Something is wrong!

Ok, I wanted to make a BIG barley wine, so these were the fermentables I used in a 6 gallon batch:

7lbs Amber ME
3lbs DME
1.5lbs honey
2lbs brown sugar
2lbs molasses

My OG is 1.32 WTF? This can't be right. According to The Beer Recipator, I would have had to use 30lbs of extract, 3.75lbs of honey, 3.75lbs brown sugar, and 3.75lbs of molasses to get this OG. Someone please tell me what is going on.

By the way, I pitched 2 vials of WL099 Super High Gravity Yeast.

Thanks in advance,

Rich

how did you check your OG? What temp? And was the wort mixed well (with water if you didnt do a full boil) when you checked it?

I checked the OG by using my hydrometer. Scooped some wort out and put it into my little plastic test tube. Temp was 72. I did add about a gallon to a gallon and a half of water to top off

You measured more top off water than wort. It happens all the time because water and wort don't mix that well. I can promise you with that much sugar your ABV is much higher than 1.032.

How long does that need to age? Are you going to be able to drink it before John Cusack needs to save us all from the Mayans in 2012?

Superkabuto said:

I did add about a gallon to a gallon and a half of water to top off

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That's the issue.

It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain revcipes) 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.

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"

it doesn't matter what your reading was.....the "real reading" in an extract batch is what it said it would be in the recipe or beersmith....Whether or not you mixed it up enough before you took the reading it mixed itself up fine during fermentation.

So unless you had a final volume a gallon or so higher than 5 gallons....you recipe will be fine and at the OG it was supposed to be,

I bet your OG is EXACTLY what it is supposed to be.

And during fermentation the wort and water will mix up just fine on it's own.

Yeah, that's gonna be about 1.100. I agree, the water just wasn't mixed up well enough to get a good reading.

no, he said 1.32, not 1.032

alcibiades said:

no, he said 1.32, not 1.032

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Yes, that's right. It's not under, it's way over. But I figured out what happened. I noticed that there was a lot of hops at the bottom of my test tube, and I think the hydrometer was resting on the hops. I pressed down on the hydrometer and it came back up at 1.22. I pressed down again and the bottom of the plastic test tube fell out, and I broke mt hydrometer on the floor.

It's impossible for me to brew without doing something retarded

Superkabuto said:

Yes, that's right. It's not under, it's way over. But I figured out what happened. I noticed that there was a lot of hops at the bottom of my test tube, and I think the hydrometer was resting on the hops. I pressed down on the hydrometer and it came back up at 1.22. I pressed down again and the bottom of the plastic test tube fell out, and I broke mt hydrometer on the floor.

It's impossible for me to brew without doing something retarded

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Sorry, I had to LOL on that one. So far I have not broke my hydrometer (and probably wont' since I now have a refractometer), but I can totally see myself doing that.

Sorry about your loss, but RDWHAHB!

Homercidal said:

Sorry, I had to LOL on that one. So far I have not broke my hydrometer (and probably wont' since I now have a refractometer), but I can totally see myself doing that.

Sorry about your loss, but RDWHAHB!

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Thank you for your consolation. Unfortunately, I live in the middle of nowhere and there is no LHBS for me. I'm traveling to Detroit on Friday and won't be able to get a new hydrometer until I'm there.

A side note: a rigged up a blowoff tube for this one, but it didn't work and I awoke this morning to find a beer explosion in my closet and krausen oozing onto the carpeting. It's currently oozing into my bathtub.

But you are still leaving a zero out.
i've never seen a hydrometer that went over 1.150, let alone 1.320

Either give just the 2 digit points (i.e. FG 54 is the same as FG 1.054), or give the 1.xxx number with the leading zero (assuming its not over 1.100 of course).

Its just less confusing

malkore said:

But you are still leaving a zero out.
i've never seen a hydrometer that went over 1.150, let alone 1.320

Either give just the 2 digit points (i.e. FG 54 is the same as FG 1.054), or give the 1.xxx number with the leading zero (assuming its not over 1.100 of course).

Its just less confusing

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Sorry. The OG was 1.320. It was the first time I read it, at least.

malkore said:

But you are still leaving a zero out.
i've never seen a hydrometer that went over 1.150, let alone 1.320

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Yea, it actually went higher, but I'm not sure how high now because it's broken. At 1.320 the hydrometer said "dessert wine".

Superkabuto said:

Thank you for your consolation. Unfortunately, I live in the middle of nowhere and there is no LHBS for me. I'm traveling to Detroit on Friday and won't be able to get a new hydrometer until I'm there.

A side note: a rigged up a blowoff tube for this one, but it didn't work and I awoke this morning to find a beer explosion in my closet and krausen oozing onto the carpeting. It's currently oozing into my bathtub.

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Congrats! You're not a real brewer until a batch of beer has ruined a significant portion of your home or caused bodily harm.

Rick500 said:

Congrats! You're not a real brewer until a batch of beer has ruined a significant portion of your home or caused bodily harm.

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It sure didn't take me long to become a real brewer

Your OG is somewhere between 1.095 and 1.100. Just fine for a BW. As for your massive blowoff, What size vessel are you fermenting this beast in and at what temperature? What yeast are you using and how much?

Rick500 said:

Congrats! You're not a real brewer until a batch of beer has ruined a significant portion of your home or caused bodily harm.

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sigged...

Heh... thanks, now I'm immortal. Or something.

Superkabuto said:

I noticed that there was a lot of hops at the bottom of my test tube, and I think the hydrometer was resting on the hops. I pressed down on the hydrometer and it came back up at 1.22.

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When you put your hydrometer in the testing tube (sorry about you loss, btw) do you just leave it and let it bob up and down? Because you should always grab the top of your hydrometer with your thumb and index finger and give it a good spin. That will knock off any bubbles which can cling on to the glass of the hydrometer and make it more buoyant, thus giving you a much higher OG than expected.

I'm assuming this is a viable theory seeing as when you just displaced it, as you mentioned above, it droped to 1.220.

SCIENCE!

eddie said:

Your OG is somewhere between 1.095 and 1.100. Just fine for a BW. As for your massive blowoff, What size vessel are you fermenting this beast in and at what temperature? What yeast are you using and how much?

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I have a 6.5 gallon bucket, which is too small for a 6 gallon batch, I know, but I figured that with a blowoff tube it should be OK. I converted an airlock and bottling tubing to a blowoff tubing. Too small, apparantly.

I pitched 2 vials of WL099 super high gravity yeast in a starter I made the day before. I also used some nutrient.

Superkabuto said:

Thank you for your consolation. Unfortunately, I live in the middle of nowhere and there is no LHBS for me. I'm traveling to Detroit on Friday and won't be able to get a new hydrometer until I'm there.

A side note: a rigged up a blowoff tube for this one, but it didn't work and I awoke this morning to find a beer explosion in my closet and krausen oozing onto the carpeting. It's currently oozing into my bathtub.

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Do you need info on where the best Lhbs's are in the Detroit area? Pm me if you do.

Superkabuto said:

Yes, that's right. It's not under, it's way over. But I figured out what happened. I noticed that there was a lot of hops at the bottom of my test tube, and I think the hydrometer was resting on the hops. I pressed down on the hydrometer and it came back up at 1.22. I pressed down again and the bottom of the plastic test tube fell out, and I broke mt hydrometer on the floor.

It's impossible for me to brew without doing something retarded

Click to expand...

LOL. Ok well I did some pretty dumb things when I first started brewing too. At least now you will be a hydrometer reading master! Or closer to one...