Help with my 1st batch PLEASE!!!

[DogFlynnHead]

Brewed a generic brown ale from Sam Calagione's Extreme Brewing book. All went well but ended up with only 3.5 gallons of wort in fermenter after a 4.5gal start. Target OG was 1.072, but my 1st reading was 1.093. Added 1 gal of cool tap water to fermenter and took another reading, 1.052! I have an 8oz. maple syrup addition to make 3 days from now.

2 questions, was it ok to add cool tap water to wort in ferenter?
And should I bump up the maple syrup addition to 12oz to try and up the sugars due to a lower OG?

This site is amazing and any help would be much appreciated!

 

[JebCkr]

Adding tap water will be fine. I'd mix it up gently and take the OG again because the water on top could throw your reading off.

 

[marubozo]

What size batch did the recipe call for?

As far as adding tap water, that shouldn't be a problem. Most extract recipes will call for a partial boil and then top off with regular water. Some people boil their top off tap water first to go the extra mile with sanitation, but it probably isn't an issue even if you didn't.

As far as your last gravity reading, I'd double check it. Unless you mixed the wort really well after adding the tap water then chances are you pulled a sample that wasn't completely mixed and got a lower reading. This is a common problem for a lot of people who top off as they think the OG is too low when it's really just a case of the water not being completely mixed when taking the sample.

I wouldn't adjust the syrup addition until you make sure you get a good gravity reading to be sure.

 

[DogFlynnHead]

Thanks marubozo!

It's a 4 1/2gal batch.

Another thing, the test tube was only half full of wort when I checked the gravity after adding the water. Could that be an issue?

Thanks again!!!

 

[marubozo]

Another thing, the test tube was only half full of wort when I checked the gravity after adding the water. Could that be an issue?

Thanks again!!!

As long as the hydrometer can float freely and not touch the bottom, the amount of the sample isn't of much concern. But given it was such a small amount of a sample, it is very possible that you only got some diluted wort from the top off water, thus causing the low reading.

 

[DogFlynnHead]

Thanks!

The book does say add additional ounces of maple syrup if the original gravity is low. It was .020 lower than target OG. It calls for 8oz of maple syrup, should I add 10-12oz?

 

[Octang]

It sounds like you had the same problem I had tonight.

I added water to my wort after it was in my carboy and then I took my hydrometer reading. My reading was much lower than I expected. I was confused and upset like you are.

However, it was pointed out to me that adding the water last (without proper stirring) will cause the lower OG, so keep that in mind before you dump too much maple suryp in.

 

[DogFlynnHead]

Thanks for your help everybody! Very nice to know even after my home brew supply store has closed that help is a click away! Fermentation is off and running this morning!!!

 

[Arkador]

Brewed a generic brown ale from Sam Calagione's Extreme Brewing book. All went well but ended up with only 3.5 gallons of wort in fermenter after a 4.5gal start. Target OG was 1.072, but my 1st reading was 1.093. Added 1 gal of cool tap water to fermenter and took another reading, 1.052! I have an 8oz. maple syrup addition to make 3 days from now.

2 questions, was it ok to add cool tap water to wort in ferenter?
And should I bump up the maple syrup addition to 12oz to try and up the sugars due to a lower OG?

This site is amazing and any help would be much appreciated!

I am not on my computer with beersmith, but I am pretty sure that going from 3.5 to 4.5g would drop your gravity from 1.093 all the way to 1.052, and it was probably a deluted sample.

I used cold tap water as topoff all the time before moving to full boils.

You can always bump up the maple as you desire, hopefully someone will come along with their software and tell you the proper SG based on the 1g top off addition to a 1.093 wort, so you can meke a more educated decision.

 

[Arkador]

Without beer software, I used this method to determine, that you should have been at 1.071 SG

3.5g=56quart
4.5g=72quart

56qt is 77% of 72qt
93 (the gravity of the 56qt wort) * .77 = 71

not sure this is the right formula to use