Help With OG

[SaltyRicks]

Hey guys. Been a lurker for a while but from all the great info Ive learned from this site i figured signing up was the least I could do. On to my question.

I just finished my second extract brew and again I missed my starting gravity by a mile. I brew Austin Home Brew kits and I went with the Imperial IPA kit this time. I followed the directions to a T but as I finished up I was supposed to add water up to 5 1/4 gallons to reach the OG of 1.075. Well I added up to that point and reached around OG 1.09. Hmm, not quite what I was hoping for, and my 6.5 gallon fermenter was looking dangerously close to full. So I used my siphon and removed some of the liquid to add more water... poured in a good bit and still nowhere near 1.075 (I was around 1.085 at this point). I guess my question is, does anyone else have trouble reaching the OG's of beers using the given directions. If not, please tell me what I am doing wrong. The only thing I can think of is I don't use a lid and I use an electric stove which could mean it takes longer to reach boiling temps resulting in lost H2O. Help a bro out.

 

[fifelee]

Your boil shouldn't make a difference. If you boil for an hour or all day you will still have the same amount of sugar(extract) in the pot. When you topped it up to 5.25 gallon you dilute the sugars to what should be the correct gravity. Extract gravity should always be on as long as the extract and water are measured/calculated correct. I had this same problem in the beginning. It turned out I wasn't mixing enough before measuring. The top up water really needs to be mixed in very well or you can be measuring some of the more concentrated wort you boiled. How much extract was in the recipe?

 

[SaltyRicks]

There was 7 lbs. LME and 3 lbs DME. I even siphoned off of the hop pellet residue because I thought they might be adding to the density of the wort but still I came in over. I did not measure exactly how many gallons of liquid I had in the fermenter because I wanted to rely on OG rather than a starting volume. My measurements of extracts should be spot on seeing as this was a pre-made kit from AHS. My gnawing suspicion is that I did not mix well enough before taking a reading which seems to be what you are suggesting. That is probably what happened. Thanks for the reply. Now I only hope I didnt add too much water.

 

[fifelee]

I put your 7lbs LME and 3lbs DME with 5.25 gallon of total volume into beersmith and got an OG of 1.073 which is close enough to the 1.075 in your recipe. As long as you didn't get any extra sugar anywhere and your volume was close to 5.25 your true wort OG was correct. Insufficient mixing was most likely your problem.

 

[helibrewer]

+1 on the mixing. If you really want an accurate reading you need to mix well, one option: Buy a mixing paddle used in winemaking for rousing lees. You use it with a drill motor and it does a very nice job of mixing...will help with aeration too.

EDIT: It's designed to work in a carboy