High OG reading

[noobrewer]

Just did the Brown Ale in the HOW TO BREW book. I used my clean coffee grinder for the grain (sorry but I had to get brewing, couldn't sit around for 2 hrs hitting grain w/ a rolling pin), as expected, the gain was fairly pulverized, but looked ok. Threw it in my fine mesh seeping bag, and got things kicked off. Hit all the temp and time, good hotbreak (biggest yet), got down to room temp quick (plenty of snow outside ), and everything looks good. I was supposed to get 1.050, but I got 1.067 (with temp conversion for 66F). Anything I might have done to cause this high reading? Thanks

PS. I also used 3lbs of light DME and 3lbs of amber DME. I was confused if light DME=Pale DME or if Amber DME=PaleDME? LHBS did not have pale on shelves.



Tittabawasee Brown Ale
Malts Gravity Contribution

6 lbs. of Pale DME
1 lb. of Crystal 60L Malt
1/4 lb. of Chocolate Malt



OG for 5 Gallons

1.050
Hops IBU Contribution

3/4 oz of Nugget (10%) at 60 minutes
1 oz of Willamette (5%) at 30 minutes
1 oz of Willamette (5%) at 15 minutes

 

[budbo]

Hmm Sounds more like you read the hydrometer wrong (or possibly need a new one).. Basic questions Did you stir the top off water in.

The OG you got exceeds the potential of what you put in.

 

[noobrewer]

yep stirred the top off water in well

 

[david_42]

Light DME is generally the same as pale.
Amber DMA has a little caramel malt in it.

I suspect you didn't stir well enough, a very common problem. Or possibly, you stopped a bit short of the 5.5 gallons. Or both.

Do not be surprised if you have a very thick layer of trub when the ferment is done. Fine grinding of grains can do that.

 

[noobrewer]

problem found: yes I only topped off to 5.0 gal.
On another note, is it better to rack to a secondary since I will have a thicker than usual layer of trub? So far, I have never used a secondary, but maybe this would be a good one to try.

 

[malkore]

I use a secondary for any beer that's either
1. not dark enough to hide haze
2. not supposed to be hazy

so, stouts, hefe's, wits, etc don't get a secondary, but lighter beers, yes.

and for partial boils, you literally have to stir it for 10 minutes to get a consistent mixture for a good gravity reading. for pure extract kits, as long as you nail the final volume of water, you can actually just assume you hit the OG listed in the recipe. Its a chance to be lazy for once

fermentation will adequately mix the wort, so you need not worry about trying to stir it now.