Hydrometer issues?

[tkrampy]

Hi All,

i have been seeing weird numbers from my hydrometer lately.

my last beer should have had a OG of 1.052, but it came out as 1.063...it was an average APA kit from MoreBeer and i didnt add anything extra to it.

when it was done fermenting, it seemed to have a ABV of 4.5%.

So i just brewed an Oktoberfest from AHB with the alcohol boost the offer. again this was supposed to have a 1.052 OG, but when i read it, ti came out with 1.110?!

is this right? can hydrometers go bad? I haven't had any issues until my last 2 beers (granted my last beer came out very well).

thoughts?

 

[uatuba]

All grain or extract?

 

[tkrampy]

extract

 

[dysphoria]

I've had a couple hydrometers where the paper inside slipped up or down. I've also had one that was off by quite a bit (.010). I'd suggest having a look at the following article:

http://byo.com/stories/item/411-calibrate-your-hydrometer-and-fermenter-techniques

There is little value in taking a reading with any testing equipment unless you calibrate it.
This way, even if it is off by a bit you can just apply the correction factor and you still have a useful hydrometer.

If your hydrometer reads dead-on, then is it possible that there was an error made somewhere in the recipe that caused the higher gravity readings?

 

[flars]

Try your hydrometer in 60° distilled water or the temperature water the hydrometer is calibrated for. Should give you a SG of 1.00. OG for an extract is quite often not what the recipe specifies because the wort is not evenly mixed.