Low SG on an extract brew, Is it due to poor mixing?

Today I brewed a Midwest Belgian Wit extract recipe kit. It consisted of
6 lb. Wheat LME
1/2 lb. Carapils steeped for 30 mins at ~155
hops, coriander, orange peel, etc.

OG should be 1.042-1.046 but I just measured mine at 1.022!! What could have happened?? I don't think I added too much water. I am using a 6.5 gal carboy for the first time (used 5 gal previously) but I measured the water and have quite a bit of space in there, almost couldn't reach the wort with my turkey baster.

Even supposing I totally screwed up the steeping grains (which I don't think I did), I doubt they contribute that much sugar, would they?

Oh, here's one more hopefully important point: I took this OG reading a full 5 hours after combining water & wort in the carboy. Could it be that the heavy stuff settles out in the bottom and my pulling liquid from the very top (remember my baster just barely touched) took the thinnest stuff out and is not a true reading?

Thanks everyone.

FSBrewer said:

...Oh, here's one more hopefully important point: I took this OG reading a full 5 hours after combining water & wort in the carboy. Could it be that the heavy stuff settles out in the bottom and my pulling liquid from the very top (remember my baster just barely touched) took the thinnest stuff out and is not a true reading?

Click to expand...

You nailed it! Unless you somehow forgot to add most of your extract or you added WAY too much water this is what the problem was. You need to stir really well for at least 5 minutes after you add your top up water to get a good thorough mixing of the wort.

You can take the calculated OG as being probably correct (close enough that it won't matter anyway) and the yeast will mix it up just fine for you.

Well that's good information. I've never before mixed the wort after pouring into the carboy, but usually I've put most of the water in first (and chilled it a bit) so I guess it gets mixed well enough after pouring the wort in. This time I did the same but ended up putting about an extra gallon of water in after pouring in the wort.

OK, I'm gonna RDWHaCB (Commercial Beer).

Thanks!

dumb question, but how can you mix through the small neck of a carboy?

Boodlemania said:

dumb question, but how can you mix through the small neck of a carboy?

Click to expand...

I have a long thin spoon, as well as a stainless mixer thing sold to degas wine. You want to aerate it anyway, so you can either shake it and roll it or pour back and forth to the brewpot.