American Wheat High OG?

[Lago86]

Hi All...I found a great deal on an Anvil Foundry 10.5 so I grabbed it. I just wanted to test it out so I bought the Lunar Shock DME kit from MB. The recipe calls for Original Gravity: 1.052-55, mine came out at 1.061. That's a pretty decent jump I think. Am I in trouble? This is my first extract and previously only did BIAB.

TIA

 

[VikeMan]

With an extract kit, if you got a gravity significantly higher than the recipe called for, either the kit's designer screwed up (unlikely), or one (or more) of these things happened...

- You ended up with less than the intended volume of wort (boiled away too much).
- You should have topped off (a partial boil) with more water after the boil, but didn't, or didn't add enough
- You topped off, but didn't mix it thoroughly before taking the hydrometer sample.
- Measurement error (e.g. misread hydrometer, didn't correct for temperature, hydrometer bottomed out in jar, or bad hydrometer).

Are you in trouble? Not really. If your gravity was actually higher than planned, you'll end up with a bigger beer.

 

[Lago86]

So... My final gravity was 1.034. Does that mean the fermentation did not complete?

 

[VikeMan]

1.061 to 1.034 would only be 44% apparent attenuation, and definitely not what it should be, Did you measure the gravity with a refractometer? If so, you need to adjust the readings using a refractometer calculator.

 

[Lago86]

I just took a reading with my old analog hydrometer and it's at 1.015. I'm guessing my cheapo refractometer may be on the fritz. I checked it with distilled water and it was spot on, but then checked the beer again and it's still reading 1.034. I'm just gonna carb it and cross my fingers. Thanks for the replies!

 

[madscientist451]

The recipe calls for Original Gravity: 1.052-55, mine came out at 1.061. That's a pretty decent jump I think. Am I in trouble?

TIA

There's a dilution calculator on the Brewer's friend site, you could just add water to get the gravity where you want it.

 

[RM-MN]

I just took a reading with my old analog hydrometer and it's at 1.015. I'm guessing my cheapo refractometer may be on the fritz. I checked it with distilled water and it was spot on, but then checked the beer again and it's still reading 1.034. I'm just gonna carb it and cross my fingers. Thanks for the replies!

Your refractometer is just fine but it and all the other refractometers can't read correctly when alcohol is present and will always read higher than the hydrometer for final gravity. That is why there are refractometer calculators as they can give the correct FG with numbers taken by a refractometer.

 

[RufusBrewer]

I just took a reading with my old analog hydrometer and it's at 1.015. I'm guessing my cheapo refractometer may be on the fritz. I checked it with distilled water and it was spot on, but then checked the beer again and it's still reading 1.034. I'm just gonna carb it and cross my fingers. Thanks for the replies!

Refractors measure dissolved sugar levels in wort. Fermented wort contains dissolved sugar plus alcohol. A refractometer cannot directly measure the OG of fermented beer. And you cannot use a brix (or Plato) reading to calculate OG of fermented beer.

 

[VikeMan]

Refractors measure dissolved sugar levels in wort. Fermented wort contains dissolved sugar plus alcohol. A refractometer cannot directly measure the OG of fermented beer. And you cannot use a brix (or Plato) reading to calculate OG of fermented beer.

To avoid confusing @Lago86, when you say OG here, you are actually talking about FG.

OG = Original Gravity, measured before fermentation
FG = Final Gravity, measured after fermentation
SG = Specific Gravity, generic term for gravity, measured at any point (OG, FG, or anywhere in between).

 

[RufusBrewer]

To avoid confusing @Lago86, when you say OG here, you are actually talking about FG.

OG = Original Gravity, measured before fermentation
FG = Final Gravity, measured after fermentation
SG = Specific Gravity, generic term for gravity, measured at any point (OG, FG, or anywhere in between).

Good catch. Yes FG is what I meant to say.

Thanks.