Oatmeal Stout Question (OG a bit high)

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robthefrog

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So this is my 3rd batch. (I love beer). When I was done follow the Samuel Smith Oatmeal stout recipe in 200 recipes. I had an OG reading of like 1.080. Wow, I thought, that blows, since it should be 1.052. Here are some possible things that I may have messed up.

- I may have roasted the flaked oats too long?
- I used 7.19 lbs of light LME instead of the DME called for (5.75).
- I didn't (at first) use the recommended 5 1/8 gallon of water (I used 5 gallons)
- My OG was taken at 64F degrees.
- My sparging method was pretty crap (I'll spare you the details) the grains + roasted oats were added at about 142F then brought up to 156F and let to sit off the heat for 20 minutes. (Yeah I know I said I followed the recipe but I thought I could do some mind math).

After adding 1/8 gallon of water, I got the OG to 1.062 still off about .010 whatever the units are. Any ideas here where I might have gone wrong?

Thanks, trying to make a flavorful beer that isn't crazy high in alcohol... I fail again. :( :( :(
 
I'm not too bummed about the high OG... I'm just trying to make something my parents can be proud of and not get wasted off of one bottle. (They are light-weights)
 
Your recipe will put a specific amount of sugars into water, some of the water is lost during boil. If you are to high in OG for what you want, add some water. Keep in mind that when you add water, it's very hard to get an accurate gravity reading. Most of the water that you add is going to sit on the top. For a 5 gallon batch, adding 1/8 of a gallon of water is not going to bring down OG from 1.080 to 1.062. That's a big jump for not a lot of water.
 
I usually just keep adding water, stir, and take readings untill I'm within the right ballpark. Just be extra cautious about sanitation.
 
Since you used malt extract, the calculated OG is what you really got. Your much higher measured OG is likely to be from incomplete mixing. Don't worry about it, it will turn out very close to what you intended.
 
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