How'd i miss my mark

[olotti]

Beersmith had my OG at 1.100 with 6.25 gal but I boiled down to about 6 gal then said enough and chilled and pitched and I ended up with a hydrometer reading of 1.096. My pre boil gravity was spot on if not a touch high so Im thinking I didn't boil off enough idk. Any thoughts.

 

[okbecker]

Was beersmith set up for 6.25 gallons? 1.096 is pretty close. Did you take multiple gravity readings to start with? Did you pitch a big starter then take gravity readings?

 

[olotti]

Was beersmith set up for 6.25 gallons? 1.096 is pretty close. Did you take multiple gravity readings to start with? Did you pitch a big starter then take gravity readings?

This is set u
This was st up in my beer smith for my high gravity beers. I take gravity readings via refractometer only when I hit my boil limit time in this case it was 90 minutes then I boiled off more to get down to close to my OG per beersmith.

 

[okbecker]

4 pts is not real bad...I use a refractometer as well. I can take 4 readings and get 4 different answers it seems like. I use the average. Guess it depends on when you take your preboil readings.....stratification could cause higher or lower readings preboil. I like my refractometer due to ease of use though I don't expect much more than a ballpark from it.

 

[olotti]

4 pts is not real bad...I use a refractometer as well. I can take 4 readings and get 4 different answers it seems like. I use the average. Guess it depends on when you take your preboil readings.....stratification could cause higher or lower readings preboil. I like my refractometer due to ease of use though I don't expect much more than a ballpark from it.

When collecting my wort I'll always stop .5 gal below my target and take a reading then go from there and even with this batch I was a point high and that's after I took a refrac reading then rechecked after it cooled. So maybe I didn't boil off enough I guess if the yeast does its job I shoukd b in the mid 9's for Final abv but I'm really more concerned if the recipe is what I want it to be because I can always increase it another time for an even bigger stout if this one hits all the marks.

 

[beerkench]

Refractomters and hydrometers often read different. You need to calibrate your refractomter to read the same as your hydrometer.


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