Batch #1 Down, but what's my gravity?

[ChiN8]

Welp, I just brewed my first batch of beer and have it sitting in my primary right now!

I took an initial gravity reading with my hydrometere but I don't really know how to read it.

The Beer Line sit above 1.100 and then settles between 80-90.

So does that mean my initial reading is 1.085? i that's the case is that good? bad?

 

[eddie]

That's a very high reading. It's most likely you didn't get the wort and water mixed well in the fermentor which caused you to get more sugar in the sample which caused the false reading. What was you recipe? If it hasn't been very long since you brewed it, you could remove the airlock and pick up the fermentor then give it a good bear-hug and swirl it around a little to mix it together.

 

[ChiN8]

That's a very high reading. It's most likely you didn't get the wort and water mixed well in the fermentor which caused you to get more sugar in the sample which caused the false reading. What was you recipe? If it hasn't been very long since you brewed it, you could remove the airlock and pick up the fermentor then give it a good bear-hug and swirl it around a little to mix it together.

I brewed a Kolsh.

It's been roughly 3 hours since I took my initial reading. I took the reading before I pitched the yeast, and after I dumped my beer in the primary I took my wort handle or whatever those extremely large spatulas are called and mixed that like woah.

So did I screw up my batch of beer?

I have yet to see an air bubble pop up in my airlock

 

[ILBMF]

If it was a kit and you followed the instructions properly you'll probably be ok. Maybe you just didn't get a good reading. It may take a day or more to get kicking. Just leave it there and wait.

 

[GreenMonti]

What are you using to ferment in?
How much do you have in your fermenter?

 

[pkeeler]

1.085 is very high. Did the recipe call for a cup of sugar and you put in a pound? Some hydrometers have three scales, are you reading the correct one? Try your hydrometer in plain water and see if it reads zero.

 

[ChiN8]

1.085 is very high. Did the recipe call for a cup of sugar and you put in a pound? Some hydrometers have three scales, are you reading the correct one? Try your hydrometer in plain water and see if it reads zero.

a pound of sugar? No but it did include; 6 lbs. of Pilsner Malt Extract, 12 oz Munich Malt 10L, and 4oz Crystal 10L.

and I don't have 0.000 on my hydrometer... I have 0% but Like I said though this was my first batch I have no clue how to use this thing.

You can see my Ingredients (kit from midwest) and hydrometer reading at my photobucket album at http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab9/ChiN8/

 

[velosim]

You probably just got an abnormally high reading due to pulling up more concentrated wort than water. Don't worry about it though, it will most likely be just fine. Give it time to start fermenting. Your kit instructions may have called for fermenting 2-3 days but give it more like 2-3 weeks. There are tons of threads on here about disregarding kit instructions when it comes to the time necessary to turn the wort into good beer. And remember the most important instruction of all: RDWHAHB !

 

[dcp27]

Unless you only had about 2.75gallons worth, there's no way your gravity was 1.085 with those ingredients. If its the normal 5gallon batch your gravity should be about 1.046. Did you top it off before you took the reading?

 

[ChiN8]

Unless you only had about 2.75gallons worth, there's no way your gravity was 1.085 with those ingredients. If its the normal 5gallon batch your gravity should be about 1.046. Did you top it off before you took the reading?

I did top it off with "drinking Water" bottled at my grocery store to 5 gallons. Took my Mash Spatula and beat the S%!# of it for a bit; I thought it was enough but based on everyone's posts... apparently I didn't do well enough.

 

[dcp27]

Unfortunately its really tough to get it well mixed. You may want to start taking the reading prior to topping off and then calculating what your batch OG is
Measured OG * Measured Volume / Batch Volume = Batch OG

 

[KevinW]

Yeah I would not worry about it either. If you have 5 gallons and you only put in 6lbs of extract you'll be fine which is kind of a nice thing about extract, you pretty much wind up with "sugar in = sugar out" as long as you have the correct amount of water.

Good luck!

 

[Apollo]

The picture you posted shows a lot of bubbles attached to the hydrometer. To get an accurate reading you'll need to get rid of the bubbles.

And what another poster meant by measuring zero is that pure water should measure 1.000 on a hydrometer.

 

[GreenMonti]

Sorry, I have to ask.

Is the hydrometer floating? Its hard to tell in your pic how tall yours is. I have to just about fill my flask all the way up to get a reading that I like with my hydrometer.