Help with Og and volumes

[Homebrewnewb]

So I did my first full boil extract kit today, with my new turkey fryer, but the numbers don't add up..
This kit called for 6.25g pre-boil and 5.25 into fermenter with an OG of 1.051.
I started with exactly 6.25g and ended with just under 5.5, but an OG of 1.056.
From what i have read most extract kits should be dead on the OG if the volumes are correct. So why did mine end up high, even though my boil off was less then predicted?
Any insights would be helpful.

 

[jaycount]

My best guess is an inaccurate recipe or an inaccurate OG reading (was the wort 68 degrees F?)

You're right, it doesn't make sense. With less boil-off your OG should be lower than planned.

 

[Homebrewnewb]

Kit Recipe called for 1.051 and plugging the ingredients into beersmith comes up with the same OG. Hydrometer read 1.054@80F corrected to 1.056..
I did also weight the Dme before starting and it was exactly what the recipe called for.

 

[Pratzie]

Just wanna check... u didn't add the priming sugar that came with the kit, did u?

Some people have been known to cut that bag open and throw it in as well.

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

Temperature of your sample matters, could be you were reading it on the warm side and need to correct a few degrees for the temperature.

 

[Homebrewnewb]

Haha no there was no priming sugar wit the kit..
Just curious how this could happen.. I'll be brewing again tomorrow, not a kit but a recipe made in beersmith so maybe I'll figure it out then.. is it possibly the DME? and could it be that far off with 6lbs?

 

[Hex23]

How are you measuring volume? Couple of things to remember: plastic pail fermenter marks aren't that accurate and the volume from boiling to pitching temperature might shrink up to 5%.

Otherwise, if could also be taking a sample from a stratified wort. Usually this is a problem with topped off batches, but I've even seen it doing AG with my refractometer samples.

 

[Homebrewnewb]

I did measure the water with a plastic pail, and was considering that.. my only other option to measure volume is a 2 qt pitcher. Im not sure it's that acurate either, and filling 13 times wouldn't help much..

 

[woozy]

Poorly mixed sample.

Temperature error.

Hydrometer calibration.

Gremlins.

Margin of error.

And then there are steeping grains. In theory they don't contribute to sugar at all but crystals seem to yield some probably unformentable sugars via steeping and I confess to being utterly confused on this subject.

But I'd put my money on a combo of temp (the calculator adjustments for temp are *not* atomic accuracy), calibration, and margin of error.

 

[woozy]

I did measure the water with a plastic pail, and was considering that.. my only other option to measure volume is a 2 qt pitcher. Im not sure it's that acurate either, and filling 13 times wouldn't help much..

That's enough to put you beyond the margin of error. For curiosity sake it's worth exploring but for getting to sleep at night against wondering "why, why, why?" I'd say this is an acceptable explanation.