Two Issues: Stuck cork and OG reading

Hi folks, I just put a pumpkin ale into the carboy, and I have two minor questions.

The first is that while I was putting the fermentation lock in, the rubber cork slipped too far into the mouth of the carboy. I can't get it back out. I've got the lock in and I'm just going to leave it while the beer ferments, but I'm concerned about how I'll get the cork out when it's time to bottle it. So any suggestions would be welcome.

The second is that the recipe I'm using is based off a Scotch Ale. The recipe says the OG should be 1.076, but mine was 1.056. I'm not getting fussed about it, but I'm curious what I did that might have changed it that drastically. I used pumpkin flesh I roasted from two pumpkins and scraped from the rind. I put it into the wort at 30 minutes and the total boil time was 90 minutes.

1. Use a metal coat hanger and push the tip through the hole and manoeuvre it so you can pop the stopper back out.

Maybe you diluted with too much water.

It was a full boil but ended pretty close to 5 gallons. I think maybe it was because I took the sample fromthe pot after transferring to the carboy and there really was very little left, most of which got squeezed out of the bits of pumpkin on the bottom of the pot.

We'll see how it turns out!

Save the carboy and sacrifice the cork. Cut out some of the cork until it is loose enough to remove.

I'm going to assume because I did a full boil with a grain steep and 7 lbs of LME + 1 pound of DME that the OG was pretty close to the recipe spec and that my reading was due to getting the tailings from the wort pot and not a good clean sample of the wort in the carboy.

As to the cork, there's other threads on here that describe getting one out using a dishtowel, so I may try that, but any removal attempts will wait until after fermentation.