1st ever batch. My OG is not even close. Any ideas??

Hey all. Just finished brewing my first ever batch today. It was many things. A fun time of course, along with a great learning experience and a bit of work but all in all a success ( I think). So heres my problem. I got a kit from MoreBeer for a Citra Pale Ale. Its a Citra Hop based Pale Ale. I followed the directions perfectly, didnt miss any steps, and all went well. The kit recipe states the OG should be 1.045-1.055. Well, after cooling down the wort to a nice 60 deg F, it was giving me an OG reading of 1.068-1.070. That seems way off to me.

So, I went to tastybrew.com and used their calculator. Using my ingredients, it looks like I am right where it should be. So, heres the thing. Do you think they just used a basic Pale Ale OG reading and plugged it into the recipe? Or do you think I messed it up somehow? Im thinking all should be fine, just a higher ABV. Is it okay???


Heres the recipe:

I started the boil with 6 gal. and ended up with just under 5 gal. in my carboy. Ended with probably 4.9 gal.

Extract:
8lb LME
4oz Maltodextrin ( I did use this, but now thinking I didnt need it)

Steeping:
8oz White Wheat
8oz Carapils
12oz Crystal 15L

Hops:
0.5oz Magnum @ 60 min
1 oz Citra @ 20 min (recipe said 15min, I did 20)
1oz Citra @ 5 min

Whirlfloc tablet @ 5 min (used 1/2 tablet)

Yeast: Came with Safale, but I used a liquid White Labs California Ale WLP001


I steeped the grain for about 30 minutes. Removed. Brought to boil. Shut off heat, added LME, Dextrin, 1st hop. Boiled, Second hop @ 20, then Third hop @ 5 and Whirlfloc. Removed from heat, ice bath to cool.


So, do you think this recipe should be fine? Any concerns with the OG being that high?? It seems rather high for a Pale. I prefer IPA's and Pales, so maybe it will be fine. Just hope its not too malty/ sweet. Any ideas??

Oh and one other question. After cooling the wort, I transfered to a sanitized bucket. I then did back and forth "dumps" from kettle to bucket to aerate. This was a suggested method from the book "How to Brew". This created a LOT of foam. More than I was expecting. Which tells me aeration is happening, but it made the transfer from bucket to carboy interesting as foam was flowing out the top to make room for the liquid. Is this normal? Any other suggested aeration techniques that wont create so much foam??

Thanks in advance! Patience seems to be key to this whole process. Hard not to want instant results with your first brew haha.

You may want to invest in an oxygen aeration set up or just putting your cooled wort in the carboy and then shaking/rocking the hell out of it. If its a glass carboy just be careful you don't break it. As far as your OG goes I wouldn't worry about it. You came in over not under so that's a little victory in my book. Our last 2 beers came in .010-.020 under but we still made beer. Don't stress over it, just plan your next beer. Hope this helps.

what was your volume vs what you expected? a smaller volume can lead to a higher OG. Other than that i wouldnt worry about it, but i would be suprised if more beer had the wrong OG on one of their kits.


It doesnt really matter that your OG is higher but that is pretty weird. Especially for an extract batch.

I just brewed a pale ale Sunday, it had 6 lbs DME, substituted for 6.6 lbs LME, recommended OG was 1.051 to 1.055, i hit just low at about 1.048.
so with the higher amount of extract i would expect your readings to be higher than my kits recommended readings.

I thought steeping grains and 8 lbs of LME was a lot. I started the boil with 6 gal of water, and ended with just under the 5 gal mark on my carboy. I would say I ended up with about 4.8-4.9 gallons. Heres a question, should I have topped it off up to the 5 gallon mark? Or should I have just left it. I didnt want to introduce anything into the wort that didn't have to be there. I will be kegging so Im not too worried about the loss of volume. Im thinking if I added a little water, the OG may have dropped but probably nothing noticable.

I'm still pretty new to this, but my napkin math says that adding .2 gal water (4% original volume) would drop your OG by 4%*(OG-1) ...about .003... so you'd still be high. Like I said, I'm new and I'm hoping a vet will chime in here and let me know if that's right.

But I have learned that if you're going to add water after the boil, buy some distilled water from your grocery store, or boil the water for 20 mins first.

