What do I believe: hydrometer or logic?

OK. So I just threw down a recipe with 3.3 pounds of syrup (so, 80% of that is sugar = about 2.7 lbs), 2 pounds of dry extract, and 2 pounds of grain in a partial mash. even if you assume a HORRIBLE mash yield of 25%, that's 5.2 or so pounds of sugar, right? And according to an SG calculator, that's a pitching OG of 1.046.

But when I took a sample from the bucket before pitching, it read 1.035! What's up with that? It doesn't even seem possible. Has anyone seen this before? All I can think is that I didn't stir the bucket enough when I took the sample, but I used the same process I've always used before for mixing the wort with cool distilled water to bring it up to volume.

And if I didn't stir it well enough, will that be a problem for the ferment? Will the sugar all sit at the bottom and ruin it somehow?

To quote our buddy Charlie....

"Sit back, relax and have a homebrew."

Everything will be fine, man. Stop worrying about trivial little things like your gravity reading.

loop

Couple possibilities: Your sample wasn't a good representation, as it might not have been completely mixed together. Or, you ended up with more then you typical amount of water in your fermenter, watering it down a bit.

I'd lean towards the former, but eitherway it's nothing that will ruin your brew.

I've often had reading that don't match my calculations, even with all extract batches. Since I'm looking for flavor and not maximum alcohol levels, I don't worry about it. (although high FG's bug me) As the wort ferments there will be a slow mixing. Also, the yeast starts at the top, but will fall through the fermenter towards the end.

Ok, thanks everyone, forgot the cardinal rule: "relax."

Actually I guess the cardinal rule is "sanitize," but "relax" has to be a close second.

No.. I would say that RELAX is the top priority. Many people are actually TOO concerned about sanitation. You need to be clean, but you don't need to be crazy about it.

-walker