Going over estimated OG?

I brewed this last Friday: http://hopville.com/recipe/1687484

The hopville program est 1.079. After I topped off the carboy at about 67 degrees, I measured over 1.097. I checked it twice. How is this possible? I thought I would always go under an OG, not over.

I did my partial mash differently this time at 147 for 75 minutes. In my first 5 batches I always pushed hotter above 153. I wanted to try something very different. Could this mash technique be the reason?

No on the mash. But did you stir the wort before taking the sample? How were your water levels, were they the same as the recipe?

Your measurement is wrong. Your sugar is mostly coming from LME or sugar, so you really don't have enough grain for big or small efficiency to move you that far off your gravity.

The lower temp can make a more fermentable wort, so your FG will be lower, but your OG would be the same.

You could have gotten a particularly sugary sample if it wasn't properly mixed

theveganbrewer said:

You could have gotten a particularly sugary sample if it wasn't properly mixed

Click to expand...

+1. Anytime you add ANYTHING (water, sugar, etc), let it rest for 10-15 min after you feel it's mixed well, then stir again before taking a measurement. It'll fool you on both ends of the spectrum if you're not careful.

501irishred said:

+1. Anytime you add ANYTHING (water, sugar, etc), let it rest for 10-15 min after you feel it's mixed well, then stir again before taking a measurement. It'll fool you on both ends of the spectrum if you're not careful.

Click to expand...

I had just topped off the fermeter and done some aeration by shaking it vigorously off and on for a few minutes. So is that the culprit?

Possible. I've had measurement that were way off even after I mixed, stirred, and shook till I was blue in the face. After testing with multiple hydrometers, checking the sample temps over, checking temp corrections on the computer blah blah, just about to call it an unsolved mystery.......stirred again........took another measurement......perfect reading. Magic.

Not saying this is what happened with your's, but I'd put it high on the list of possibilities.

cool. I really don't want a crazy crazy sweet mess in a glass.