**Edit: Actually I think a better/more versatile way to give that formula would be New Gravity = ((Wort Gravity*Wort Volume)+(Water Gravity*Water Volume))/Final Volume

Water Gravity can probably be assumed to be one in cases like this since the amount of water is so small that the temperature/gravity difference is negligible.

Thanks for the reply Matt.

Thats pretty much what I was thinking. If I added the little bit of water to bring it up to the 5 gal mark, it wouldnt really make a difference. And seeing as I didn't have sterile water or distilled water on hand, I didnt want to risk infection for the little amount there was.

I keep peeking at the airlock and no activity yet. I work the next few days ( 72 hours straight at a fire department) so I wont be able to watch it. Just hope it stays contained in the carboy and not all over the closet haha. Its abut 72 deg F right now in the closet. Not too happy about that, but I hope it gets to work soon.

If your OG is off with extract brewing, it's likely an issue with accurate water volumes. That said, you're not off on volumes, if you plug your recipe into brewing software, you should end up around 1.067, which you did. The packaging is incorrect if it states you should end up with a lower OG than that.

The other thing I'd like to mention is that for a big beer like you've made, a single vial of WLP001 is a rather hefty underpitch, you likely would have done a lot better using the Safale that came with the kit (if it was US-05 it's essentially identical to WLP001 anyway). You might also consider putting it into a big tub of water, 72F now, is going to end up in the high 70s when active fermentation starts, and that's going to make for some off-flavours, and most likely at those temps, a messy explosion if you aren't using a blowoff tube/.

BigRob said:

If your OG is off with extract brewing, it's likely an issue with accurate water volumes. That said, you're not off on volumes, if you plug your recipe into brewing software, you should end up around 1.067, which you did. The packaging is incorrect if it states you should end up with a lower OG than that.

The other thing I'd like to mention is that for a big beer like you've made, a single vial of WLP001 is a rather hefty underpitch, you likely would have done a lot better using the Safale that came with the kit (if it was US-05 it's essentially identical to WLP001 anyway).

Click to expand...

BigRob, it was the US-05 that came with the kit. Do you think I need to add more yeast/ I can grab another WLP001 and add maybe 1/4 or 1/2 the amount. I know its going to take a lot of cells to eat all that sugar. If I dont is it just going to take a lot longer??? Sorry, Im very new at this haha

The yeast will stop replicating when the dissolved oxygen is depleted, and begin fermentation. I make the assumption there wasn't a whole lot of aeration, coupled with a less than optimal pitch rate, and the OG of 1.07, the yeast may well not have enough cells to accomplish the task properly. Which could result in your beer "sticking" above the intended FG (stuck fermentation).

Me personally, I'd rehydrate the US-05 by boiling about a half cup of water, and cooling it to 95F, then sprinkling the yeast over the water. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes and dump it into your fermenter. That will give you a lot more cells, and the general consensus around here is that WLP001 and US-05 are pretty much identical.

Can you have too much yeast? I dont really want to add the whole packet to it do I??

Well, in my noob brewing brain, I am thinking it would be better to have more than enough yeast than not enough and get a stuck ferment and have to re-pitch. So, I did as Rob said, with half a packet of the Safale in boiled water into a sanitized measuring cup at 94 deg F. Waited about 8 minutes and pitched it to my wort. I guess we will see haha. Its fun but Im kinda freaking out at the same time. Hope I am actually making beer haha. Good times. Cheers and thanks for all the help so far!

Is has to be one of these things - 1. Your volume is low, 2. There was more than 8 lbs of extract, 3. Your measurement was bad, or 4. You did a partial boil and didn't mix the wort properly, taking a sample from the richer wort.

You CAN pitch too much, but a vial and a packet of S05 would put you right around the ideal pitch rate. It's tough to overpitch from vials and packets, in that most people aren't going to put 3 or 4 packets or a half dozen vials into 5gal batch.

Just remember temp control is paramount, the carboy in a rubbermaid bin of water is going to be within a degree of the water temperature, but just shoved in a closet with ambient temps of 72F your fermenting beer could be 75-80F which will make some unpleasantness.

I will second that I still think it is probably a volume issue. More beer generally knows what they are doing. And I second the more yeast, 2 packets is not too much for a beer that big if you did end up there.

