Missed target OG issues

I've been brewing using a Mr. Beer setup for about a year. I did my first 5-gallon batch yesterday using an extract kit with steeping grains and hop additions. The entire process went well. But when I took my OG sample it was off by 10 points. I measured 1.036 and my target was 1.046. Any ideas what the issue might have been? There are only a couple things that I can think of that may have played a part in this:

I began steeping the grains before the water temp was up to where it should have been, so they were steeping for 15 minutes before temp got to 150. Once it was there I steeped them for 30 full minutes at temp between 155-170.

and,

I took my OG sample after pitching my yeast into my fermenter. I believe that was a mistake?

Any ideas/suggestions?

You have a couple options, leave it the way it is or you could add some more fermentable. If you go the route of adding more to the fermentation, boil it first, than cool it and then add it.

Did you stir after topping to 5 gallons with water? If not, that's likely the cause for the low OG reading.

stratification - probably not mixed well enough for good reading, you just got more water than wort in your sample

don't worry, with extracts you're almost guaranteed your OG, as long as you're good on volumes

and more don't worry, the magical little critters know what they're doing and will take it from there

I think I'll leave it the way it is. My airlock is bubbling pretty well already.

I didn't stir after topping to 5 gallons. I transferred my wort back and forth between my kettle and fermenter a couple times to aerate and then added the 3 gallons of water to top it off in the fermenter. Guess I figured the the circulation from the water flowing in there would be enough to evenly mix it.

Are OG measurements supposed to be taken before or after pitching?

mcshaw16 said:

Did you stir after topping to 5 gallons with water? If not, that's likely the cause for the low OG reading.

Click to expand...

This

Did you stir after topping to 5 gallons with water? If not, that's likely the cause for the low OG reading.

Click to expand...

This again!

Especially an extract kit....you really cannot be off on OG as long as you used all ingredients and correct amount of water......

You will be fine

Awesome, that's good to hear. I wasn't really worried that I had screwed the batch, more curious what it was that skewed the reading.