OG question on Norther Brew Kit.

I brewed teh NB nukey kit this weekend, using a partial boil and distilled water.
The OG was supposed to be 1.052, but when I checked it, it was only 1.045 @ 78 deg. F. Corrected that would be 1.047-48 right? So why the difference?

It doesn't seem like you missed it by much. Somebody here should correct my numbers (and reasoning if necessary), but look at it this way. Let's assume your fermentable ingredients averaged 1.036 per pound per gallon, which I think is pretty average. If your OG was supposed to be 1.052, and it was a 5 gallon batch, then you would have used 52*5/36= 7.22 lb of malt(or whatever). To miss it at 1.048, you either had 48*5/36= 6.66 lb of malt (shorted it by about half a pound) or you had 7.22*36/48= 5.4 gallons of water (about half a gallon too much water). This is assuming also that all your fermentables made it into solution, which who knows, maybe some didn't. Also, if the wort is not stirred to an absolutely completely consistent state, you could have low gravity layer floating on a higher gravity layer, which would throw your readings off as well. All in all, I wouldn't worry too much about it, especially since the difference is so small. I don't know the ABV loss off the top of my head, but it can't be much. Relax!

How does the wort taste BTW? Smell good? Look nice?

You're not far off the mark at all, my lhbs has told me that the gravity reading listed on recipes are considered +/- .004, so you're right in that range.

Sweet! thanks.
The work looks good, and smells great. I will let you kow how it tastes in a few weeks.

You didn't taste the wort before you put it in the fermenter?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! How can you POSSIBLY expect to answer nosy questions about the taste if you didn't taste it??!?!?!?!??!

:fro:

How well did you stir prior to taking the reading? I did (or *didn't*) do that on my first couple batches, and had bad readings as a result. You'd think after boiling an hour that the wort would be uniform, but the sugars still tend to sink, making the gravity at the top (where you likely took the sample) relatively light.

Makes me wonder about the beer I brewed yesterday. I took the sample from the top of the fermenter, and it was 1.065 at 60*F. If it was much heavier than than at the bottom of the fermenter, I fear I may be brewing a batch of 90 weight gear oil.

hey if you wind up with something with too much ABV for your tastes, just still it and put it in oak.... home brewed bourbon sounds pretty interesting just don't let the feds catch you!:rockin: