Slave to the OG? (not a 50 Cent album)

Hey all,

Just finished brewing my second batch ever, and I have a question: the kit I used said my OG should be .035-.040 but I came out at .050 on my first try and .045 on my second once I had added water up to the recommended level.

In a situation like this, should I add even more water to get it close to the recommended level, or is it best to stick with the current volume and just keep in mind that my FG may be a little higher? I figure that the OG was posted for a reason, and maybe I let it boil too long or something to change what it should be.

Just curious to know what others' thoughts are on this... thanks! I don't have enough experience to form an opinion one way or the other...

How much is in your fermenter? 5 gallons? 5.5? It depends on what the recipe called for. Post it and we'll take a look.

Spunkmeyer said:

Hey all,

Just finished brewing my second batch ever, and I have a question: the kit I used said my OG should be .035-.040 but I came out at .050 on my first try and .045 on my second once I had added water up to the recommended level.

In a situation like this, should I add even more water to get it close to the recommended level, or is it best to stick with the current volume and just keep in mind that my FG may be a little higher? I figure that the OG was posted for a reason, and maybe I let it boil too long or something to change what it should be.

Just curious to know what others' thoughts are on this... thanks! I don't have enough experience to form an opinion one way or the other...

Click to expand...

There are a few factors to consider. What temperature did you take the gravity at? How much water did you cook with? Did your kit come with the right amount of extract (my LHBS is notorious for screwing up an order when they get busy)?

Depending on how hot you took the gravity the result may be different.

http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue1.3/manning.html

(I'm too lazy to check what direction the gravity goes based on temperature, but I know that it could vary).

Keeping it in range is adhering to the style of the beer. Every category has a (BCJP decided? not sure) standard for what is considered out of range for IBUs, color, gravity, etc.

Even with that, I don't think 5 points is going to make it horrendous, or even bad. I wouldn't worry too much. Just for your next batch, log everything you do, and you can look back to it to try and trace the cause of unexpected results.

Good luck!