Since no one has asked, how and when did you measure your OG?

What exactly do you mean by volume issue?? Soory for my ignorance. I started with 6 gal and ended up with just shy of 5. Should I have started with more water? The extract was in a foil pouch, and I am assuming since morebeer packages their own it was accurate. The grains and everything were all indiviually packaged with the kit.

As for the OG, I measured after cooling the wort. Once it was cool to about 80 deg F, I used my thief, filled my hydrometer jar. I then placed the hydro jar in the fridge until it was exactly at 60 deg F. Actually it was 59. I then measured the OG at 1.068. Couldnt tell if it was 68 or 70. First time using a hydrometer. Not sure if it was 68 or 70. Actually measured it a few times to make sure. There was a lot of sediment in the hydro jar, so I stirred it and it measured the same. No change. Can the sediment change the reading or is it only dissolved sugars??

Thanks everyone so far for the help.

As for the temp and storage, I decided to use my Keezer that I am building right now. I figure since I can actually control the temp, it will give me the best chance. Woke up this morning to the carboy in the closet at 66 deg F. I put my Johnson control on at 64 in my keezer (no beer in it right now) and put the carboy in there. I figure for at least the first week it can stay at this temp and be fine. Its supposed to be hot in my area (90 degrees plus) so the closet will probably get 74-76. Not good. Hope this was the better option.

I am a newb as well, but 8lbs LME with steeping grains seemed like a lot. Most extract recipes I see call for 6lbs if there is grains. I plugged yours in with 6lbs instead and came up with OG 1.049. Maybe they just sent too much LME. Seems odd.

8 pounds of LME in a 5 gallon batch will give an OG of 1.057. 4 ounces of maltodextrine will give a negligible amount of contribution as will the grains. You'd probably expect on OG of 1.060-1.062 with that recipe in a 5 gallon batch.

Morebeer's OG estimate is wrong. I have no idea why.

Yours is a little high, but that's probably because you may have 4.8 gallons instead of 5.0. The recipe seems fine, and I think it'll end up good.

So what gave me the 4.8 gallons?? Boiling too long? I know there is loss to the grains and hops. But actually now that I think about it, after an hour of boiling, with 28 oz. of grains and 2.5 oz hops, that takes up quite a bit of water. I tried to squeeze most of the liquid out of both grains and hops. The $100 question is if I should have topped up the carboy. Or do people just do this to get the full 5 gallons. Does this actually dilute the beer, or would that also be negligible?

SWMBO and I are brewing again this weekend so I want to carry over as much knowledge as possible to our 2nd batch! Its a Brown Ale with holiday spices.

And one final question. I bought a tube of English Ale yeast for my next kit, the holiday Brown Ale, its a White Lab WLP002. The expected OG for this kit is 66-70. Is one vial/ tube of yeast enough for our next batch or do we need another??

SFGiantsFan925 said:

So what gave me the 4.8 gallons?? Boiling too long? I know there is loss to the grains and hops. But actually now that I think about it, after an hour of boiling, with 28 oz. of grains and 2.5 oz hops, that takes up quite a bit of water. I tried to squeeze most of the liquid out of both grains and hops. The $100 question is if I should have topped up the carboy. Or do people just do this to get the full 5 gallons. Does this actually dilute the beer, or would that also be negligible?

SWMBO and I are brewing again this weekend so I want to carry over as much knowledge as possible to our 2nd batch! Its a Brown Ale with holiday spices.

And one final question. I bought a tube of English Ale yeast for my next kit, the holiday Brown Ale, its a White Lab WLP002. The expected OG for this kit is 66-70. Is one vial/ tube of yeast enough for our next batch or do we need another??

Click to expand...

Oh boy get ready for a round of squeezing the grains debate!

Generally though you shouldnt really do that. Just let the water drain out of them. There is a lot of debate about squeezing delivering off flavors.

As for volume yes you can and should top up especially if you overshot your gravity as a result of less volume. You want to try and be on your gravity so the balance of hops and malts are there.

SFGiantsFan925 said:

And one final question. I bought a tube of English Ale yeast for my next kit, the holiday Brown Ale, its a White Lab WLP002. The expected OG for this kit is 66-70. Is one vial/ tube of yeast enough for our next batch or do we need another??

