HELP - specific gravity too low

I've done a handful of kit extracts successfully. This is my first attempt at an original recipe. I used the following grains/extract for a sweetish stout. I calculated the SG on 2 online calculators as 1.054 and 1.059. Unfortunately, I got a much lower reading and have no clue why/how.

12oz Crystal 60L - 0.75lbs
8oz Chocolate malt - 0.5lbs
8oz Flaked Barley - 0.5lbs
4oz Roasted Barley - 0.25lbs
4oz Black Malt - 0.25lbs
6lb Coopers Light LME - 6lbs

5 gallons

I also added .75lbs lactose and .75oz hops (E Kent Goldings) for the full 60-minute boil.

My hydrometer says 1.036. I have no idea why. Thoughts??

Also, is there anything I can do at this point? Add some more LME?

Thanks for any help. I'm at a loss.

Are you sure your hydrometer is accurate? I would check it against room temperature water to verify. I'd be willing to bet it isn't. Also, you didn't specify in your post, but make sure you take a reading of wort at room temp, or at least correct it if you take it somewhat warm.

Hydrometer (new one, I dropped my other one) is off a bit - .996 in water at room temp. I left the hydrometer in the wort a while so it was close to room temp. Both could explain a tiny amount, but I'm still at or below 1.040. Can't figure this one out. The LME alone should give an OG of 1.040 or a shade higher. Thanks for the tip. I'm at a loss here.

We get this question 3-4 times every day, so you're not alone. And in reality, nothing's wrong.

It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain recipes) to have an error in reading the OG...In fact, it is actually nearly impossible to mix the wort and the top off water in a way to get an accurate OG reading...

Brewers get a low reading if they get more of the top off water than the wort, conversely they get a higher number if they grabbed more of the extract than the top off water in their sample.

RM-MN has a great analogy;

RM-MN said:

This phenomenon is easy to see if you have a glass measure cup, some dark honey, and water. Pour in half a cup of water into the glass container, then dribble in some honey. Notice the honey sinks right to the bottom? It's more dense because of the sugar it contains. Now use a toothpick to stir the water above the honey. This will simulate using a spoon in a 5 gallon container. Did you get the honey mixed in? Not likely. If you drop in some dry yeast, it will find the honey and begin eating and the activity of the yeast will mix the honey in just fine.

Click to expand...

When I am doing an extract with grain recipe I make sure to stir for a minimum of 5 minutes (whipping up a froth to aerate as well) before I draw a grav sample and pitch my yeast....It really is an effort to integrate the wort with the top off water...This is a fairly common new brewer issue we get on here...unless you under or over topped off or the final volume for the kit was 5 gallons and you topped off to 5.5, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"

More than likely your true OG is really what it's supposed to be. And it will mix itself fine during fermentation.

And just use the number it says in the instructions as the true OG, because it will be.

So the answer is, relax and do nothing.

Thanks for the reply. I shook/stirred the carboy a good deal, but not 5 minutes. I never had a problem w/ my OG gravity before, maybe the denser wort was closer to the bottom this time so I got more top-off water, less wort, than normal. I'll sit tight. Thanks!!

diehl33 said:

Thanks for the reply. I shook/stirred the carboy a good deal, but not 5 minutes. I never had a problem w/ my OG gravity before, maybe the denser wort was closer to the bottom this time so I got more top-off water, less wort, than normal. I'll sit tight. Thanks!!

Click to expand...

Good idea. It's not possible to be off on OG with extract if you 1) add all the extract the recipe calls for and 2) top off to exactly the right volume the recipe calls for