Wort not mixing?

So i just finished up a brew session, got everything into the primary, cooled it to 78* and ready to pitch yeast when i took a hydrometer reading. As i was pulling the sample, it looked incredibly light. upon closer inspection it looked like the wort was sinking towards the bottom and the water i added (extract brewing) wasnt mixing. The hydro reading was close to water, despite using about 7 lbs of LME. What gives?

I pitched the yeast anyway and stuck it in the corner. Figured i could wait a day and see if it looks better after it starts fermenting, but thought i could get some input here as well.

any reassurance will be appreciated!

Did you shake the primary? If you top with water you have to shake the heck out of it to mix it. If you didn't shake I would recommend shaking it real quick as long as fermentation hasn't started.

I had the same problem with top off water not mixing well and totally throwing off my readings. I found a stirrer that attaches to a drill. Vintners use it for degassing their wine. Works great for stirring up wort! I've noticed that it can take a _long_ time to get consistent mixing. My general rule is stir until you think it's completely mixed, and then do it for a couple minutes more.

It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE using extract and then topping off with water (and that includes partial mashes) 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...

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, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"

it doesn't matter what your reading was.....the "real reading" in an extract batch is what it said it would be in the recipe or beersmith....Whether or not you mixed it up enough before you took the reading it mixed itself up fine during fermentation.

So unless you had a final volume a gallon or so higher than 5 gallons....you recipe will be fine and at the OG it was supposed to be,

I bet your OG is EXACTLY what it is supposed to be.

And during fermentation the wort and water will mix up just fine on it's own.
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Welcome to HBT!

No worries about the wort not mixing. The yeast knows where the good stuff is and will find it just fine. In a little while that will be well mixed.

thanks everyone. Been reading a LOT of different threads and have learned tons from everyone. I appreciate the reassurance.

also, i always wanted to post one of these guys: :rockin: