I Feel like a Newb...Please Help

I have been brewing with extract and steeping grain for about 3 years and I am having a problem.

I am getting kits that have an estimated O.G. and when I am done with the boil and ready to pitch yeast I am no where near the O.G. I am way low.

The last batch was a Brewer's Best Kit for Irish Stout. It was supposed to be at O.G. of 1.048 - 1.050. My wort ended up at 1.032.

I also recently did my own recipe with 6.6lbs light malt extract, 4oz of Malto Dextrin and 3lbs of Honey. The O.G. came out at 1.030 and F.G. finished at 1.014.

Any ideas why the O.G. is so low...I have never experienced this problem before?

Are you doing a full boil or a partial boil? If it's a partial boil, are you mixing it up well with the water before you take a gravity reading?

Either Your Hydrometer is not right, or you are not mixing it up enough like the above posted.

I did a partial boil...I rocked the carboy for about 2 minutes before the reading...I will try to rock it more and take another reading

I see four possibilities:

1. Your volume that you are using to calculate the final gravity is wrong.

2. Your hydrometer is broken.

3. You are reading your hydrometer incorrectly.

4. As stated above, you are doing a partial boil and diluting back to 5 gallons and not getting an accurate reading from unmixed wort/water. The water is less dense than the wort and will tend to stay on top if you just pour it in and then take a reading. You have to really mix it up well.

If you are doing extract and your volume is correct, it is nearly impossible for your gravity to be off that much.

lol
my sister bought me the same kit for xmas... i ended up 2 pts high...

but, i had to steep a llb of oatmeal, and some choc malt, and roasted barely malt....

anhoo, i ended up too damned bitter, cuz i did a full boil instead of recipe.
woops!
i should have known.....


ohh well. we shall see what happens in 6 months!


move along, and brew more my freind!


see what happens after a while.
but, my guess is it was not mixed well enough.
i never missed a gravity on extract, it is not possible unless your mix is not good enough.

try pouring from a bucket of cooled, topped off wort to another, and back again before your reading.
it does require about 11 $$$ more equipment, but it is worth it! you will find a use for those buckets later!

I rocked the fermenter for another 5 minutes and then I took the reading again and it was right on.

Thanks....I have done the last two batches in a new glass carboy and obviously I have to pay more attention to mixing the wort than when I used the buckets.

Thank you all

I did it a lot when I was doing partials, Don't feel bad.

I've been there.

dregus, where are you in So. Cal? Is it raining where you're at too?

I am in Menifee...where are you....Yes it has been raining all day

Torrance. I was kegging in the rain last night. Tonight it's just drinking...