I don't get this...

[duskb]

I just finished brewing a holiday ale (9lbs of extract and 1lb of grain), per recipe and it says the OG is supposed to be 1.065. I pulled a sample (before pitching) with a baster and put it into the tube and read 1.020. I'm still under the 5 gal mark.

Am I missing something? How is this possible?

 

[bob1852]

Did you do a partial boil? More than likely, your wort wasn't completely mixed and that's why your OG sample seemed a little "watery"

 

[TomSD]

Did you do a full boil or boil and fill? Either way if it isn't mixed up very well it can throw off your reading. That is way off though.

 

[duskb]

Did you do a full boil or boil and fill? Either way if it isn't mixed up very well it can throw off your reading. That is way off though.

Partial Boil. Thank you, I'm a total moron. I forgot to to mix before pulling a sample. I mixed and the reading came out to 1.065...

It's amazing how much of that water just sat on the top...it didn't look that way from above.