ircbrewing
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2017
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So I brewed a red rye IPA Sunday. My numbers to hit were OG 1.070 and FG 1.018 (TBD). I took my pre-boil gravity where I had approximately 6.8 gallons of wort had a reading of 1.050, which was a little low, but within 5 points of where it should have probably been which is fine with me.
However, when the boil was done and the volume had decreased to around 5.5 gallons, my OG and the wort cooled my sample was 1.042. I took 2 readings because I couldn't believe it. If your preboil gravity is 1.050 and you concentrate the wort by boiling off additional water, how can gravity drop 8 points? Per brewersfriend calculations, if my preboil wort was 1.050 with 6.8 gallons and my target ending volume was 5.5 gallons (leaving .5 gallon to trub loss so final 5 gallon batch to fermentor) my gravity should be around 1.062. Really confused and those readings don't make sense.
Now....I soak my refractometer thief in starsan for the cooled sample collection. I try to shake and squeeze it all out, but the thief is cheap plastic and has a crack in air bubble used for squeezing and pulling the sample so it doesn't really work. Is additional water stuck in the their diluting my sample? I mean even just a half a drop of starsan solution stuck in the thief with a drop of wort can have a big impact.
At the end of the day it's beer, but this has been annoying me for 3 days, so any guidance is welcome.
However, when the boil was done and the volume had decreased to around 5.5 gallons, my OG and the wort cooled my sample was 1.042. I took 2 readings because I couldn't believe it. If your preboil gravity is 1.050 and you concentrate the wort by boiling off additional water, how can gravity drop 8 points? Per brewersfriend calculations, if my preboil wort was 1.050 with 6.8 gallons and my target ending volume was 5.5 gallons (leaving .5 gallon to trub loss so final 5 gallon batch to fermentor) my gravity should be around 1.062. Really confused and those readings don't make sense.
Now....I soak my refractometer thief in starsan for the cooled sample collection. I try to shake and squeeze it all out, but the thief is cheap plastic and has a crack in air bubble used for squeezing and pulling the sample so it doesn't really work. Is additional water stuck in the their diluting my sample? I mean even just a half a drop of starsan solution stuck in the thief with a drop of wort can have a big impact.
At the end of the day it's beer, but this has been annoying me for 3 days, so any guidance is welcome.