Measured OG significantly higher than expected

[dreamiurg]

Hi folks!

I was brewing a porter today for my first recipe (details below), and measured OG (1.072) seems to be much higher than the expected OG (1.054) specified in recipe. Am I doing something terribly wrong? This is my first brew ever, no kidding, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all the details from Palmer's book.

Thanks!

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Recipe and brewing details:

Grains and extracts
- 16 oz Chocolate Malt (steeping)
- 8 oz Special B Malt (steeping)
- 6.6 lb Pale Malt Exract
- 8 oz dark brown cane sugar

Hops
- 12 AAU Chinook x 60 min

Yeast
- 100 Bil 1056 American Ale (Wyeast, produced 8/12/14)

Stepping. Preheated 2 gal of water to 170F in the boiling 5 gal. Preheated oven to 170F ("warm" mode). Placed grains in the strainer bag and put bag in the kettle. Placed kettle in the oven for 45 min, stirred at 15 and 30 min marks.

Boiling. Added 1 oz of 13.6% Chinook hops (that's a little over 12 AAU specified in recipe, but I'm ok with slightly more bitter beer) and boiled wort for 60 min. Added 1/2 cup (4 oz) of dark brown cane sugar @ 50 min mark. Chilled to 85F using ice bath.

Fermenting. Transferred about 3.2 gal of post-boil wort to primary 6.5 gal carboy fermenter. Added unfiltered tap water to get 5 gal total. Measured OG @ 1.072. Pitched 100B pre-started (3-4h prep time) yeast cells. Aerated by stirring and splashing at the fermenter. Moved to dark place @ 73F.

 

[mblanks2]

Fermenting. Transferred about 3.2 gal of post-boil wort to primary 6.5 gal carboy fermenter. Added unfiltered tap water to get 5 gal total. Measured OG @ 1.072. Pitched 100B pre-started (3-4h prep time) yeast cells. Aerated by stirring and splashing at the fermenter. Moved to dark place @ 73F.

It is possible that your wort wasn't mixed well. In the order that you were doing things as listed above. You could have pulled a portion that was more dense than it would've been had it been thoroughly mixed. I would suggest pulling your hydrometer sample in the future after the stirring and splashing.

Also I have a recommendation that you move your fermenter to a considerably cooler are i.e. 65*. Fermentation can typically run 5*F to 10*F warmer than the ambient temperature and in your case of 73* would put fermentation at 77* to 83*F and could create diacetyl. (buttery flavored beer)

 

[dreamiurg]

It is possible that your wort wasn't mixed well. In the order that you were doing things as listed above. You could have pulled a portion that was more dense than it would've been had it been thoroughly mixed. I would suggest pulling your hydrometer sample in the future after the stirring and splashing.

Hmm, that's entirely possible. I did not mix the wort in fermenter after adding water and before drawing sample of hydrometer.

Also I have a recommendation that you move your fermenter to a considerably cooler are i.e. 65*. Fermentation can typically run 5*F to 10*F warmer than the ambient temperature and in your case of 73* would put fermentation at 77* to 83*F and could create diacetyl. (buttery flavored beer)

Thanks for the advice. I will try to find a cooler place, although it might be not possible.

 

[flars]

Fermenting above 72° with WY1056 will produce off flavors. The worst being very harsh fusel alcohols. Put your fermentor in a swamp cooler. Swamp coolers can be a tub of water with soda bottles filed with ice to cool, or a deep tray of water and wet towel around the fermentor with a fan to accelerate evaporation for cooling.

 

[dreamiurg]

Assembled a poor man's swamp cooler and installed blow-off hose as krausen was at the top already. Yeast is swirling like crazy

 

[schokie]

It is possible that your wort wasn't mixed well. In the order that you were doing things as listed above. You could have pulled a portion that was more dense than it would've been had it been thoroughly mixed. I would suggest pulling your hydrometer sample in the future after the stirring and splashing.

+1

If you used the exact amount of extract and sugar the recipe called for and ended up with the exact amount of water needed, I can promise you that you're within .001 of the advertised OG.