Question about SG

Hello I just finished brewing a batch. I checked my starting gravity and it read 1.070. The recipe I have used says it should be 1.049-1.051. This seems pretty off to me. Any ideas? Thanks..

graphikone said:

Hello I just finished brewing a batch. I checked my starting gravity and it read 1.070. The recipe I have used says it should be 1.049-1.051. This seems pretty off to me. Any ideas? Thanks..

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Did you adjust for temperature? What is the recipe?

Honestly, I'm not sure how to adjust for temperature but it was around 70 degrees when the yeast went in.

Im brewing "Chico Ale (West Coast IPA)" not sure if that helps but that what it is.

When you take a hydrometer reading you need to adjust the SG for how far you are from 60 degrees. Was the wort 70 degrees when you measured the SG, or was it warmer?

This link has a good explanation of adjusting the hydrometer: http://brewwiki.com/index.php/Hydrometer

If it turns out that the temp wasn't the source, you can also check it
again. If the wort and water didn't fully mix, you can get incorrect readings.

After I mixed the water into the wort I did not stir it up. Maybe that is where my odd reading is coming from. I have an aggressive fermentation going right now and I'm wondering if I take another reading with my refractometer. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks

If you take a reading now, you'll get a reading that will be off from your Original Gravity because the yeast has already started eating sugars in the wort. Chances are the "beer" and water were not mixed completely. RDWHAHB

Take a Final Gravity when you get ready to bottle and, if extract, you can estimate fairly close to where you should have started. It's hard to be off when using extract unless you use too much water or don't add all the extract.

I wouldn't worry about it. Learn and move on.

Yeah I think thats my only real option at this point. Getting the OG and FG numbers correct is very unclear does anyone have and good info on this balancing act and what the functions are?

It's not really a balancing act, and with extract or kit brews you can't really be too far off on OG as long as you used the right amounts of water and extract. It's more of just having a measured figure to go by rather than an estimate.

If you didn't mix the wort well with the top-off water I'm 99% sure you just got an incorrect reading. It won't change the outcome of the beer. It is good to know because so you can compare it to your FG and see how well your yeast attenuated and decide when the beer is finished. The nice thing about extract brewing is that it's easy (and pretty accurate) to estimate the OG with your brewing software.

If you were brewing with all grain, having a correct OG reading is a bigger deal as it will tell you how efficiently you mashed your grains.