Click to expand...

No, it's definitely not enough. You could be more vials, or you could make a starter.

There is a real cool "yeast pitching calculator" here on mrmalty.com: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html It tells you the correct amount of yeast to use based on the OG of the beer, the age of the yeast, and whether it's dry or liquid (dry yeast 11 gram packages have more cells in there).

As an example, a 1.066 beer with yeast that is one month old needs a 3.75 liter starter OR three packages of yeast. I'd make a starter about 2 days before brewday.

Combine 3 liters of water with 3000 grams DME, and boil it. (In non-metric, use 6.5 pints of water and 3 cups of DME). Cool, pour into a sanitized jug, and add the yeast. Cover with sanitized foil. Give it a little shake every time you walk by, and your starter is ready for brewday.

Yooper said:

No, it's definitely not enough. You could be more vials, or you could make a starter.


Combine 3 liters of water with 3000 grams DME, and boil it. (In non-metric, use 6.5 pints of water and 3 cups of DME). Cool, pour into a sanitized jug, and add the yeast. Cover with sanitized foil. Give it a little shake every time you walk by, and your starter is ready for brewday.

Click to expand...

hmmm 3000 grams of DME sounds like 3 kilograms to me . Sorry I´ve never seen somebody saying 3000 grams

Yooper said:

No, it's definitely not enough. You could be more vials, or you could make a starter.

There is a real cool "yeast pitching calculator" here on mrmalty.com: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html It tells you the correct amount of yeast to use based on the OG of the beer, the age of the yeast, and whether it's dry or liquid (dry yeast 11 gram packages have more cells in there).

As an example, a 1.066 beer with yeast that is one month old needs a 3.75 liter starter OR three packages of yeast. I'd make a starter about 2 days before brewday.

Combine 3 liters of water with 3000 grams DME, and boil it. (In non-metric, use 6.5 pints of water and 3 cups of DME). Cool, pour into a sanitized jug, and add the yeast. Cover with sanitized foil. Give it a little shake every time you walk by, and your starter is ready for brewday.

Click to expand...

This sounds like a great idea. But we want to brew Saturday or Sunday and I will not be home until Saturday morning. Obviously this isn't enough time to make a starter. If I dont do a starter, can we just add 2 vials of the White Labs yeast? Would that be enough. Sorry, I am very new to this whole thing and I am still learning. Ill take a look at the calulator and see if it answers my question. Is it typical that a batch would need more than 1 tube of yeast? I know the morebeer near me has the Wyeast also. Is that a better route?

Just went and looked on the White Labs website, and they are saying the optimal temp for WLP001 is 68-73 deg F. I hope the 65 degrees its in is alright for a few days as I cant change it.I guess its better to be a little cooler than warmer.

SFGiantsFan925 said:

Just went and looked on the White Labs website, and they are saying the optimal temp for WLP001 is 68-73 deg F. I hope the 65 degrees its in is alright for a few days as I cant change it.I guess its better to be a little cooler than warmer.

Click to expand...

Yes, cooler is better and remember that fermentation itself produces heat. I though you were using English ale yeast, but if it's WLP001, 65 is perfect for that strain for a nice clean fermentation without off-flavors. I know it's under their optimum, but I have it right now going at 65, and it's doing just fine!

You can pitch two vials rather than making a starter, and it works great!

Yooper said:

Yes, cooler is better and remember that fermentation itself produces heat. I though you were using English ale yeast, but if it's WLP001, 65 is perfect for that strain for a nice clean fermentation without off-flavors. I know it's under their optimum, but I have it right now going at 65, and it's doing just fine!

You can pitch two vials rather than making a starter, and it works great!

Click to expand...

Sorry Yooper, I used WLP001 for my current brew, but I plan on using WLP002 for a new batch this weekend. So, I guess Ill be grabbing a second vial to pitch both for a beer with a "hopeful" OG of 66-68.

How much do I need to shake the carboy after pitching? It says the WLP002 has very high flocculation, so it may all end up on the bottom and not in the wort.

You don't need to shake, WLP002 will drop out when it's finished, the yeast themselves will make it look like a snowstorm in the carboy while fermentation is happening.