two batches both low o.g.

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gasman

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i just partial boiled my second batch today.both of my batches have been from kits.my first batch was a northwestern wascal wheat bavarian weizen, the kit says you should have an o.g. of 1.045 and i only got 1.032(i bottled at 1.008....weak beer)...today i partial brewed brewers best american micro style pale ale,said i should have 1.055 o.g. and i only gat 1.034....my process has been the same both batches...after boiling 55 minutes on electric range i add finishing hops for 5 min and rack my one gallon of wort into plastic fementor with 4 gallons already in it, then take a reading....why were both my batches low o.g.its killing my alcohol by volume
thanks............luke
 
i just partial boiled my second batch today.both of my batches have been from kits.my first batch was a northwestern wascal wheat bavarian weizen, the kit says you should have an o.g. of 1.045 and i only got 1.032(i bottled at 1.008....weak beer)...today i partial brewed brewers best american micro style pale ale,said i should have 1.055 o.g. and i only gat 1.034....my process has been the same both batches...after boiling 55 minutes on electric range i add finishing hops for 5 min and rack my one gallon of wort into plastic fementor with 4 gallons already in it, then take a reading....why were both my batches low o.g.its killing my alcohol by volume
thanks............luke

Reduce your top-off water - it's better to end up with a smaller amount of beer at the correct OG than 5 gallons of watery beer. Use a hydrometer of refractometer to help guide you along as you add the top-off water to the cooled wort.
Alternatively, add more DME and hops to compensate, but that's considerably more difficult to do, and kind of defeats the use of a ready-made kit.

Final suggestion: Order your kits from Austin Homebrew Supplies. They are very good and you'll rarely miss your SG with them unless you mess up somewhere along in your process.
 
What to those kits contain?

Since you don't have to worry about your mash efficiency your OG is going to be determined by the amount and type of extract you add.
 
My thought is that the OG is actually correct- but your reading is wrong. Here's why- one gallon of wort is very thick and heavy. It'll sink to the bottom and then the lighter, diluted top off water will float to the top. Even with some stirring, the heavier wort will be at the bottom.

If you had a total of 5 gallons in the fermenter, your OG couldn't have been off by that much. If you had more than 5 gallons in the fermenter, then it might have been off but I'm still betting on an inaccurate SG reading.

Also, no need to rack to the primary- you can just pour it in. That will help aerate it, too.
 
Same problem with my first 2. Both brewers best. 1st was supposed to be 1.070-1.080- mine was 1.062. 2nd was supposed to be 1.048-1.055- mine was 1.042. Followed the directions with minimal issues.
 
i just partial boiled my second batch today.both of my batches have been from kits.my first batch was a northwestern wascal wheat bavarian weizen, the kit says you should have an o.g. of 1.045 and i only got 1.032(i bottled at 1.008....weak beer)...today i partial brewed brewers best american micro style pale ale,said i should have 1.055 o.g. and i only gat 1.034....my process has been the same both batches...after boiling 55 minutes on electric range i add finishing hops for 5 min and rack my one gallon of wort into plastic fementor with 4 gallons already in it, then take a reading....why were both my batches low o.g.its killing my alcohol by volume
thanks............luke

You are getting a major false reading because you are doing a partial boil. The only way you could get that kind of low gravity is if you over diluted to 7 gallons.

The gravity is correct but your reading is not. You should start with more water. It least 2 1/2 gallons and you will have a least 3 gallons when finished. When you put the wort in the fermenter and THEN add water to make 5 gallons, you have to stir a lot to mix the wort and the water. The way you are doing it the wort sinks to the bottom and you are measuring mostly water.

Liquid malt extract gives 36 point per pound per gallon. If you have 7 pounds of liquid extract the math is:
36 x 7 divided by 5 (gallons) = 50.4 or 1.0504. So, if you had 7 pounds of liquid extract you couldn't possibly have a reading less than 1.050 unless you really overdiluted. If you didn't really overdilute then the reading is false.

You need to know when you have a false reading. This false reading always happens when you do a partial boil unless you mix really well.

Liquid extract: 36 points
DME: 42 points
Specialty grain: 20 points
Base grain: 28 points

Forrest
 
great info.... thanks....must be false reading ...6.6 lbs extract and i only used 5 total gallons of water
 
Basic rule: If the volume of wort is correct, any OG for an extract brew that is off is due to poor mixing. Too high or too low, doesn't matter because you put all of the extract in the fermenter.

People under mix because they are worried about oxygenation, but the one time you want oxygen in your beer is at the beginning of the ferment.

So, stir it up!
 
I know I'm coming into this late! This is excellent info and leads me to ask a nOObie question:

If you run into the false reading because you did not do well stirring the partial boil wort into the top-off water, will the action of Fermentation stir it all up in the end? Will the vigor of the hungry yeasts do the job after the fact?

-Tripod
 
I know I'm coming into this late! This is excellent info and leads me to ask a nOObie question:

If you run into the false reading because you did not do well stirring the partial boil wort into the top-off water, will the action of Fermentation still it all up in the end? Will the vigor of the hungry yeasts do the job after the fact?

-Tripod

Yes. The yeast will still eat all of the fermentable sugars, and will find them so it's really not an issue at all. By the time you take your Fg, the reading will be correct, since the yeast went to work on the batch it'll be the same FG throughout.
 
Yes. The yeast will still eat all of the fermentable sugars, and will find them so it's really not an issue at all. By the time you take your Fg, the reading will be correct, since the yeast went to work on the batch it'll be the same FG throughout.

Thanks, YooperBrew!

That is what I suspected... I meant to write "will it STIR it all up" in the previous post. Seems like you knew what I meant though. :)

-Tripod
 
Yeah- once fermentation has started, the yeast will do all the stirring needed. Go to You Tube and watch some videos of wort fermenting in glass carboys. If you didn't know better, you'd swear there was a washing machine agitator in there.....
 
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