Way off gravity reading

Hello guys, I'm new to the hobby and brewed my first batch last night. If you guys could help me out with my gravity calculations, that would be great. Here is the list of my fermentables.

2 lb two row malt
1 lb crystal 50-60L
All three pounds partial-mash technique, 150 F for 1 hr.

6 lbs Muntons extra light DME

Five gallon batch

Even with a conservative estimate for the extraction of my mash, I calculate the gravity @ 1.055 at least. HOWEVER, my measured gravity was 1.040. Even with just the extract I should get 1.048. Any ideas on what happened? Is Muntons Extra Light less sugary than other extracts? Is my hydrometer lying? Thanks for the help in advance, I'll hang up and listen.

Generally, if your sg is low, it's because you did a partial boil and topped up with water. Even if you stir, stir, stir, the extract you boiled is heavier and sinks to the bottom, so your sample is usually the "lighter" wort on top. It doesn't matter, since the yeast can find the sugars wherever they are.

It's impossible to "lose" sugars, so unless you added way too much water to your wort (say 5.75 gallons instead of 5), your og should be at least 1.048. It is possible that your pm didn't convert well, but you probably got some additional fermentables from the 2-row, probably around .010 pounds, for an og of 1.058 or so.

Also, don't forget the temperature correction, if you took the sg at a different temperature than 60 degrees.

Thanks for the quick reply.
I think you are exactly right. The bottom of the fermenter was WAY darker that my sample, I just assumed it was break material. I've never heard of the extract boil seperating from the top off water so I was hesitant to conclude that was the case. I'll just shake it up more next time I do an initial hydro reading.

Live and learn.

Just like I learned last night not to jam a rubber stopper in your carboy to hard because it might push through and end up in your beer.

It was sanitized, but I'm super nervous that a stopper floating around in my beer will spoil it.

I'm sure it will be OK. I don't take an OG reading anymore. I figure that I am not going to add sugar or anything to change it so why bother? I use the FG to determine when it is done.

smizak said:

Thanks for the quick reply.
I think you are exactly right. The bottom of the fermenter was WAY darker that my sample, I just assumed it was break material. I've never heard of the extract boil seperating from the top off water so I was hesitant to conclude that was the case. I'll just shake it up more next time I do an initial hydro reading.

Live and learn.

Just like I learned last night not to jam a rubber stopper in your carboy to hard because it might push through and end up in your beer.

It was sanitized, but I'm super nervous that a stopper floating around in my beer will spoil it.

Click to expand...

It won't spoil it! Trust me, I know!

Ive done it too.

Haha, awesome. Any advice on how to get it out when the beer is done? Or should I just leave it as some kind of fermenter mascot?

P.S. Go Sabres!!!

After you rack the beer out, it'll be a bugger to get that bung out! A straightened coat hanger might work. There is a cool video on how to get a cork out of a bottle, and that technique might also work for you. Also, don't rule out needle nose pliers!

Here's the video: [ame]http://www.metacafe.com/watch/455316/the_cork_off_the_bottle_trick/[/ame]

smizak said:

\
Just like I learned last night not to jam a rubber stopper in your carboy to hard because it might push through and end up in your beer.

Click to expand...

Lol. I have done this before too. The time I did it I was pulling the Bung out by grabbing onto the airlock. The airlock pulled out of the top of the bung and the seperation of the two somehow created a vacumm and sucked the bung into mah brew!

I was ready to bottle so I went ahead and racked it. Was a bear trying to get that bung out though. I think I ended up using a coat hanger. I went to the store and bought a larger size bung so I wouldn't have to deal with that again.

Have fun getting yours out! Lol!

YooperBrew said:

After you rack the beer out, it'll be a bugger to get that bung out! A straightened coat hanger might work. There is a cool video on how to get a cork out of a bottle, and that technique might also work for you. Also, don't rule out needle nose pliers!

Here's the video: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/455316/the_cork_off_the_bottle_trick/

Click to expand...

That was super cool! I might actually try that first before fishing around with a coat hanger.

Thanks for the help and replies guys. Go figure, a message board that is actually helpful!!

similar to video, just use a piece of string with a large knot tied in the end

YooperBrew said:

After you rack the beer out, it'll be a bugger to get that bung out! A straightened coat hanger might work. There is a cool video on how to get a cork out of a bottle, and that technique might also work for you. Also, don't rule out needle nose pliers!

Here's the video: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/455316/the_cork_off_the_bottle_trick/

Click to expand...

Bottled last night and wanted to let you know that the trick in the video worked perfectly to get that stopper out! First try!

smizak said:

Bottled last night and wanted to let you know that the trick in the video worked perfectly to get that stopper out! First try!

Click to expand...

Sweet! Nice to know how to do that. I was thinking along the lines of plugging the stopper with a dowel or something, adding sugar water and yeast, and then pulling on the dowel to get the plug stuck in the mouth of the carboy.

But I don't know if the pressure the fermentation would make would pop the stopper out or brake the carboy first. I'd try it in a metal trash can if I did this. But will definitely try the bag trick first, if I have this happen to me.

YooperBrew said:

Generally, if your sg is low, it's because you did a partial boil and topped up with water. Even if you stir, stir, stir, the extract you boiled is heavier and sinks to the bottom, so your sample is usually the "lighter" wort on top.

Click to expand...

So that's what I've been doing all this time. I've been doing extract kits for about 8 months and I consistently have low starting gravities. I just figured my hydrometer wasn't calibrated correctly or something. That just made my day.