Brewing again, but low OG last time.

[RobWalker]

So last time I brewed this;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/first-extract-brew-244247/

My OG was lower than expected. People in this topic say it's down to not mixing correctly, so here's a breakdown of what I did;

Boiled LME, malt and hops for 45 mins (as the recipe calls for, I realise most recipes add different hops at different times!) When completed, strained through a muslin bag into a brew bucket, and poured boiling water through until it ran clear. Dissolved sugar (glucose) into the brew while still hot, and upon realising that OG was low, added more glucose to about 1030. topped up with cold water and stirred. Fermented, racked off into keg, clear in about 10 days, still drinking it (almost gone!)

It doesn't taste bad at all, far from a failure infact, as it's delicious. The hops seem very dominant compared to the malty flavors though, so I'd imagine my low OG was something to do with that.

I'm torn between a Budweiser clone and Purity Pure Gold clone, so just want to make sure my method is correct and I get the next one bang on!

 

[Revvy]

We get this question every day

It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain revcipes) to have an error in reading the OG...In fact, it is actually nearly impossible to mix the wort and the top off water in a way to get an accurate OG reading...

Brewers get a low reading if they get more of the top off water than the wort, conversely they get a higher number if they grabbed more of the extract than the top off water in their sample.

When I am doing an extract with grain recipe I make sure to stir for a minimum of 5 minutes (whipping up a froth to aerate as well) before I draw a grav sample and pitch my yeast....It really is an effort to integrate the wort with the top off water...This is a fairly common new brewer issue we get on here...unless you under or over topped off or the final volume for the kit was 5 gallons and you topped off to 5.5, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"

More than likely your true OG is really what it's supposed to be. And it will mix itself fine during fermentation.

 

[RobWalker]

That's good! Means I've got the extract brewing part right, at least.
I'll bear that in mind on the next one then - last time really was a "chuck it in" sort of job so it's good to know I've gotta take more care there. Thanks!

 

[stratslinger]

Another thing to keep in mind Rob, is that hydrometers are set up to be very accurate for a specific temperature. If you were checking gravity while the wort was still hot, your readings will be pretty far off - make sure to check out the little instruction sheet that came with your hydrometer; it should tell you what temperature it's calibrated for and how best to adjust your readings to compensate for different temperatures.

 

[RobWalker]

bah, I don't have an instruction sheet! My hydrometer is 20 years old and my dad's always been a very "sod the details" sort of brewer. I'll google though, thanks!