First Batch - Low OG Quesiton

Hi all,

I brewed my first beer this weekend and got some questionable results that I am curious about.

Its a 5 gallon batch that I used 9.9lbs of LME
- 2 packages 3.3 lbs of Northwestern Weizen
- 1 pack 3.3 lbs Northwestern Extra light

I took a gravity reading after cooling down to 80 deg. (f) and it was 1.052. I had expected more along the lines of 1.070. I've a refractometer (winemaker) and i got a reading of 14 deg brix. I even confirmed the reading on a second hydrometer that I have and it was the same.

Any thoughts on why I got such a low OG?

Everything is bubbling away so I'm not deeply concerned but just wondered if anyone else had ever experienced something like this.

Did you top off with water or did you do a full boil. If you topped it off with cold water at the end there is a chance you didn't shake it up good enough. I made that mistake once and had a low OG. With that much DME you should be a little higher I agree.

9.9 lb of LME in 5 gal will give an OG of about 1.073. If your gravity is actually different, then you used the wrong amount of extract, or the wrong volume of water. But it's more likely that the wort and top-off water weren't well mixed.

Truthfully, if your weight and volume measurements are accurate, there's no reason to take an OG reading for an extract beer.

I just brewed my first batch a couple weeks ago and also had a lower OG than the recipe called for - it turned out it was as simple as the hydrometer being calibrated for a lower temperature (60 f). Any idea if yours are the same?

I did actually boil at 3 gal then top off to 5 so it's probably a mixing issue. I did go back and forth to the kettle to aerate, but it was only with the boil volume. I was pretty excited and wanted to get everything going and I dont remember stirring it up before I took a sample.

I had a similar problem with a mead that I made a year or two ago and didn't even think about it this time a round. Thanks again for the replies. Sometimes it helps to have folks point out the solution right in front of my nose.