Arrrgh!!! missed my S.G. by a mile.

[rambler]

Well I just sparged my English Ale and missed the target gravity by .020. I do have 7 gallons in the kettle though.
Theoretically if I boil it down to 5.5 gallons, which is about 20% of the volume, shouldnt my gravity come up 20% ?

 

[MBasile]

http://www.brewheads.com/newsg.php

 

[CPooley4]

1.050 (50 gravity points per gallon) at 7 gallons = 350 total gravity points
350 / 5.5 = 63 gravity points per gallon
63 = 1.063

Are you sure you missed by 20? When you take your hydrometer pre-boil you need to account for the volume of wort you're taking that reading from. The example above shows that if someone had a reading of 1.050 at 7 gallons pre-boil and they adjusted to their expected batch size of 5.5 gallons they actually hit 1.063 SG, not 1.050.

Hope this helps. If you're an all grain batch sparge brewer I would suggest downloading my brew chart below in my signature. It takes care of all this for you plus a whole lot more.

Good luck.

cp

 

[rambler]

Thanks a lot guys, I really dont want to add any sugars but it looks like I may have to. I was shooting for 1.080 and after I made the boil down correction it looks like im only going to hit about 1.064. That puts me at only about 60% efficiency. Now I get to try and figure out why...dammit!

 

[Dane]

make sure your wort temperature is around 60 degrees farenheit before you check your hydrometer. Temperature really plays a big role in getting accurate readings from your hydrometer.

 

[lschiavo]

Hopefully you stirred it well?

 

[ChshreCat]

make sure your wort temperature is around 60 degrees farenheit before you check your hydrometer. Temperature really plays a big role in getting accurate readings from your hydrometer.

+1!

If your wort was hot when you checked it, it's going to read lower than it should.

 

[Homebrewtastic]

Also adding some malt extract to correct is much more ideal than adding sugar.

 

[rambler]

Yes the temp was correct when i checked it. Originally in the pot i had a volume of seven gallon with a gavity reading of 1.047-embarrassing!! After i did the temp and boil down corrections i got a target gravity of 1.064-still embarassing!!. So what i did was take every last drop of the last runnings that i could and i am now boiling it down to make some extract b/c i dont have any on hand. To top it all off i could get my "custom" wort chiller to cooperate so the beer is now sittng outside in 25 degree weather to cool.ARRGGHH! And to think i call this fun??

 

[ChshreCat]

Yes the temp was correct when i checked it. Originally in the pot i had a volume of seven gallon with a gavity reading of 1.047-embarrassing!! After i did the temp and boil down corrections i got a target gravity of 1.064-still embarassing!!. So what i did was take every last drop of the last runnings that i could and i am now boiling it down to make some extract b/c i dont have any on hand. To top it all off i could get my "custom" wort chiller to cooperate so the beer is now sittng outside in 25 degree weather to cool.ARRGGHH! And to think i call this fun??

So, this is guaranteed to be the BEST beer you've ever tasted and you'll never be able to replicate it.

 

[rambler]

Of course.....Murphy will always have his way.

 

[HollidaySlim]

So, this is guaranteed to be the BEST beer you've ever tasted and you'll never be able to replicate it.

What Chshre said. I bet this turns into liquid gold. Haha.

 

[rambler]

If it does turn into liquid gold I'll post the recipe and leave up to everyone else to figure out how to make it, I sure as hell dont know!

 

[jfr1111]

I know the feeling. Last brew, I screwed the pooch and undershot in a magnificient fashion. Tonight, I did a test batch for a house bitter that was supposed to clock in around 1.041. The beer came out at 1.054 without correcting for temperature. I'm starting to think my volumes are either way off or the small decoction I did to raise the temp during my mash accounted for the efficiency.

 

[rambler]

Overshooting, undershooting, it seems like I'm doing both of them way more than I can explain. My last batch I hit both my O.G and my F.G exactly right. Of course I chocked this up to my absolute brilliance and brewing mastery. HAH!!

The only thing I can think happened is there must have been some severe channeling going on. When I drained the last runnings off there were 2 deep pockets in the grain bed, one right above the drain and one at the back. Maybe I vorlaufed too fast or something.

I have often wondered too if my false bottom maybe is'nt perforated enough, will that affect it?