Help me save my Stout! OG way too low

So... I screwed up.

I'm still a novice. Been lurking these forums for months. Moved up from Mr Beer a few months ago to Brewers Best beer kits. This is my third one, and the first one that seems to have gone south (on brew-day to boot!)

I'm working on a Whiskey Barrel Stout (Link goes to .PDF)

I had friends over and I think I didn't steep my grains long enough, or maybe thorough enough (too much BSing can be a bad thing)

Long story short my OG is only about a 1.025. It's supposed to be about 1.061-65!

It's dark, but very thin. I pitched the yeast and moved it to my Basement to ferment, but I know its going to be bad if it takes at all. Should I just chuck it, or can I save it?

Maybe buy some more LME? My fermenter is ~8 gallons, and I have about 3.5 gal of room in it. Is it possible to do... something to save this?

I'm at your mercy!

Is this an extract recipe? If so, your OG reading is probably off. It's near impossible to miss your OG on an extract recipe, assuming you have the correct volume.

Read this thread:
www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/attention-...inal-gravity-reading-wrong-dont-panic-289735/

This was a kit.....I assume you put all of the ingredients in as directed?

I strongly believe you have a bad OG measurement....no way your OG is that low if you put all of the extract in that was provided.....

What was temp of wort when you took SG sample...AND......did you stir before taking sample.....???

This happened to me once where I took a sample off the top of the kettle....where the lighter wort had floated up to (i.e. stratification....lighter liquid floats to top).......once I stirred my OG was right where it should have been.

Do NOT toss out.....I think you will be fine.....

your steeping grains have to do with flavor and color, but have no impact on gravity. Sounds like you might have another bag of DME in the kit box or something. Are you sure your kit came with the right amount of extract?

Another thought, did you measure hot wort? Hot wart will read differently than cold (need to put reading in a calculator)

+1
you are fine, just a bad OG sample. Take your readings after you stir and oxygenate your wort and before you pitch yeast.
Let it ride and and finish fermenting.

Check this one out. Itll explain what probably went wrong. Cheers!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/at...inal-gravity-reading-wrong-dont-panic-289735/

EDIT: Whoops! Someone beat me to it.

That's it. It's a bad reading from the top.

My previous kits I had 1 gal jugs of water that I dumped in to the 5 gal mark. BJs didn't have the 1 gal jugs, so I bought the 2.5 gal fridge dispenser jugs, which has a small spout, and doesn't stir up the fermenter since it pours too slow and I didn't stir first. My reading was from a measuring cup skimmed off the top, so it would obviously be thinner.

Everything was added, volume is right..ish. I didn't fill to a full 5 gal when I saw the low OG. Closer to 4.5 gal than 5.

I didn't re-read it yet, but it makes perfect sense.

Thanks a ton guys.

I'll sleep easier now

Thought I'd follow up and let you all know how it came out.

Fermentation seemed to have gotten stuck, so the final grav was a little higher than it should have been, plus I was a bit shy of 5 gals.

Racked to secondary, added wood chips sterilized in about 12ozs of Jameson (added the jameson too) and let it rest for about 4 weeks.

Bottled, tried a few after 2 weeks and it is pretty good. I feel like the Whiskey probably covered some of the flaws, but I was wonderfully surprised.

Thanks for talking me down from dumping it!

I'm serving it at my St Pats parts in a few weeks and have a feeling it will be the star of the day!

Cheers!!