Seemed to have lost a few gravity points during the boil?

[Horseflesh]

When brewing today I hit my post-mash volume and gravity numbers. After the boil and chill I had the volume I expected, but the gravity was 3 points lower than it should have been. (1.048 vs 1.051)

Obviously the sugars did not climb out of the kettle. However, I did let the cooled wort sit in the kettle for about 30 minutes before getting a sample for the refractometer. Is it possible that the wort stratified and a sample from the top was not representative of the whole volume?

 

[jrcrilly]

Yup.

 

[Horseflesh]

Then I hit all the numbers and it was a good brew day, thanks!

 

[Smellyglove]

Take a gravity reading short after signs of fermentation occur. Depending on when you took your post mash reading, it could be that you got a to high reading. Getting to high post-mash readings are "easy". Lots of people have fallen in that trap and then adjusting with water and post boil they are way to low.

I let my wort cool for several hours and I get pretty much the same readings if I sample early or late, when i sample it as it goes into the fermenter.

 

[BrewKnurd]

Post boil, your gravity will be consistent throughout. Stratification is an issue when you are mixing two sugar solutions of different concentration (i.e. mixing first runnings and sparge runnings, or topping of a volume of wort with water), but once they are mixed, you should not see any stratification. The boil serves as a very thorough mixing.