I got a Q

[Gingerpower12]

I just brew a batch of a pumpkin ale
But my OG was 1.040 is that good or bad

 

[Pie_Man]

It's neither. Please post your recipe.

 

[45thparallelhopper]

Is that what you were trying for? What's your grain bill?

 

[Gingerpower12]

Light LME 3.3lbs
Two row. 2.0lbs
Brown suger 2.0lbs
Rye malt 1.5lbs
Flaked rye 1.5lbs
Not canned pumpkin 4lbs
Kent gold .25 oz
Fuggle .25oz
Galena .25oz
Belgian ale yeast




No I was trying for like 1.050

 

[Pie_Man]

Pumpkin?

 

[JLem]

Light LME 3.3lbs
Two row. 2.0lbs
Brown suger 2.0lbs
Rye malt 1.5lbs
Flaked rye 1.5lbs
Not canned pumpkin 4lbs
Kent gold .25 oz
Fuggle .25oz
Galena .25oz
Belgian ale yeast

No I was trying for like 1.050

What was your process? Did you mash or steep the grains? How did you use the pumpkin?

 

[GrogNerd]

two-row, rye and flaked rye need to be mashed, so you might not have gotten any conversion from them

the brown sugar and LME alone would give you 1.047, at least in a 5 gallon batch

but stratification could give you a low reading in either case; the wort wasn't mixed well and you took your OG from the lighter wort at the top

 

[Gingerpower12]

I didn't mash
I let the water come to full boil and took off the stove an I steep the grains for about 30 mins at 155' an thin I add the LME thin I start my timer for 60 min thin I add hops try to get down to right teamp to pitch the yeast
it look good smell good it been find in the frementer I just wanted to know for next time what should I do different
Thanks for the help

 

[Gingerpower12]

What is the easy step of mashing

 

[GrogNerd]

30 minutes at 155° should have got you most conversion. your low OG reading is probably due to the stratification I mentioned.

for extract batches, as long as you got the volume the recipe calls for, you can almost guaranteed to get the gravity stated in the recipe

mashing would involve holding that 155° for an hour, but a lot is converted in 30 minutes. forget what I said about that in the earlier post

 

[Pie_Man]

So base grains like two row, rye malt, munich, need to be mashed. You basically had a partial mash recipe. Mashing and steeping can be very similar in processes, but "under the hood" the starches in the grains are converted to sugar. The grains should be milled as well. This chart indicates which grains require mashing: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malts_Chart.

Additionally, it's good practice to calculate your OG before brewing. For the extract and sugar additions, you simply multiple the gravity points per gallon x the quantity. Your total gravity points are then divided by your volume into your fermenter. For example, LME contributes about 36 points per gallon (ppg) per pound. You used 3.3 lbs x 36 ~ 119. 119 / 5 gallons ~ 24, or 1.024. So, the LME alone contributed 1.024 OG (assuming 5 gallons), or 119 gravity points. You can calculate the same for the brown sugar, add the brown sugar's gravity points to the 119 from the LME and divide by your volume into the fermenter. I'm not going to do all the math for you, but you should get the idea.

The partial mash ingredients are a little more tricky to calculate since you need to estimate your efficiency. Basically it's the amount of grain * gravity contribution per pound * your efficiency. You don't your efficiency, but 70% is usally a reasonable efficiency to start with. If you continue to do partial mashing, or move to all grain, you take a gravity sample after the mash and sparge and calculate your efficency %.

Either way, I suspect your initial OG reading was off for some reason. Probably an addition of top of water diluted your gravity sample.

 

[Gingerpower12]

Thanks for the info.
I try to mash next time