first solo batch today...quick question

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sirk0rebreg

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ok did my 1st unsupervised batch today and it is an abita purple haze kit from austin homebrewing...

kit directions state the initial gravity should be 1.042, however when i did my hydrometer reading it is at 1.048? big deal? what could have happened?

thanks! :mug:
 
You most likely didn't mix the wort thoroughly enough, it's a common mistake. Take the kit OG as being correct and don't worry about it. In the future make sure you vigorously stir your wort after adding the top up water for about 5-10 minutes.

Congrats on the first (solo) batch! :mug:
 
aside from probably not mixing throughly enough, only other thing i could think of would be temp of the wort tested.. but to add .006 the sample would probably need to be around 100*, so i highly doubt that is possible...lol

congrats dude.
 
Is your volume where the directions say it should be? If the volume is low, it would lead to a high gravity reading. Assuming your batch was supposed to be 5gal, if it were low by a little over half of a gallon, that could be why your reading was high.

5gal (target) X 42 (gravity, target) / 48 (gravity, actual) = 4.375 gal

Either way, your brew should be just fine. Congrats on your first solo batch!
 
riored4v said:
aside from probably not mixing throughly enough, only other thing i could think of would be temp of the wort tested.. but to add .006 the sample would probably need to be around 100*, so i highly doubt that is possible...lol

congrats dude.
Click to expand...

right on it definitely was not that hot and i aerated the **** out of it...that thermometer i borrowed is garbage though haha, it is waaaaaaaaay off even after i recalibrated it twice...

gonna have to pick up a new one...
 
TheDom said:
Is your volume where the directions say it should be? If the volume is low, it would lead to a high gravity reading. Assuming your batch was supposed to be 5gal, if it were low by a little over half of a gallon, that could be why your reading was high.

5gal (target) X 42 (gravity, target) / 48 (gravity, actual) = 4.375 gal

Either way, your brew should be just fine. Congrats on your first solo batch!
Click to expand...

it seemed to have lost about 1/2 gallon from the boil, that may be why?!
 
Yeah you can top that up with regular clean water when you're adding the wort to the fermenter. Before you pitch the yeast you want to have 5 gallons of well-aerated wort, if thats what the recipe calls for.
 
sirk0rebreg said:
it seemed to have lost about 1/2 gallon from the boil, that may be why?!
Click to expand...

i would think that would only matter if you didn't add that 1/2 gallon back in with the top-off water. (meaning you ended up with 4.5g in your primary rather than 5g)


regarding the thermometer.. go ahead and pitch it once you're done using it since it didn't recal right. i have no need for it.
 
Well there ya go! You either can leave it as is, and have the beer turn out a bit stronger, or add some water to it to get 5gal. You probably already know this, but if you do add top-off water, make SURE it's either boiled (and cooled off afterwards!) or from an unopened bottle of water.

Welcome to the addiction! :mug:
 

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