Ipa?

[rekamefink]

I brewed a ipa today and was told what my hydrometer readings should be, I'm way high.

I was told by the local shop it should be between 1080 and 1085. My reading is 1100 sg

it should end at 1016.

help me understand why I can't hit what they say it should be.

recipe:

11.5 pounds light malt extract
1 cup dark brown sugar,( it called for light but i only had dark)
1/2 pound light crystal malt
1/2 pound Cara- pilsner malt
2 pounds two row pale malt

Hops

1 oz. Warrior ( bittering)
1 oz. Columbus ( flavoring)
1/2 oz. Citra ( finishing)
1/2 oz. Chinook (finishing)

And then use the extra Citra and Chinook for dry hopping.

I didn't have any hop bags so i just tossed the hops in the boil, I will move to a secondary later.

why are the readings so far off? I'm a new brewer and don't understand?

Thanks.

 

[Sailingeric]

My numbers are always a little off.. Could be a little less water than you think, maybe a little more extract than what you think you have- my local brew store pours it in the bucket for me so it is usually a little more, dark brown does have more molasses than light.. I would not worry about it.. in the end it will still be beer, maybe a little more ABV but not by much.

 

[TechyDork]

I just put this into Beersmith and with just the 11.5 lbs of light Dry extract i get an SG of 1.088, that is without the sugar.

That is for a 5 gallon batch.

If you are doing extract your SG should be what the recipe calls for. If you are adding top off water to the fermenter to get to your full 5 gallons be sure you mix thoroughly before taking a hydrometer reading. Your reading could be high if your wort wasn't fully mixed, or if you took the reading before adding top up water.

 

[WayFrae]

You most likely just need to top off with more water. They could have figured the recipe to be 5.5 gallons into the fermenter and you are only at 5 gallons. How many gallons do you have to go into your fermenter?

 

[rekamefink]

I topped off to 5 gallons, and cooled the wort to 70 before testing, I guess I'm kinda anal and like to understand why things don't go as planed, I called the guy at the brew shop and he said it's not a big deal, they might have missed calculated. I also used a blow off tube because I added 2 yeast packs.

 

[WayFrae]

I topped off to 5 gallons, and cooled the wort to 70 before testing, I guess I'm kinda anal and like to understand why things don't go as planed, I called the guy at the brew shop and he said it's not a big deal, they might have missed calculated. I also used a blow off tube because I added 2 yeast packs.

Yeah it isn't a big deal at all. A blow off tube is a good call on a beer this big. Try to keep the temperature as low as you can since fermentation will raise the temp of the beer well above the ambient temp.