First Homebrew - Low OG

[BlackSheep92]

Hi all,

Brewed my first ever homebrew batch today. Brewers Best kit and Brewers Best India IPA. Added 2.5 gallons, followed the instructions, at the end added the final 2.5 gallons and took a reading. It called for an OG of 1.061-1.065, I was reading 1.044 after a good mix.

Could I have added too much water? Could it have not cooled to 60 degrees? Will this affect the FG? Did I completely screw the pooch on this one?

Any advice for this beginner would be greatly appreciated.

I had questions about mixing with a carboy, obtaining samples from it, adding the yeast, etc. all in all I think it went well with the exception of the OG reading. Temps and times were on target so...like I said, any help, tips, suggestions would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[homebrewdad]

If you added all of the extract and topped off to the correct volume, you are fine. Odds are that no matter how hard you tried, it's simply not fully stirred together - you pulled a sample with more water than sugar, ergo the low gravity.

Have no fear, the yeast will mix it completely for you.

Relax, and just use assume the OG that the recipe called for - you pretty much can't screw up extract gravity unless you end up with the wrong amount of total liquid.

 

[bad67z]

If you added all of the extract and topped off to the correct volume, you are fine. Odds are that no matter how hard you tried, it's simply not fully stirred together - you pulled a sample with more water than sugar, ergo the low gravity.

Have no fear, the yeast will mix it completely for you.

Relax, and just use assume the OG that the recipe called for - you pretty much can't screw up extract gravity unless you end up with the wrong amount of total liquid.

+1 to what HBD stated. Relax your beer is going to be great!

 

[BlackSheep92]

Thank you everyone. Feel much better now.

 

[BlackSheep92]

Eh, the carbonation filled the airlock with beer/trub and blew the airlock off.....I sanitized and replaced.....how potentially screwed could I, or this batch be?

 

[Gduck]

Blow offs are a common occurence with an airlock and not enough had space for a vigorous fermentation. All that stuff coming out would keep pretty much anything else from getting in. So as long as you cleaned the airlock, sanitized everything, and put it back on then everything should be just fine.

 

[BlackSheep92]

Thanks man, fingers crossed, we'll see

 

[genes]

Why don't these beginner kits call for a full boil? Severe injustice in my opinion.

 

[neko]

Why don't these beginner kits call for a full boil? Severe injustice in my opinion.

Because most beginners using a kit don't have the capability for full boils.

 

[johnnync]

Because most beginners using a kit don't have the capability for full boils.

I think its more they don't have a pot with the "capacity".

 

[BrokenKnucklesBrewery]

On some of my bigger beers or batches that I use a yeast starter, I normally just replace the airlock with a sanitized rubber hose (like ones used with your bottle filler) and run it into a cooler with water. As long as the end that is in the cooler stays submerged, it should serve the same purpose without worrying about an airlock blowing off.

 

[BlackSheep92]

To all, thank u for all of ur help. Looks like it'll turn out. Bottled today and all looks, smells and tastes well. Thanks to each of u again.

 

[homebrewdad]

Great! Hope it turns out as good as you'd hoped.

 

[ktblunden]

I think its more they don't have a pot with the "capacity".

Most kitchen stoves will also not get full volume to boil, even if you have a pot big enough.