Help me read my hydrometer

[franklinswheat]

ok, so if my original specific gravity should be approximately 1.055 and when i took my measurement right before pitching my yeast it was just above the 10 on the balling, or approximately 42-44 on sp gr or about 5.5% potential apv, Am i close to where i should be.. quick easy to understand help with reading this properly would help. thanks

 

[PorterIV]

What was your temperature before pitching?

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Forget that the Balling or Potential APV are on there. All you want is the gravity reading. But I'm lost on what you are asking. Sounds like you are saying your OG was around 1.043? I take that from this comment:

when i took my measurement right before pitching my yeast it was...approximately 42-44 on sp gr

But you say your goal was 1.055. So you're about 10 - 12 points off. What was your recipe? Process? etc? We need more information.

 

[tvtoms]

1055 would be 55 (1055). Sounds as if you've hit 1044. Did you stir well? Add all the fermentables?

 

[frazier]

If it's an extract-based recipe, it is extremely difficult to miss the target gravity by more than a couple points. On the other hand, if you topped up with water, it is extremely easy to get a false low reading due to stratification of the wort. The heavy sugar-rich water sinks, and the light not-much-sugar-added water floats, and it's hard to get them mixed. The best way to mix them, I've found, is to forget about an "official" reading, pitch the yeast, and let the churning begin.

 

[skx]

I just got a LHBS saison kit. recipe said it should be 1.049 but i ended up with 1.060 so, I think they may have mis-weighed the Light DME they gave me... 6# instead of 5# bag probably...

If you ran low, maybe stratifications issues or diluted with too much water?

 

[franklinswheat]

it was an AHS agave wheat extract kit.. i pitched a white labs yeast at about 80 degrees after i cooled my wort. which was about 2.5 gallons then topped off with 2.75 gallons of water and mixed well. I strained my wort through a metal colander to keep out most of the hop pellet residue, coriander,and bitter orange peel. The kit said it should end up approx 5.25 gallons which is what i'm at now. the gravity was supposed to be 1.055.. i guess my question is how to read it? if its just below the 10, almost to eleven what is my reading?

 

[RichBenn]

it was an AHS agave wheat extract kit.. i pitched a white labs yeast at about 80 degrees after i cooled my wort. which was about 2.5 gallons then topped off with 2.75 gallons of water and mixed well. I strained my wort through a metal colander to keep out most of the hop pellet residue, coriander,and bitter orange peel. The kit said it should end up approx 5.25 gallons which is what i'm at now. the gravity was supposed to be 1.055.. i guess my question is how to read it? if its just below the 10, almost to eleven what is my reading?

You are not listening to a prior poster. If you are using a hydrometer, there is a scale for specific gravity. Use that. It's got more resolution than the brix/plato scale. Read the bottom of the liquid level. Also make certain there is no bubbles on the hydrometer causing it to float high thus reading too low (spin it to help remove them)

You are "around" 1.044 if you are close to 11 brix. That's too low, so you need to figure out why. Alot of people here have given you reasons why. Not adjusting for temperature, bubbles, not stiring the wort before reading, or just measuring wrong.

 

[franklinswheat]

maybe i didnt mix the wort and cold water enough giving me a false reading.. hopefully

 

[malkore]

maybe i didnt mix the wort and cold water enough giving me a false reading.. hopefully

most likely. you really cannot miss gravity with extract unless you didn't use enough/too much or your final volume was too low/high. extract has a known 'Gravity points per pound per gallon' that really doesn't deviate thanks to modern technology and quality control.

it literally takes 10 minutes of vigorous stirring to mix a partial boil wort into 3-4 gallons of top off water.

I know many extract brewers that skip the OG and just assume they hit the recipe's OG, especially if they weigh their own extract.