First brew in the closet - SG reading way off

[MooDaddy]

Spent the afternoon making my first brew - AHS Double Chocolate Stout. I actually thought it went well - I cleaned and sanitized out the wazoo, followed the instructions to the letter, avoided the dreaded boil over, got the wort cooled in just about 25 minutes, pitched the yeast and stole a small sample for my hydrometer - 1.068, yikes! The instruction sheet mentioned the original SG should be approx 1.056. Am I screwed?

 

[Mustangj]

Am I screwed?

Nope! It will just be higher in alcohol...

 

[MalFet]

Nope, not screwed. Could be a couple things.

As likely as not, your top-off water and your partial-boil wort hadn't finished mixing completely, and thus your gravity appears to be off from what it actually is.

Even if it is off -- and the only way that could happen is if you ended up adding significantly less water than you were supposed to -- you'll still end up with delicious, delicious beer. It'll just be a bit stronger than you originally intended.

 

[earwig]

You aren't screwed at all but you didn't give enough info. Was this an extract, mini mash or all grain kit? Full or partial boil? Maybe you didn't add enough top off water or didn't mix it well before taking the reading?

 

[MooDaddy]

"Maybe you didn't add enough top off water . ."



I think I've figured out what I did - or didn't do. I was instructed to add enough water to my boiled wort to make 5.25 gallons total. I forgot to add the extra .25 gallon at the end. I'm supposing that a quart would be enough of a deficit to account for the higher SG, yes?

 

[MalFet]

"Maybe you didn't add enough top off water . ."



I think I've figured out what I did - or didn't do. I was instructed to add enough water to my boiled wort to make 5.25 gallons total. I forgot to add the extra .25 gallon at the end. I'm supposing that a quart would be enough of a deficit to account for the higher SG, yes?

That's part of it. The quart would be responsible for about 3 or 4 points, but not more.

 

[ongreystreet]

If your sample had yeast in it (a generous amount) it would raise the OG, as would forgetting the last .25 gallons. If you don't mix the hell out of your wort before taking sample, chances are your wort and water combination will give off terrible gravity readings, off by as much as .02 or more from my experience.

Your OG is most likely what your kit says it was suppose to be plus a correction for the .25 gallon of water missing.

 

[MooDaddy]

My sample did have yeast in it, and I did really mix it pretty well - or at least I thought I did - set the fermenter bucket on a tennis ball and then rock and rolled it pretty vigorously for 5 minutes.

Anyway, if when all is said and done all I've done in the end is increase the alcohol content I'll be pretty happy about things.

Lessons learned: follow instructions exactly and take sample before pitching the yeast.