Gravity problems

[ErinDummer]

I’m on my third extract batch and am hoping for some advice on how I might have messed up the original gravity and then also what I should be expecting for final gravity.

1. Recipe says anticipated OG is 1.060, I got 1.035 (1.034 measured but I added .001 because I was measuring at 70 deg). On an extract kit how could I have missed the OG by this much? Here are some notes:

• The recipe said to use 1.5 - 2.5 gallons of water for the wort and I used more like 2.75 gallons
• I lost some of the wort transferring from the kettle to the fermentor and used about 2.5 gallons of water, maybe a bit more, to get to 5.5 gallons in fermentor
• I was diligent about getting as much of the liquid extract out of the containers as I can, but I did burn some on the bottom of the kettle (this happened on my first batch as well so I need to work on that).

Could using too much water in making the wort or a combination of the above things cause a low OG?

2. Searching the forum I read the wort not being mixed with the added water enough can cause a low OG reading. Would that explain the 1.060 to 1.035 difference? When I add water I have been adding it to the fermentor directly, after the wort. Should I be adding the additional water to the hot wort in the kettle instead? Before the ice bath, so that I can mix it throughly?

3. After 23 days in primary I took a reading and gravity is 1.013. It is not clear to me from my recipe what the expected final gravity would be (screenshot attached) so I can evaluate if fermentation was maximally successful. Is this a reasonable final gravity reading? I worried that the recommended temp for fermentation was around 70 degrees but the temp dropped to 68-64 a day after I racked and then 62-66 degrees for most of the week after that. Wondering if that would kill off the yeast?

Any advice appreciated, Thanks!

 

[IslandLizard]

I lost some of the wort transferring from the kettle to the fermentor

How much wort do you think you lost? Was it left in the kettle with the trub, or spilled somehow?
Remember, at around half the final dilution (1.060), that was very high gravity wort, 1.120 give or take!

But yes, incomplete mixing is often the cause of a misleading, too low reading. It seems difficult to mix wort with water into a homogenous solution, apparently, you're not the only one.

No, better not to mix in cold water until after chilling first. It's much easier to chill 210F wort down to 120F than it is to chill 120F wort down to 66F (pitching temps).

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

this ....

... doesn't look right.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

After 23 days in primary I took a reading and gravity is 1.013. It is not clear to me from my recipe what the expected final gravity would be (screenshot attached) so I can evaluate if fermentation was maximally successful. Is this a reasonable final gravity reading? I worried that the recommended temp for fermentation was around 70 degrees but the temp dropped to 68-64 a day after I racked and then 62-66 degrees for most of the week after that. Wondering if that would kill off the yeast?

Assuming an OG of 1.060, with US-05, a FG of 1.013 is reasonable.

 

[bracconiere]

not sure if it helps, but i just learned a neat trick to find OG, and ABV using a combo of refractometer and hydrometer measurements. so if you want to let it finish fermenting then do that, you'll know if it just wasn't mixed good enough...

 

[Holden Caulfield]

this ....

... doesn't look right.

Just building on this observation...

Dry malt extract delivers approx 44 ppg where as Liquid malt extract delivers approx 36 ppg - the potential is way off. If you used dry and did not lose any wort during transfer you would have ended up with an OG of 61 (334/5.5), which is spot on to the plan. If you used liquid you would have ended up with an OG of only 51 (281/5.5). Still not even close to the 35. The wort in the fermenter only had 192 points (35 x 5.5) so you were missing at least 81 points of sugar (281-192).

So something does not add up unless you lost at least 28% of the wort during transfer (81/281), burnt a lot of sugar, or did not mix well when adding water to the fermenter and had stratification. Did you use a hydrometer or refractometer to measure gravity?

 

[jbrewkeggin]

not sure if it helps, but i just learned a neat trick to find OG, and ABV using a combo of refractometer and hydrometer measurements. so if you want to let it finish fermenting then do that, you'll know if it just wasn't mixed good enough...

Please do share. Thanks!

 

[bracconiere]

Please do share. Thanks!

well aparently being that ethanol raises a refractometer and lowers a hydrometer....as long as you have a mix of water/sugar/ethanol....you can figure out how much alcohol it has by using a calc like this to compare the two readings....

https://www.vinolab.hr/calculator/alcohol-from-hydrometer-refractometer-en27

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

There's also one at Northern Brewer's web site: Homebrew Refractometer Calculator (link)