Whirlflock & OG

[DaveMcPhee]

Made a batch of Chimay Red clone extract yesterday, and I'm trying to figure out why I got a particularly way off OG.

I boiled about 2.5 gallons of water, steeped about 0.75 pounds of specialty malts, and then added 9.5 pounds of Extra Pale Extract for an hour.

15 minutes before the end, I added a whirlflock tablet, cooled the wort, added cold water to make about 5 gallons, gave it a good stir and took a sample.

The sample was full of solids, little scraps of what I assume was LME, about 1/8 inch across. OG was 1.042, expected OG was around 1.069.

Did the whirlflock affect the OG? Is it possible to mess up OG with extract anyway? Tell me those chunks where caused by the whilrflock and that time will fix everything

 

[DaveMcPhee]

Exact Recipe in case it matters:

Heat 2.5 gallons water

1oz Chocolate Malt - 1/4lb Aromatic Malt - 1/2lb CaraMunich malt
Steep at 155 for 25 mins

Bring to boil and add
9.5lb of Extra Pale LME

@60 - 2oz Saaz
@15 - 1/4oz Glacier, Whirlflock tablet, 1/2tsp yeast nutrients

Cool to 80F, add cold water to bring to 5 1/4 gallons, stir, add 3 test tubes of Wyeast Belgian Ale 1214

I took the OG reading right at the end, just before adding the yeast.

 

[Arkador]

Whirfloc and Irish Moss will have no effect on the gravity of your beer. it is very hard to evenly mix the 2.5gal of concentraded wort with the other water, which can cause a skewed result. If you used malt extract, it is nearly impossible to miss your original gravity by more than .002 assuming you hit the proper volume.

You can assume for purposes of calculating ABV, that you had 1.069

 

[DaveMcPhee]

Thanks, I thought I had read that you couldn't really miss the OG with extract as long as your volumes are right. Thanks for the reassurance.