. Was this an all grain, partial or extraxt? AG or partial, you may have had a mis calculated recipe.
Click to expand...

Well since it was my first it was a recipe kit with all the crushed grain, extracts and hops pre-measured.

Recipe -

12 oz Crushed Crystal 60L
1 oz Black Patent
3.3 lbs Muntons Amber Malt Extract
3.3 lbs Light Malt Extract
1 oz Cluster Bittering Hops
1/2 oz Hallertau Fininshing

The boil took 60 minutes. Added cluster 5 minutes into boiler and then hallertau 50 min later.
 
May have misread the hydr. with 6.6 lbs of ME, there should be no way to fall that short. Can you re-test OG tonight? And I assume this was a 5 gallon batch, so if you followed the directions, you should be OK.
 
If I did misread the hydrometer? Although I placed sample in long glass and read at eye level.

What would a low sg mean? Not enough sugars in the wort?
 
yes, watered down, like making a light pilsner (Coors Light). But with what you have you should be ok. The longer the boil, the more concentrated the wort, the higher the OG. I will usually take a reading at the end of the boil to see where I am at. If I need to boil a little longer, I will.
 
Beermaker said:
May have misread the hydr. with 6.6 lbs of ME, there should be no way to fall that short. Can you re-test OG tonight? And I assume this was a 5 gallon batch, so if you followed the directions, you should be OK.
Click to expand...

It is a 5 gallon batch.
It has been in the fermentor for almost three day's now and looking prety good. I think I would rather wait until fermenting slows and take another reading to see what has changed.
 
Beermaker said:
yes, watered down, like making a light pilsner (Coors Light). But with what you have you should be ok. The longer the boil, the more concentrated the wort, the higher the OG. I will usually take a reading at the end of the boil to see where I am at. If I need to boil a little longer, I will.
Click to expand...


So you would suggest a SG reading before cooling wort to make sure it is right? Based on boiling time for hops does this changed flavor dramatically?

Sorry NEWB to this whole process!
 
yea, wait 3-4 more days. Is it bubbling? With an OG of 1.015, it means your about 4% brix (sugar), and an Alcohol content around 2%. I find it hard to believe. If your target was 1.05, you should be at 12.5% brix, and 7% alc. Kits are seldomly off target by more then a point if the directions are followed. Have you done a water analysis? Well or city water?
 
Did you dilute the wort and then take a sample without stirring? In that case, the heavier wort could have been at the bottom of your fermenter with relatively dilute wort on top. You need to stir after diluting to get a homogeneous mixture of wort.
 
I take a boiling sample and cool to 70 degrees and test it before I stop the boil. If its on target I stop the boil. I have extended a boil 20-30 minutes before till I took 3-4 readings and it was what I was looking for. Some folks dont like to extend the boil, but I reach my target anyway I can.
 
For the water that I used 6 gallons of purified water. I diluted the wort with 3 gallons of water mixed (maybe not good enough), aerated, and then took a SG reading. There Could have been alot of water on top and not Homogeneous mixture.
 
Aeration could have been a contributing factor, as well. I think for your setup the most accurate way to get a reading would be to add your dilution water, give it a stir or two, and then measure gravity. Then aerate and pitch.

In any case, with those ingredients and an active fermentation you're going to have beer in a few weeks!
 

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