O.g. Is off... Am i ok?

[michaelob]

I just brewed a pale ale from a recipe from my lhbs. I was trying to get close to a beer from yards brewing co. The philadelphia pale ale.my grains were 1lb of briess crystal that i steeped. Then I added 3.3 lb of briess pilsen lme. Then added 1oz of centennial hop pelet. boiled 40 min added 3.3lb more lme boiled 18 more min. Then added amarillo hops for aroma. My o.g. was supposed to be 1.046 with a f.g of 1.010. My o.g. was 1.026. Am I OK?

 

[lumpher]

it'll be about 2 1/2% alcohol. might need to figure out what you did wrong. i think what may have happened is, on the cans of lme, they say it's for 22 liters. it's not; you need 2 cans of 3.3 lbs, not 1, for that quantity

 

[michaelob]

Is there anything i can do to get the alcohol % a little higher?

 

[tjpfeister]

He did use 2 cans, which has me confused. That should have easily put you in the .045 range when mixed with 5 gallons of water. Could your SG reading be off?

 

[beninan]

as lumpher said, it looks like a lack of fermentables. You could boil up another 3.3 lb can of LME with a small amount of water, cool it, and add it to the fermentation. I'm not exactly sure how much water though, maybe just enough to make the LME not so molasses-like. You may also have to add a slight bot of hops as well so the addition doesn't upset the hop flavor you are after.

EDIT= just re-read it and saw the "boiled 40 min added 3.3lb more lme boiled 18 more min" part.

hmm, this was a 5 gallon batch right?

 

[lumpher]

He did use 2 cans, which has me confused. That should have easily put you in the .045 range when mixed with 5 gallons of water. Could your SG reading be off?

yeah, i should have read it better. i see the 2 cans now. i think something was wrong with the initial reading, too

 

[Kjay]

I brew 23 litre batches all the time, when i use 3 kg's of lme it is usually in the neighbor hood of 1040 i take a reading and adjust Then I add approx 1.25 lbs DME with about .5 lbs dextrose (to get to 1050). Something is really weird here it sounds like he has put in 2 cans at 1.5 kg or 3.3 lbs, maybe the lme had more water in it than usual? I dont know, if you have not pitched and you have dme on hand you could at that to bring your sg up. If you run out of that toss some dextrose to get you last couple of points. I am no expert, but this is something I would try in a bind.

 

[lumpher]

if i was there, i'd be happy to watch your process, but i'm a LONG way away. this is something that needs to be evaluated step-by-step

 

[earwig]

Did you shake the hell out of the beer + water mixture when you took your OG? There is a chance that the sample you pulled for your hydrometer reading was more water than wort... not mixed completely. You really need to mix the wort and water mixture very well to get an accurate OG reading.

 

[Kjay]

Now that makes sense.

 

[michaelob]

Yes it was a five gallon batch, I thought I shook it good. tThat makes sense. Its been fermenting good for two days. thought about taking another reading but didnt want to interupt. should I?

 

[SOB_OCDAVE]

I have two responses to this issue: 1. temperature correction for hot wort (and make sure you calibrate your hydrometer to make sure its accurate) 2. boil all the lme, or dme for the full amount of time (just an added precaution) Your OG should have been about 1.047 per Beersmith calculations.
Also, make sure your water measurements are accurate too because you don't want to dilute your recipe. That could bring your OG down.

 

[michaelob]

since my gravity is low to begin with wil fermentation be quicker? maybe i just took a bad reading.

 

[SOB_OCDAVE]

since my gravity is low to begin with wil fermentation be quicker? maybe i just took a bad reading.

A low gravity won't slow fermentation. A low yeast count will slow the start of fermentation due to cell reproduction before respiration. I would just make sure your starting volume of water is correct to include evaporation during the boil. Also make sure you scape out those cans of malt extract or rinse the bottles, which ever applies here.

 

[Fid]

I have two responses to this issue: 1. temperature correction for hot wort (and make sure you calibrate your hydrometer to make sure its accurate) 2. boil all the lme, or dme for the full amount of time (just an added precaution) Your OG should have been about 1.047 per Beersmith calculations.
Also, make sure your water measurements are accurate too because you don't want to dilute your recipe. That could bring your OG down.

+1 to all of that. Ive taken plenty of low og readings, scratched my head, said Wtf is this about and then pulled a sample after fermentation got rolling and had a 20 point increase in my gravity. It's tough... if not nearly impossible to miss your og by that much in an extract batch, all the food for the yeast is already there.
Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew.

 

[Fid]

You won't interupt anything drawing a new sample, just make sure you keep your focus on sanitation and you'll be fine. I'm willing to bet the fermentation activity has gotten everything good and mixed up and you should come away with a much more appropriate reading. Keep in mind it will be a little low, as the yeast has already begun their magic converting all that sugar to alcohol thereby lowering the gravity. Id definately pull another sample before messing with adding more extract in any form.

 

[Ravenshead]

+1 to all of that. Ive taken plenty of low og readings, scratched my head, said Wtf is this about and then pulled a sample after fermentation got rolling and had a 20 point increase in my gravity. It's tough... if not nearly impossible to miss your og by that much in an extract batch, all the food for the yeast is already there.
Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew.

Agreed. I had this happen with my second batch. I never did figure out how I measured my OG so wrong. In the end, the final product tasted right and got a lot of people drunker than they meant to be. :rockin: