Another low OG :-(

[C-Rider]

My first partial extract after 3 Cooper's and I'm bummed.

1 lb Crystal 80
1/4 lb Roasted Barley Put the grain in water at 160* for 30 min.

1 oz Fuggle Hops at 60 min boil
1 oz Fuggle Hops at 30 min boil
1 oz Fuggle Hops at 55 min boil

Cooled wort to about 100 and pored into primary. Added water to 5 gal.

OG = 1.024 :-(

It is supposed to be a Red Irish Ale

1 pkg SAFALE US 04 yeast pitched

It's sealed in primary now at 70* waiting for something to start. Can I add something fermentable to up the SG???

Thanks in advance.

 

[MRbutlertron]

Did you use any extract or only the 1 1/4 pound of grain?

 

[Pappers_]

You left out half of the recipe, friend. It looks like a 'extract with steeping grains' recipe rather than a 'partial mash' recipe, but in either case, the recipe would call for some malt extract. Where did you get the recipe?

 

[C-Rider]

You left out half of the recipe, friend. It looks like a 'extract with steeping grains' recipe rather than a 'partial mash' recipe, but in either case, the recipe would call for some malt extract. Where did you get the recipe?

Oops Forgot to mention the 6 lbs of Pale LME which was added after removing the grain bag.

Errrr dummy me

Recipe came from LBS

 

[mikebowman]

Partial boils are notorious for this. It's often quite difficult to mix the boiled wort with the top-off water. The gravity sample you pulled probably just had more water then wort. My software says you should be around 1.052, which is probably where you are. Unless you totally messed up the amount of water to add, extract recipes are pretty much impossible to miss your numbers with. It'll mix itself up, no worries!

Next time, make sure you stir really well, or even shake and rock the fermenter around a lot before you take a gravity reading, just so you mix it better

 

[C-Rider]

Partial boils are notorious for this. It's often quite difficult to mix the boiled wort with the top-off water. The gravity sample you pulled probably just had more water then wort. My software says you should be around 1.052, which is probably where you are. Unless you totally messed up the amount of water to add, extract recipes are pretty much impossible to miss your numbers with. It'll mix itself up, no worries!

Next time, make sure you stir really well, or even shake and rock the fermenter around a lot before you take a gravity reading, just so you mix it better

Thanks, that could be the problem. I can go shake it up now (10 pm) and see what it looks like in the morning.

I feel better now.l

 

[Pappers_]

With extract (which is where most of your fermentables are coming from), you can't really mess up your original gravity, unless you measure the extract wrong or have the wrong volume of wort. In other words, too little extract or too much water will lead to a low og. A more likely option is that, since you topped off with water, you didn't get it all completely mixed up and your sample for the hydrometer reading is low density. You could mix it all up really really well and take another reading. But, if you used the right amount of extract in the right volume of wort, your og will be on target, so there's not a big need to measure the og.

 

[MRbutlertron]

Wort mixed thoroughly with the water?

 

[C-Rider]

Wort mixed thoroughly with the water?

Yup, it is now. I'll take a reading in the morning. I need the OG to figure out the ABV when it's all done.


The recipe gave no indications of OG, FG, or ABV.

It sure tasted like funky water when I pulled the sample. Live and learn even at 68

 

[AR-Josh]

Yeah I was going to say...It had to not be stirred enough with 6lbs of LME in 5 gal of water. No way that would only come out to 1.024.

Well, it's stirred now. Keep us posted. Maybe you can just make a guess with some kind of calculator on the OG? I would be hesitant to muck with it at this point. That's just me.

 

[stratslinger]

Yup, it is now. I'll take a reading in the morning. I need the OG to figure out the ABV when it's all done.

Just keep in mind, assuming you already pitched your yeast, if you wait overnight to take your OG, it won't likely be your OG anymore. If the yeast take off as quickly as they sometimes can, a good portion of your sugars might already be converted to alcohol - so don't freak out if the gravity is still lower than you'd expect!

 

[Pappers_]

Yeah, I wouldn't take another reading now. I'll try to remember to pop your numbers into Beersmith and confirm the gravity given you in the earlier post. With extract brewing, unless your wort volume or extract weight was off, those numbers should be very close.

 

[C-Rider]

Just keep in mind, assuming you already pitched your yeast, if you wait overnight to take your OG, it won't likely be your OG anymore. If the yeast take off as quickly as they sometimes can, a good portion of your sugars might already be converted to alcohol - so don't freak out if the gravity is still lower than you'd expect!

Many than again or as we say in the islands Mahalo Nui Loa.

Yup, yeast eating like crazy this morning. Bubbling away about 1 every 3-4 sec.

Took a sample anyway and it's bout 1.042 so I know it was higher. Should be a bood brew.

Using a 1/2 gal ice jar and a wet towel the primary is in a big plastic tub and the temp is about 68 in the tub. Beer won't be much higher than that.

 

[Pappers_]

. . . My software says you should be around 1.052, which is probably where you are. . .

by Pappers
I'll try to remember to pop your numbers into Beersmith and confirm the gravity given you in the earlier post. With extract brewing, unless your wort volume or extract weight was off, those numbers should be very close.

When I put the recipe into Beersmith, it comes out with 1.044. Mike, did you adjust the software so that the grains were steeping, not mashing (since there wasn't any base grain to mash with them?)

 

[C-Rider]

When I put the recipe into Beersmith, it comes out with 1.044. Mike, did you adjust the software so that the grains were steeping, not mashing (since there wasn't any base grain to mash with them?)

Mahalo Pappers and Mike.

Right now at 6 pm the air lock is going crazy. About one bubble every second.

I keep that sample in the house w/the hydrometer sitting in it all day. Of course the temp in the house probaby got up to 78. Anywho, the reading is about 1.o20 now. Lota foam on top making reading hard. Trying to get up the courage to take a sip

 

[drathbone]

Stop taking readings, 3 (if I counted right) in less than 24 hours is too much IMO as your first one after pitch was at 1.042 indicated you were pretty close to target, just RDWHHB and let the yeast do work for a few weeks. You're risking infection at a sensitive time in the fermentation cycle if you keep opening it up to get readings.

 

[C-Rider]

Stop taking readings, 3 (if I counted right) in less than 24 hours is too much IMO as your first one after pitch was at 1.042 indicated you were pretty close to target, just RDWHHB and let the yeast do work for a few weeks. You're risking infection at a sensitive time in the fermentation cycle if you keep opening it up to get readings.

I didn't dip into the primary. I kept the morning's sample in the test tube. I won't open the primary for at least a week or two.

 

[C-Rider]

Scrapped the skuz off the top of the test tube and took a sip. Hmmm interesting. Not sure how to describe it. Bitter of course. But I think it's gonna be great in 3-4 weeks.

Just bought a mini fridg at Sam's. $130, sits nice on my back deck in the shade. Holds 2 cases standing up. And where the vegi basket was I can set 3 of my beer mugs to chill. Right now I've got it set to 70* and there are 37 bottles of my Cooper's Wheat working their way to greatness I hope.

 

[C-Rider]

Just thinking, which I know can be dangerous, at least that's what the wife always says.

When I did my boil I only used 1 3/4 gallons of tap. My pot looked like it could hold 2 but I was worried bout boil over. could this be any kind of problem? I could by a larger al pot at HD.

 

[drathbone]

Just thinking, which I know can be dangerous, at least that's what the wife always says.

When I did my boil I only used 1 3/4 gallons of tap. My pot looked like it could hold 2 but I was worried bout boil over. could this be any kind of problem? I could by a larger al pot at HD.

That's not a big deal, you're just doing a partial boil. You just get better hop utilization doing a full boil, so with a partial you might need to add more hops.