did i mess up bad?

[EdRidz73]

This is my 3rd brew I ever made (orange creamsicle ale from Austin homebrew) and I wanted to ferment the beer in a glass carboy instead of the plastic jug. There are no gallon markers on the carboy so I filled it up with 5 gallons (or so I thought) and marked it with a marker. After mixing the wort and adding the yeast I did the gravity test and the OG was 1.020 instead of 1.060 like the kit says. I think I measured wrong and put in a extra gallon of water. Is there anything I can do?

 

[aiptasia]

Umm probably not. Chalk this one up to a learning lesson. The only caveat to that would be if you had a huge 7-10 gallon stock pot and could boil off some of the water. You'd have to get more yeast and re-pitch.

 

[EdRidz73]

I was thinking pull a gallon of the wort out. Boil it and add some DME. Cool it and add it back into the carboy

 

[duboman]

Either you topped off wrong or, most likely got a bad mix of wort and water resulting in a low OG reading. Regardless, I'd leave, enjoy the beer when it's done and improve your process for the next batch

 

[aiptasia]

You can try it. The problem is, the flavor ratios for the adjunct additions and grains will be thrown off. Use a light pilsner DME and boil it for ten minutes just to get it sanitized, then cool it and add it once it's room temperature.

 

[MuchoGusto]

I would recheck my gravity. If it still reads 1.020 corrected for temp and you want to add some DME you are going to need about 5.2 lbs to add 40 gravity points to bring it up to 1.060.

Don't hold me to that, though,... I'm on my first cup of java.

 

[BigRob]

If you only do partial boils with extract, your OG reading is going to be off frequently. Wort and water don't mix too well, and strange gravity readings frequently happen when you are mixing a concentrated wort into the cold water.

If you used all the extract that came with the kit, and you have 5gal of beer in the carboy, your OG is exactly what the kit says.

 

[kh54s10]

I also say to take another gravity reading. I doubt that one gallon would drop your gravity 40 points. Topped up brews often are difficult to mix fully.

 

[MuchoGusto]

I just plugged in some numbers.... in a 5 gallon batch with a gravity of 1.060 one would have to add an additional 9 gallons of water to dilute the wort down to a 1.020 SG.

Adding additional DME in any significant amount throws to hop balance off. Keep that in mind.

 

[Yooper]

I just plugged in some numbers.... in a 5 gallon batch with a gravity of 1.060 one would have to add an additional 9 gallons of water to dilute the wort down to a 1.020 SG.

Adding additional DME in any significant amount throws to hop balance off. Keep that in mind.

Right- if you added one gallon of water extra, the OG would NOT be 1.020. It would be 1.050. So no worries!

Your OG reading is simply wrong because it's really hard for water and wort to mix well and give a good reading. 1.050 may be a little lower than planned, but it's not worth messing with it now.

 

[EdRidz73]

Thanks everyone for the advice and math!!!

Faith in self = restored

 

[woozy]

^^^right!

...EXCEPT... we have no reason to assume he added an extra gallon at all. The only reason he assumed this in the first place was that was his only explanation for getting a reading of 1.020.

This explanation was wrong (as 1.020 would require adding an extra *10* gallons of water) so there's no reason to assume *any* extra water was added.

I just plugged in some numbers.... in a 5 gallon batch with a gravity of 1.060 one would have to add an additional 9 gallons of water to dilute the wort down to a 1.020 SG.

Quibble: Wouldn't it be 10 additional (15 total) rather than 9?

5 gallon * 60 pts = 300 gallon-points =
6 gallons (1 additional gallon) * 50 (1.050) =
15 gallons (10 additional gallons) * 20 (1.050).

At any rate, the OP is fine.

 

[EdRidz73]

Ok I decided to give an update.. and thanks for all the input everyone. I attached a picture I took of the wort the 2nd day. As you can see it separated into 3 layers. That must be what messed up my gravity reading.

 

[EdRidz73]

And here is my wort after 3 days.. all mixed up and looking normal. I didn't do a gravity reading yet. I might do one tonight.