OG much lower than expected

[suttonjs2]

Ell, I brewed today. Thanks to advice from many of the fine folks here, it was much more of a success than it would have been (even made my first starter!), but there was one problem that I'm not sure whether or not even IS a problem. The target OG for the recipe was 1.069. I got a 1.055.

What could possibly account for such a difference? I was adapting an AG recipe to extract, so could steeping grains have lowered my OG?

 

[lumpher]

there are a lot of things that could cause a lower og. we'd have to know the recipes to tell you what went wrong. could be you overestimated the potential of the extract, differences in batch size, etc

 

[suttonjs2]

Organic Pike Tandem Clone

Style: Belgian Dubbel OG: 1.070
Type: Extract FG: 1.017
Rating: 4.0 ABV: 6.94 %
Calories: 228 IBU's: 23.95
Efficiency: 75 % Boil Size: 3.00 Gal
Color: 20.4 SRM Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
Boil Time: 75 minutes

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 21 days @ 68.0°F
Bottle/Keg 14 days @ 74.0°F

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
5.37 lbs 57.62 % Light Dry Extract 75 mins 1.044
1.20 lbs 12.88 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L 75 mins 1.034
1.00 lbs 10.73 % Weyermann Pale Wheat Malt 75 mins 1.038
1.00 lbs 10.73 % Briess Munich Organic 10L 75 mins 1.036
0.25 lbs 2.68 % Briess Roasted Barley 75 mins 1.033
0.50 lbs 5.36 % Cane (Beet) Sugar 20 mins 1.046

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
1.00 ozs 16.78 Northern Brewer 75 mins 8.50
0.50 ozs 4.36 Mt. Hood 30 mins 6.00
0.50 ozs 2.81 Mt. Hood 15 mins 6.00

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.00 pkg Abbey Ale White Labs 0530

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
1.00 tsp Irish Moss 15 mins Boil
12.00 each Coriander Seed 01 mins Boil

 

[suttonjs2]

I steeped all the grains in 1 gallon of water at 155 degrees the night before and refrigerated the liquid from that. My boil today was about 3 gallons, and after evaporation during the boil I ended up having to top off with 3 gallons to reach 5 gallons. There was also a heck of a lot of sediment in my thief when I took the measurement. Any of that info relevant? Thanks!

 

[lumpher]

off the top of my head, i would say yes, steeping would be the problem. this should have been handled as a mini-mash, not an extract. soaking the grains at 150-154 for an hour would have converted the sugar out of it. next time, soak the grain at that temp in 1.25 quarts/lb of grain for an hour, and it'll be closer

 

[Kaz]

Sometimes the sediment can keep the hydrometer from acting quite right or if your top off water didn't get mixed well...and I mean very well, that will throw off the measurement. I put my money on the top off not being mixed well.

 

[suttonjs2]

Can poorly mixed-in top-off water affect the finished product in any way, or can I trust the yeast to mix things up?

 

[DrinkNoH2O]

off the top of my head, i would say yes, steeping would be the problem. this should have been handled as a mini-mash, not an extract. soaking the grains at 150-154 for an hour would have converted the sugar out of it. next time, soak the grain at that temp in 1.25 quarts/lb of grain for an hour, and it'll be closer

I agree. 42% of the fermentables were grain (not extract) so it would be important to mash them properly and ALSO sparge them to rinse the remaining sugars.

Next time, as is noted above, soak all of them at 150-154 (temp of water + grain, not just water) for an hour with 1.25 quarts of water/lb of grain.

Then after that, drain the water into your boil kettle, and rinse the grain with another 2 gallons or so of 184*F water (want water + grain to reach ~170*F), then drain that into your boil kettle as well and discard the grain.

 

[Revvy]

We get this question 3-4 times every day, so you're not alone. And in reality, nothing's wrong.

It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain revcipes) to have an error in reading the OG...In fact, it is actually nearly impossible to mix the wort and the top off water in a way to get an accurate OG reading...

Brewers get a low reading if they get more of the top off water than the wort, conversely they get a higher number if they grabbed more of the extract than the top off water in their sample.

When I am doing an extract with grain recipe I make sure to stir for a minimum of 5 minutes (whipping up a froth to aerate as well) before I draw a grav sample and pitch my yeast....It really is an effort to integrate the wort with the top off water...This is a fairly common new brewer issue we get on here...unless you under or over topped off or the final volume for the kit was 5 gallons and you topped off to 5.5, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"

More than likely your true OG is really what it's supposed to be. And it will mix itself fine during fermentation.

And just use the number it says in the instructions as the true OG, because it will be.
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[suttonjs2]

Thanks, guys.

Another factor is that this is an extract version of an AG recipe I got directly from the brewer at Pike in Seattle. He said my extract version of it should be pretty accurate, but I'm not sure if I should expect the same gravity readings he does since I'm brewing it extract.