I missed my og... by a lot.

[Etxbrewer]

Okay, so I am VERY new to brewing and this is my first post on hbt. Today I was attempting to brew my first partial mash... kind of. The recipe read more like a extract brew with 1.75 lbs of malt. Og was expected to be 1.079, I got 1.04... missed it by THIS much, lol.

1.0 lbs crystal 120l
0.5 lbs Munich
0.25 lbs chocolate
6.6 lbs bries golden light lme
1 lb bries Bavaria wheat DME
1 oz northern brewer (60 min)
1 oz Hallertau (20 min)
3/8 tsp irish moss (15 min)
Yeast nutrient (15 min)
12 oz maple syrup (0 min)
Safale us-05

So, I bought some voile, brought 2 gallons of water up to 155, mashed in. My temperature control was horrible, it dropped down to 140 before I knew it. So I turned the burnet back on (steamer to keep the grain off the heat) and brought it back to 155. All told, it was probably above 150 for 45 mins. I then heated it to 168 to mash out. Set a strainer over the brew pot and placed the grain in the strainer.

Sparged it with one gallon at 178 over about 5 minutes and let it drain for 2-3 mins. Added my extract and northern brewer. Brewed 40, added hallertau, brewed 5, added moss/nutrient, brewed 15. All at a nice low boil. Added syrup and put in ice bath.

All told, wort was only 2.5 gallons. Added 2.5 gallons water to bring to 5 gallons. Pitched at 68.

 

[JLeuck64]

Just to make sure... you checked O.G. right before you pitched in the yeast correct? Temp of the wort was 68 when you checked the gravity? I was looking back over some of my early brew day notes and the gravity readings were all over the place. It settles in eventually, probably do to getting a handle on the equipment etc...

Don't forget those hydrometers need to be calibrated too. It should read 1.000 in distilled water. If it doesn't you can adjust the scale by gently tapping the bottom or top of the hydrometer to get the paper to slide around inside.

 

[douglasbarbin]

You probably didn't mix the wort with the water well enough when you added your 2.5 gallons water, so the gravity sample you took was probably watered down. There is absolutely no way that you are really that far off from your intended gravity for a recipe that is mostly extract.

On a side note, there should really be a sticky about this exact question, because I see it at least once a week on here.

 

[madcowbrewing]

The recipe you posted would never hit 1.079 at 5 gallons. I got it at 1.065 after a 60 minute boil. Even if you get nothing from the grains, the LME and DME alone in 5 gallons is over 1.050. Something is not adding up.

 

[Stillraining]

Yep I get 1.065 as well. But your still .025 points off. Did you read hot wort? Did you correct for it?

 

[Taranis]

You probably didn't mix the wort with the water well enough when you added your 2.5 gallons water, so the gravity sample you took was probably watered down. There is absolutely no way that you are really that far off from your intended gravity for a recipe that is mostly extract.

On a side note, there should really be a sticky about this exact question, because I see it at least once a week on here.

Probably this, other things that coul have caused this:
You added less DME then you thought
Added way more water than you thought
Thermometer is reading low and you mashed above 165
Ph of your water is too high

 

[Twotaureanbrewing]

On a side note, there should really be a sticky about this exact question, because I see it at least once a week on here.

It seems like there are already too many stickies. Maybe there should be a "sticky" only forum. And some are over 1000 replies! Who can read through all that!

 

[TurnipGreen]

You probably didn't mix the wort with the water well enough when you added your 2.5 gallons water, so the gravity sample you took was probably watered down. There is absolutely no way that you are really that far off from your intended gravity for a recipe that is mostly extract.

On a side note, there should really be a sticky about this exact question, because I see it at least once a week on here.

2nd this. This used to happen to me all the time making extract brews to the point that I quit taking first gravity readings.

 

[Etxbrewer]

I have not calibrated using distilled water. I tested at 65 degrees right before pitching AFTER aerating the hell out of my carboy. The dme and the water were pretty spot on as I described. However, I had a question. Should I be focusing on adding more water and test at pre-boil? Like bring my wort up to ~6 gallons pre-boil, add my extract, then do a temp-corrected hydro test?

Also, is having TOO much water when you're mashing a problem? I know I should be using 1.25 qt/lb of grain... but for this recipe it would be a 1/2 gallon of water. I use a steamer to keep my grain bag off the heat because I had to reheat a few times to get back in the ~155 range. This would not have been enough water so I did it with two gallons. So like 8.0 qt/lb instead of 1.25.

 

[Stillraining]

I have not calibrated using distilled water. I tested at 65 degrees right before pitching AFTER aerating the hell out of my carboy. The dme and the water were pretty spot on as I described. However, I had a question. Should I be focusing on adding more water and test at pre-boil? Like bring my wort up to ~6 gallons pre-boil, add my extract, then do a temp-corrected hydro test?

Also, is having TOO much water when you're mashing a problem? I know I should be using 1.25 qt/lb of grain... but for this recipe it would be a 1/2 gallon of water. I use a steamer to keep my grain bag off the heat because I had to reheat a few times to get back in the ~155 range. This would not have been enough water so I did it with two gallons. So like 8.0 qt/lb instead of 1.25.

Pre-boil OG while nice to know for extract brewing insist the important one unless your willing to adjust boil times/volums to get exactly where you want to be at ..so no you dont have to do that...just make sure everything is mixed well as others have posted if you are indeed taking that one.
Your grain to water ratio is OK..but even with that your DME bill alone on this recipe is still a higher OG then you got, so something is amiss...are you sure you read the hydrometer right?

You could have a faulty Hydrometer so you do need to check that. Unlikely but still. Also Hydro's are either made for 60 or 68 degree calibration. Using the wrong temp will put you off .001 +-