Gravity lower than anticipated?

I just brewed up an APA yesterday, and the gravity ended up being 1.033 instead of 1.054.

It was a 5 gallon batch with 5.5# of light LME, 1.1# of wheat LME, 1/2# 10L and 1/2# 20L. Even without any of the crystal malts, the gravity should have been way higher than it ended up being. Am I wrong in thinking that extract is going to have the same gravity in the end no matter what you do? Other than that, I'm figuring the guy at the LHBS was in a hurry or something and didn't weigh out enough extract for me.

I'm pretty sure it'll end up being drinkable. It might work out in my favor seeing as it's so delicious I could drink way more than I should, so maybe a lower ABV is a good idea...

I bet it's a mixing problem in the fermenter. Did you do a full boil? IF not, your wort and water probably weren't mixed well enough when you took a sample for a gravity reading.

JMSetzler said:

I bet it's a mixing problem in the fermenter. Did you do a full boil? IF not, your wort and water probably weren't mixed well enough when you took a sample for a gravity reading.

Click to expand...

I didn't do a full boil, but I poured the boiled wort in, then shook the heck out of it to aerate, then poured some into my hydrometer tube. It tasted more like water than the last time I made it, too. It also has less krausen than I remember the last batch having the next morning with pitching temps within 2 degrees of each other and the same yeast.

Is there any way extract won't deliver the gravity it's supposed to? I'm more interested in getting a definite answer to that than anything else. I'm pretty sure it's nigh-impossible to screw it up, though.

The definite answer may be a mystery if your extract weights were incorrect.

I'm thinking the guy at the store was rushing. I showed up about 15 minutes before closing time and he said it was his kid's birthday party that day so he had to get out as soon as he closed.

I guess it's possible I hadn't mixed it entirely, but I did shake it like Homer shakes Bart. Either way, it's still going to be beer!