Newb OG Question

I'm doing a porter now, and while I was pouring the wort into the fermenter I put a sample in the hydrometer to check the OG.

My questions are:

1) Should I have taken the sample after I pitched the yeast?

2) The sample I got the OG was just past the 1.100 mark. Is that normal, or did I do something wrong?

Thanks All,

Kris

1) Taking the sample before or after pitching the yeast makes no difference. Specific gravity when taken before fermentation is measuring the amount of sugar present, so yeast or no yeast make no difference.

2) We can't tell without a recipe. That does seem high unless you are making a high gravity beer. Did you stir the wort well before taking a reading?

That is very high. Were you doing a partial boil and then diluting it with water. If so, perhaps it didn't get well mixed? Or is it possible that you misread the hydrometer? On my hydrometer there are two scales.

- I Steeped 1 lb of grain at 155 F for 30 mins (2.5 gals of water in the kettle).
- Then I added 7 lbs of dark malt extract.
- Brought to a boil.
- Added 1 oz of hops.
- Boiled for 50 mins.
- Added 1 oz of hops.
- Boiled for another 10 mins.
- Cooled the wort to about 100 deg F
- Took the SG while adding the wort to the fermenter (did not stir after cooling).

I'm pretty sure I didn't read the hydrometer wrong and I appreciate the help guys.

Kris

frenchie43971 said:

- I Steeped 1 lb of grain at 155 F for 30 mins (2.5 gals of water in the kettle).
- Then I added 7 lbs of dark malt extract.
- Brought to a boil.
- Added 1 oz of hops.
- Boiled for 50 mins.
- Added 1 oz of hops.
- Boiled for another 10 mins.
- Cooled the wort to about 100 deg F
- Took the SG while adding the wort to the fermenter (did not stir after cooling).

I'm pretty sure I didn't read the hydrometer wrong and I appreciate the help guys.

Kris

Click to expand...

you're probably meant to dilute that concentrated wort with water in the fermenter (7 pounds of extract in 2.5 gals of water is a pretty concentrated boil). that would explain why your reading is so high

It would appear that you took the reading at 100 degrees. If that's the case, hydrometer readings are temperature dependent. I believe they're calibrated to 70 degrees (i.e. water at 70 deg is 1.000). It also sounds like you only started with 2.5 gals, which means you probably only had about 2 gals after the boil. The ingredients look like they were meant for a 5 gal batch, so you have really concentrated wort, which would explain the high OG. This could just be a misinterpretation of your method/recipe. If you tested a 2 gal batch of wort, its going to be high, most kits are for 5 gals.

*EDIT - Too slooowwww.