Is my OG too high?

[jacobjakob]

Hello,

I'm new and though I've read the first section of 'How to Brew' I couldn't wait to get started, so I've not read the rest of the book yet.

I made my second batch from a kit tonight, Munton's Connoisseurs Nut Brown Ale (4 lb liquid malt extract). Per HTB's suggestion, I used 2 lb of light spray malt in place of the sugar the recipe called for and did a 2 gallon boil. As I poured the wort from the pot into the fermenter and back, it was foaming like crazy, so I only ended up with about 4.5 gallons of water before I ran out of room in my fermenter.

I took an OG reading (I think) and it said 1.080! That seems really high to me, but again, I am a freshman and I haven't finished my homework. The temp of the wort when I took the reading was 70 F.

Maybe I'm using the hydrometer incorrectly, or maybe I just didn't have enough water. Or maybe something else? What if the yeast doesn't ferment all of the sugar? Is this beer going to be really weird? Can anyone offer advice or tell me what I might expect?

Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[carnevoodoo]

You likely didn't mix the top off water and the boiled wort well enough. Your reading sounds like you just got a sample from the 2.5 gallons you boiled.

 

[jacobjakob]

You likely didn't mix the top off water and the boiled wort well enough. Your reading sounds like you just got a sample from the 2.5 gallons you boiled.

Now I feel like an idiot.

Thanks for the help. I poured back and forth from the pot to the fermenter after adding the 3rd and 4th gallon. But that makes sense. It's probably just bottom heavy.

So now that I've pitched the yeast and placed the air lock, does it make sense to open the fermenter and stir it or just wait for the primary fermentation to happen?

 

[Yooper]

There's no reason to open it and stir it. The yeast know how to ferment the malt sugars in there, so they'll get started on it soon.

One thought- are you fermenting a 5 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy? (You mentioned not having enough room for the foam). If you are, rig up a blow off tube ASAP. If you don't have enough room for a full 5 gallons, you will need a blow off tube from the krausen that develops during fermentation.

 

[jacobjakob]

One thought- are you fermenting a 5 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy? (You mentioned not having enough room for the foam).

No, I have a 6.5 gallon bucket. I guess I thought I had just aerated it well, through the cooling bath and adding water I just experienced a lot of foam and I didn't want to put too much water in the fermenter as I was concerned about precisely that.

It's not bubbling much yet, but the levels in the airlock are not even, so there's definitely air pushing out of the fermenter.

When would be a good time to take an SG reading? 7 days?

Thanks!

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

jacobjakob - Take a deeep breath, and realize your question was "Is my OG too high?"
WHAT? - Higher OG means higher A... content? Now I'm a craft brewer and I am disappointed if I'm off target, but cut yourself a little slack and let the beer be created, I promise you, we will be here to help you make better beer, but enjoy what you make at all times. (Unless it taste like Satins ..."
Fermentation can be slow to kick off, up to 3 days. Wait 7 days to sample it, or 3 days after all activity has stopped.
Enjoy, and welcome to home brewing.