OG is way too low

I brewed a porter based on Denny Conn's Bourbon and Vanilla porter with my dad yesterday. I had to make some changes to the malt bill, here's what I used:

6.6 lbs light DME
2.2 lbs Morgan's Master Blend Chocolate (LME, 15% chocolate, 85% Munich)
1.3 lbs Master Blend Dark Crystal (60/40 Dark Crystal/Vienna)
0.55 lbs Crystal
1.1 lb Special B
0.95 lbs Chocolate malt

I also scaled up the recipe to 6.1 gallons.

I did some form of partial mash, I let the crushed grains sit in some warm water for about an hour, then put them in a fine net and washed them with some more water. Then I continued as usual. I used two kettles with about two gallons in each, then boiled some more water, and added it to the wort in the fermentation bucket. It all added up to 5.1 gallons (I was going to add the rest of the water later). We cooled the whole thing in a large tub with some with water overnight (my dad doesn't have any running water at the moment).

Anyhow, I took a gravity sample in the morning and to my surprise, it was only 1.050. According to BeerSmith, the extracts alone should have put it at 1.083. Does anyone know what could have gone wrong? We I don't think we sparged enough since the spent grains were pretty dark, but that alone can't be the problem. Also, I'm pretty sure the extract dissolved properly in the boiling water since there wasn't any burnt sugar covering the insides of the kettles. I'm thinking the beer might have gotten higher in density in the bottom of the bucket than at the top, since the water level of the tub was a bit lower than the beer level in the bucket. My sense of physics is a bit off though.

Any ideas?

I think you got an incorrect reading. You should be right around 1.080-1.090 depending on what kind of conversion you got.

Unless you were good about monitoring your temps during your "partial mash", I doubt you got much of a conversion out of the grains. Also, you don't have much to help them convert on their own.

I bet your intuition was right and your wort was stratified when you took the reading. Next time, especially with extract brews, make sure it's mixed up really well before you draw a sample.

Thanks for the replies, I'll see if I can stir it up a bit tomorrow and do a new reading.

As for the "partial mash", I think I had pretty good temp control. Didn't take a gravity sample before adding water and extracts though, so i can't be sure.

Just talked to my dad. He stirred the beer a little, made a gravity sample and got a bit over 1.070, so it was just probably thinner at the top and thicker at the bottom. Feels great.

Next question: how will I know when the fermentation is complete? It will probably be very hard to get an accurate gravity sample. I'm kind of worried that fermentation will take a long time because most of the sugars will be at the bottom but the yeast is top fermenting. Any suggestions?

Don't worry too much about the sugars on the bottom etc. The yeast will find and consume.
Give it a couple of weeks (at least 3), then take three consecutive hydro samples 3 days in a row. If the readings are the same, you are done fermenting. Congrats, I wish that my Dad was interested in brewing.

I brew with my dad whenever he needs a new keg. I set him up with a kegerator last year for x-mas. He still has no clue how to brew (I'm trying to get him there so he doesn't need me as much), but I don't mind helpin' out.

phatuna said:

Don't worry too much about the sugars on the bottom etc. The yeast will find and consume.
Give it a couple of weeks (at least 3), then take three consecutive hydro samples 3 days in a row. If the readings are the same, you are done fermenting. Congrats, I wish that my Dad was interested in brewing.

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Thanks, I'll try that. I'll tell my dad to stir the beer a bit before taking each gravity sample as well, can't hurt.

Yeah, it is pretty nice to have a common interest. I probably have him to thank for getting me into craft beer, even though I'm probably more interested than him now.

iddqd said:

Thanks, I'll try that. I'll tell my dad to stir the beer a bit before taking each gravity sample as well, can't hurt.

Yeah, it is pretty nice to have a common interest. I probably have him to thank for getting me into craft beer, even though I'm probably more interested than him now.

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Actually i believe it can hurt. If the container is open you may oxygenate the beer if you stir it up.

UnNatural said:

Actually i believe it can hurt. If the container is open you may oxygenate the beer if you stir it up.

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Yeah, I know. I'll have to be careful. But what I've heard, there's a small "cushion" of CO2 above the beer, so if I stir carefully and don't get too much air/CO2 into it, I should be safe, right?

I've got a nice hydrometer (finally after batch 5!), but it's in 2/10th increments (which I believe is the same as all of them). A very 'analog' (non digital) device. So how are you getting it to the 3rd value to the right of the decimel? I.E. 1.08x or 1.02x

neldred said:

I've got a nice hydrometer (finally after batch 5!), but it's in 2/10th increments (which I believe is the same as all of them). A very 'analog' (non digital) device. So how are you getting it to the 3rd value to the right of the decimel? I.E. 1.08x or 1.02x

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My hydrometer is graded in .00x decimals. But hell, .001 doesn't make a huge difference.

iddqd said:

My hydrometer is graded in .00x decimals. But hell, .001 doesn't make a huge difference.

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Is it digital? Because I don't see how some lines could get to that level of accuracy. Not to mention the water line (or 'beer line') is kind of fat, enough to cover 1/10 give or take of the measuring line. But I'm new to this and still working a million things out...

If it is on the line it is even, if it is in between the lines it is odd. Thats how you get .001 accuracy with it only having every .002 lines. if it was every .001 lines, you would have .0005 accuracy.

C02 is heavier than air so there will be a cushion but theres still a chance of oxidation. Personally i'd rather not risk it. Also, if you're taking the sample with a wine thief, you would be getting a sample from all the strata and it would get mixed when you put it in your hydro tube, so it should be pretty accurate even without stirring.

I'm fairly casual about my brewing aside from sanitation. When it comes to oxidizing my beer...I tend to not worry. I've shaken fermentors, splashed fully fermented beer, etc. I've never had an oxidized beer in the years that I've been brewing. Some of my beers have been in my cellar for well over a year, they still taste great. So...maybe I take the RDWHAHB saying a bit too far, but until I have some serious problems, I'll continue in my slacker ways.