Original Gravity

Hi,I brewed my first batch yesterday and the OG seems to be quite low,1033, using sparkling ale Coopers kit and light Malt extract(1.5kg each).
What FG should be expected at the end of fermentation?
How to increase the %of alcohol?

Did you add all the ingredients? Then the OG is most likely what the recipe says it is. How exactly did you measure it? It's easy to get the measurement wrong, but hard to get the recipe wrong. So, you are probably OK.

I'll bet it was up about 40... One thing that affects the OG is lack of good stirring up the wort.

I brewed my first batch today and had a similar experience. I brewed an Octoberfest and it was supposed to have an OG of 1.052, but I measured 1.032. I stirred it really well when I pored the wort over the first gallon in the carboy, but didn't stir when I topped it off. Do you think that's why my reading was so low? Is there anything I should do at this point? What should I do differently next time? And what is a best practice for pulling samples for gravity testing; do you use the siphon?

We get this question 3-4 times every day, so you're not alone. And in reality, nothing's wrong.

It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain recipes) to have an error in reading the OG...In fact, it is actually nearly impossible to mix the wort and the top off water in a way to get an accurate OG reading...

Brewers get a low reading if they get more of the top off water than the wort, conversely they get a higher number if they grabbed more of the extract than the top off water in their sample.

RM-MN has a great analogy;

RM-MN said:

This phenomenon is easy to see if you have a glass measure cup, some dark honey, and water. Pour in half a cup of water into the glass container, then dribble in some honey. Notice the honey sinks right to the bottom? It's more dense because of the sugar it contains. Now use a toothpick to stir the water above the honey. This will simulate using a spoon in a 5 gallon container. Did you get the honey mixed in? Not likely. If you drop in some dry yeast, it will find the honey and begin eating and the activity of the yeast will mix the honey in just fine.

Click to expand...

When I am doing an extract with grain recipe I make sure to stir for a minimum of 5 minutes (whipping up a froth to aerate as well) before I draw a grav sample and pitch my yeast....It really is an effort to integrate the wort with the top off water...This is a fairly common new brewer issue we get on here...unless you under or over topped off or the final volume for the kit was 5 gallons and you topped off to 5.5, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"

More than likely your true OG is really what it's supposed to be. And it will mix itself fine during fermentation.

And just use the number it says in the instructions as the true OG, because it will be.

So the answer is, relax and do nothing.

Thanks mates,feel more relax now

Cheers, bud. And welcome to HBT!

I'm starting to loose all faith in my specific gravity measurements. I just brewed my second batch (a strong ale) and this time OG was high, 1.082 vs the recipe 1.070ish. I figured I just got more wort than water. It's sat in the primary for 3.5 weeks and I just bottled it and the FG was 1.031 vs recipe 1.020ish. I did have a pop off of the before I learned to put on a blowoff drain, but it didn't look like I lost that much beer that it would have an impact, and following the pop off, fermentation continue strong for another 18 to 24 hours. Is my hydrometer off or am I doing something wrong? The first brew I did turned out OK, but it doesn't taste like it has a high alcohol content.