Missed my OG and idk what to do

[brewshki]

Well this is my third batch and I have missed my OG. It was supposed to be 1.042 and it came out at 1.052. I bought a lot from more beer and split it into 2 2 gallon batches. The first one came out spot on but this one is way off.

I do not know anyone who brews so I'm looking to the forums for possibilities of where I may have gone wrong. Any help would be appreciated. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1420065816.199078.jpg

Additionally, I've never seen this much stuff once I was done. Is that just the hot break material and the hops?

 

[Kingbogart]

You haven't given much information for anyone to help you out. Generally recipe and process information is useful for determining a problem.

From what I can tell you have a Mr. Beer or something similar, and are doing full extract batches. If that's the case, assuming you used the correct weight of DME or LME and the correct amount of water, there is really no way for you not to have hit your target OG. Any misreadings tend to be a side effect of stratification of the sugars in the wort.

The stuff floating around in there is completely normal, and does appear to be hop, hot, and cold break material and isn't anything to be worried about. There does seem to be a lot....but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[brewshki]

It's mistakes like that why I post in the beginners forum. Well it was just 4 oz of 15L steeped until at 170 F and for a total of 30 minutes, 3 lbs of ultralight LME, , .25 oz cascade at 60 min and another .5 oz at 1 minute.

I thought I followed a pretty typical procedure but I will recount it.

I steeped the grains with the heat on until it got to 170 F and then allowed it to steep with no heat on for a total of 30 minutes. I then brought it back up to a boil then removed from the heat and added my LME. AFter that, I brought it to a boil and then added my bittering hops. I allowed it to boil for the whole hour until I added my aroma hops with one minute to go.

After the whole time was done, I put the pot in an ice bath and brought it to about 100-110 F. At that point I filled my fermenter with 1 gallon of relatively cold water and then added my wort to it. I took the temp and waited maybe 5 more minutes until it hit 70F. That is when I took the hydrometer reading.

After that, I pitched my yeast and stuck it in my fermentation chamber.

I skipped all of the cleaning and sanitizing steps, but if you need me to, I can go through that.

 

[Kingbogart]

Right. So as I mentioned before, LME has a set ppg. So as long as all your LME made it into your brew, and you've collected your full batch size, there isn't a way for you not to have the correct gravity. When you added your 1 gallon of cold water, unless you stir it really really well, there will often be areas that have more sugars and areas that have less.

LME, depending on brand, usually has 36ppg. You used 3 lbs, for a total of 108 points. You have two gallons, based on your first post, for a total of about 1.054. Looks to me like you've gotten what you should have. Where did you get 1.042 from?

 

[brewshki]

Well I bought it as a kit and that was what the instructions put it near at. I understand the basic idea of it all which I why I was so confused. It adds to my confusion that the last time I went through this exact same process, I got my OG like the sheet said.

 

[brewshki]

Right. So as I mentioned before, LME has a set ppg. So as long as all your LME made it into your brew, and you've collected your full batch size, there isn't a way for you not to have the correct gravity. When you added your 1 gallon of cold water, unless you stir it really really well, there will often be areas that have more sugars and areas that have less.

LME, depending on brand, usually has 36ppg. You used 3 lbs, for a total of 108 points. You have two gallons, based on your first post, for a total of about 1.054. Looks to me like you've gotten what you should have. Where did you get 1.042 from?

Sorry, it was a morebeer.com kit

 

[Kingbogart]

If you took a 5 gallon kit, and turned it into 2-2 gallon kits, both are going to be higher OG. As you have an extra gallons worth of sugars not going to beer.

 

[brewshki]

If you took a 5 gallon kit, and turned it into 2-2 gallon kits, both are going to be higher OG. As you have an extra gallons worth of sugars not going to beer.

That would make a lot of sense. Sorry about sounding so dumb, this was my first kit I bought that wasn't mr beer. Thanks for you help