Ridiculously low OG

[Ultima]

Okay friends...I have a minor issue on my hands here. Today I brewed some kind of strong Belgian ale, and my OG came out to about half of what it should be.

I used 14 lbs of light LME, a pound of home-made Candi sugar, and a couple specialty grains, but this isn't a recipe discussion. My reported OG with this brew was a tick under 1.060 for a batch that's just under six gallons.

I'm absolutely puzzled as to why the OG would report so low given the obscene amount of sugars going in, and this was confirmed on TWO hydrometers, temperature corrected and all. I'd like to think I have a pretty good handle on this whole 'brewing' thing and I've had literally no surprises in any of the batches I've made thus far, but when I drew my sample and placed the hydrometer in it I did a double take, and made sure I really did empty both buckets of LME into my kettle.

Expected OG for a brew like this is around 1.09+ from online calculators, and this is in line with brews I've made using 7 lbs of LME in a 5 gallon batch.

I'm using Wyeast 3739 Flemish Golden, made a 1.5L starter with 0.5 Lbs DME, and pitched the whole starter into the wort, and fermentation is actively under way.

I'm also probably omitting some key information that would allow you all to solve this little conundrum, but I'm really quite baffled as to what's going on here. I took the sample from the fermentor after pitching the yeast and after vigorous aerating, so I doubt it's a simple stratification issue.

ANY advice and/or speculation is much appreciated, and I'll check back later this afternoon to see what key piece of information I've undoubtedly withheld from you all...but I'd like to think I've covered all the variables and I'd like to think I actually know what's going on here!

 

[wonderbread23]

You have the sugar in there.... it just hasn't been mixed to the point of having a homogeneous solution. Edit: Either that, or your volumes are off. The amount of sugars in the extracts are set. Unless you left some out, or missed your volume, it is not possible to miss your gravity.

 

[Revvy]

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"

If your target volume was correct, then it will be fine.

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

 

[Ultima]

What you've both said does make sense, mostly, but I have a really hard time believing 14 lbs of LME and a pound of Candi would end up sub-1.060 in less than 6 gallons, considering I've done many brews using only 7 lbs of LME in 5 gallon batches that were 1.054-1.057.

When I topped off the carboy with water, I did see a clear layer forming between what I boiled and what I added, and I did do some hearty mixing for aeration and homogenizing before drawing my sample. I also tasted my hydrometer sample, and it was quite syrupy-sweet, so I know my sugars are there, and in droves. This wasn't a kit brew, and my initial estimated OG was around 1.11X, but that was using 5 gallons, and ending up with a tad under 6 should have put me around 1.09X.

Maybe I'll take another reading in a few days and then be baffled again when it comes out higher than my "OG", but I really did think I mixed well because I saw the potential for error in measurement there and tried to avoid it.

Regardless, thank you for the information!

 

[Honda76]

Subscribed.

Please keep us posted on the gravity readings. I love a good mystery. I'm the the crew saying that the syrupy sugars are at the bottom.

 

[Ultima]

I just decided to let it ride...it's been fermenting for 9 days now, quite happily, so hopefully all that yeast activity mixed things up nicely. I know my sugars were in there somewhere, so at this point I'll just be unhappy if I take a hydro sample in a few days and it's reading 1.03. It's only my 3rd batch ever, but I've already learned the importance of patience so it may just sit in primary for another 2 weeks...done when it's done, but delicious is guaranteed that way!