Starting gravity ?'s

I am not sure what it means, but my starting gravity is off...
The documentation says 1.044 - 1.05 and mine was 1.09(if I read it correctly). What does that mean, this is my first batch, it is fermenting now, it is active... did I mess something up?

What was the recipe? Chances are you were just reading it wrong or you didn't mix everything together perfectly. It is nearly impossible to be that off with an extract batch, unless you added several extra pounds of sugar, or you made a half size batch with all the ingredients.

When did you brew it?
It's fermenting now? How long has it been?

I brewed it last night took the reading before I put the yeast in - The recipe was Big Ben Pale Ale Kit. I did a full size batch, maybe the reading I did was wrong, but I checked it a few times. It was almost 1.1 - I guess I screwed this batch up?

Ya, if all you used was that kit, and you have 5 gallons of liquid, then is is IMPOSSIBLE to have a gravity that high. The most likely cause would be that when you added the top off water, you didn't stir it in really well before you took the gravity reading, or you took the reading before adding the water. But I doubt you screwed anything up except taking the reading.

I didn't stir it that well, just splashed it in really good. Is that going to be a problem? I didn't know I had to stir :-( oops Forgot that step I guess... Hope that doesn't mess anything up too much.

You didn't mess it up. The yeast will find the sugars and turn it into beer just fine.

underwaterdan said:

I didn't stir it that well, just splashed it in really good. Is that going to be a problem? I didn't know I had to stir :-( oops Forgot that step I guess... Hope that doesn't mess anything up too much.

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Not going to be a problem at all, it just means the hydrometer reading was messed up. The only way to get an accurate reading after adding top off water is going to be after a good several minutes of vigorous shaking to make sure everything is mixed well. You should do some good shaking anyway to insure the yeast has enough oxygen to reproduce, but it really isn't a problem. As long as you are adding top off water you are probably getting plenty of oxygen from that.

whew, I figured pouring it in from a distance which caused a bunch of air bubbles, would be enough of to airate. So I can leave it in the primary the same amount of time(like 7 days) and then move it to secondary... correct?

underwaterdan said:

whew, I figured pouring it in from a distance which caused a bunch of air bubbles, would be enough of to airate. So I can leave it in the primary the same amount of time(like 7 days) and then move it to secondary... correct?

Click to expand...

It should be plenty to aerate it, proceed as normal, but don't go to secondary until you reach your final gravity, which should probably happen in 7 days. (I don't usually secondary anyway, not really necessary as far as homebrewers are concerned).