Low OG

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mot

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Messages
625
Reaction score
2
Location
MN
Well I finished brewing my stout earlier today, I bought a kit this time for a quick recipe, it said OG should be 1.042 to 1.046 when I measured it said 1.034 way low! My hydro is calibrated at 68 I took it at about 63 and said for that temp to take off -1.003 so it would even be lower! THis was the irish stout kit from midwest

I cant figure out why it was so low, and this is the first time out of many batches I have had such a weird reading. ANyone got any input on why this may have happened?
 
The only way to be off that far with extract is a) you didn't stir enough to combine the top up water, b) you added more water than the recipe called for, c) your hydrometer reading was way off.

My guess would be A (it's the most common problem), your beer will be fine regardless. :mug:
 
I checked my hyrdo in plain water and it was right at 1.000
I topped upped with about 2.5 gallons to get to 5. And to aerate I shook vigorously a few times for a few minutes. (No oxygen set up yet) Shaking is how I have done on all of my beers since I started this hobby and always hit my og.
I did have more foam from star san than I normally have but that shouldn't do anything (unless there was more water in that foam?)
If I added a to much water I would say less than a quart at the most. It is right at my 5 gallon mark give or take a little
Hopefully I just didn't have it mixed upped enough but I did shake for quit a while.
Just never had this happen to me out of many beers and it has me stumped??
 
trust me (and Bradsul) it was a bad hydrometer reading.

you'd have to stir it for a solid 10 minutes to get a homogenous solution, and a good hydro reading.

extract kits are pre-measured, so unless you added too much water, it hit its little range for OG. when extract kits 'expire' the extract typically becomes less fermentable as simple sugars break down. but it still has the same gravity.

once this is bottled and aged, when you drink it, you'll know from the beer buzz that it has the correct alcohol content and thus a good OG.

I know a lot of extract brewers don't even do an OG reading. they just assume the average of the range given in the recipe.
 
Very well said by bradsul and malkore- I have had this same darn thing happen several times- and like is previously stated- extracts have a set amount of sugar in them- which you can't F' up...It's noobie proof! I've done six total batches- and only two have been kits- the rest are recipes that I look up online- and buy the materials needed. Often, OG's are not listed- so I go to Beer tools.com and use there setup to figure it all out- this way I can take a final and get a rough idea of what I have on hand. I started this after a higher gravity recipe that I made had an OG of like 1.041. I called the guys at maryland homebrew and they explained it all to me.
 
I had a similar problem with my first batch, just bottled on Friday. it was a Scottish Ale extract kit. OG for the recipe is 1.045-1.05. mine was 1.029 (temp adjusted) with a final 1.005.

Just checked my hydro, its off a little. reading .998 in water. so OG was closer to 1.031, final 1.007 after adjusting for the hydro. Its bottled, so not much I can do at this point. Just trying to figure out what I did wrong. Or if I'm reading this thing the right way.
 
this is slightly off topic, but another feature of Beertools.com that is helpful is the hydro correction temp. thing. If you put in a gravity reading and a temp (other than 60deg, of course) it will correct it to 60, and tell you what you would have had- had you taken the reading at 60.
 
Thanks guys I am gonna chalk it up to the mixing then....This is just the first time I have had this happen...I have always been right on with my partial mashes and extract brews...havent got into all grain yet hopefully coming soon though.

Brewing a fat tire clone as we speak and we'll see if I have the same issue tonight!
 
Back
Top