Gravity Way Off

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smoes

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I just got done brewing AHS Pumpkin Ale, i did everything the instructions said and i got a gravity reading of 1.020 and it calls for 1.055...

any support would be really helpful...


and it looks like everything settled to the bottom already
 
Sounds like, most likely, your top-off water and wort weren't mixed thoroughly when you took the reading. With extract kits, it's going to be pretty difficult to actually be that far off on OG unless you didn't put in all the extract or added significantly too much water.

[Edit: I'm assuming it was an extract kit?]
 
It's difficult to get an accurate OG reading. You've got to make sure the wort is thoroughly and evenly mixed before taking a gravity sample. There's no way your OG was 1.020 if you followed the recipe properly. I'm not encouraging this sort of thing but I've quit taking OG readings. I just calculate what my OG should be and trust that it's fairly close, which it will be if you follow the recipe accurately. My main concern with gravity is that it's done fermenting before bottling.
 
Im with you on not using the hydrometer, on my first brew i forgot to take it and was mad at myself, the beer turned out awesome and i made several mistakes being my first time but the beer was fine. So I have decided not to take a OG reading so that i don't have to worry about it, i just use the hydrometer to make sure that im done fermenting like stated above. This probaly wouldn't be the best method for producing award winning beer but this lazy brewer method keeps the gray hair off my head and makes my total expeirence more fun.
 
+1 on what everybody has said. But i would encorage taking hydrometer readings to mak sure if you need to add some DME to get the OG you are looking for
 
Sounds like, most likely, your top-off water and wort weren't mixed thoroughly when you took the reading. With extract kits, it's going to be pretty difficult to actually be that far off on OG unless you didn't put in all the extract or added significantly too much water.

[Edit: I'm assuming it was an extract kit?]


Wooo Wooo Wooo. I am a beginner brewer; just started my second batch. You talk about top-off water-- Is that a common thing???? I usually end up shy of 5 gallons. Should I add more water just to reach 5 Gallons, or should I just leave it?
 
Smoe people can only boil 3 or so gallons of concentrated wort, then top off to 5 gallons. If you are ending up just shy of 5, then you are fine.
 
Smoe people can only boil 3 or so gallons of concentrated wort, then top off to 5 gallons. If you are ending up just shy of 5, then you are fine.

True! And if you want to top off, you can too. If you add water, it'll lower the OG a bit, but if you're high on your numbers, it won't hurt anything.
 
thanks for all the help, im just gunna run with it and see what happens...it started to ferment in under 12 hours and looks like its going pretty good...
 
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