Low Original Specific Gravity

[terry101]

New to home brewing and have a question around Specific Gravity. Brewing an IPA from an extract kit that lists 1.070 as the OG. I followed instructions to the letter but wound up at 1.045 OG. The only thing I did different from the recipe was strain the wort as I transferred to the primary. I see that my hydrometer is calibrated at 60 deg. I measured at about 75 deg. Would that have accounted for the difference?


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[freisste]

The difference between measuring at 75 vs 60 is probably about 0.003 in gravity.

This is an extract batch, which means there are no efficiency issues. I would say that at least 99 out of 100 of these questions are the result of not mixing well enough. (And this is NOT an uncommon question, so don't worry about it.)

If you added all the extract and the correct amount of water, your OG will be what the kit says.

 

[boydster]

The difference between measuring at 75 vs 60 is probably about 0.003 in gravity.

This is an extract batch, which means there are no efficiency issues. I would say that at least 99 out of 100 of these questions are the result of not mixing well enough. (And this is NOT an uncommon question, so don't worry about it.)

If you added all the extract and the correct amount of water, your OG will be what the kit says.

+1. You added a known amount of sugar to a known amount of water, so the OG is a simple calculation and you will only mess it up if you miss your water volume or forget to add some extract.

 

[terry101]

Thanks Freisste. When you say mixing do you mean in the Primary? I poured 1 gallon of wort into 4 gallons of water per the recipe. Should I have stirred more? Could it be the heavier wort sank to the bottom skewing the OG? Will this effect the alcohol content. Sorry if these are dumb questions.



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[boydster]

The yeast will do just fine mixing it up for you, so there is nothing to worry about. The denser wort sank to the bottom and didn't mix completely with the extra water, but the sugars are all still present. Use the OG provided by the kit and your actual measured FG to calculate ABV. You made beer! Congrats!

 

[terry101]

Thanks Boydster. Time will tell. Appreciate the response.


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