Missed my starting gravity, any suggestions?

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Brewbruh

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I just brewed my first first extract kit following a successful cider from this forum. It was a brewers best belgian golden ale 5 gallon kit I picked up at Hobby Homebrew Supply. I did a full boil starting with 6 gallons of water (thought I should account for boil off). Everything basically went as planned other than a small boil over after stirring in the DME & LME as I returned to a boil (walked away, totally avoidable). After chilling I took my reading and got a corrected 1.062 when the target range was between 1.071 and 1.075.
I finished at 1.011 witch is the low side of the target range exactly. That gives me 6.7% so I'm okay with that, but the kit supposed potential was 7.5% to 8%.
I guess my question is is this normal for these kits or is there something I should do to improve my process? I didn't get quite the boil off I thought but I kind of like the idea of actually bottling 5 gallons of beer.
I don't know, thoughts, ideas, criticism or any other input is welcome. I'm here to learn
 
It's not unusual to miss your gravities by a few points. And if you miss them by a mile as you did then you still wind up with beer. Just not the exact beer you were going for.

For your SG being off so much, did you keep decent notes or remember enough about that brew day to know if you wound up with more volume than expected? Maybe you measured your water wrong or for some reason didn't have the expected loss from boil-off.

And how good are your gravity readings? Hydrometer, refractor, tilt or other device? They all have their own idiosyncrasies for figuring out and correcting to the real SG value.
 
It's not unusual to miss your gravities by a few points. And if you miss them by a mile as you did then you still wind up with beer. Just not the exact beer you were going for.

For your SG being off so much, did you keep decent notes or remember enough about that brew day to know if you wound up with more volume than expected? Maybe you measured your water wrong or for some reason didn't have the expected loss from boil-off.
I did a test boil with plain water outside in the cold to get my idea of loss. I did brew day in the garage so I know that can make a difference. I tried to dip some near boiling wort into the LME container to rinse it out but maybe I could have done something more efficient.

If you where brewing that kit how much water would you start with? Also west methods do you use getting all the LME out of a plastic jar? And while I'm asking questions what about they candy syrup it came with? It's in line a bag with a spout, all I figure I could do was roll it and press it like you would toothpaste. Could have left minor amounts behind there.

Can't have anything to do with mash conversion as the kit contains no specialty gains
 
If I had to guess your volumes are off, those kits are designed to be pretty spot on and since the exact gravity of the extract is known the only way to be off more than a couple of points is either what you are using to take your reading is off or your liquid is off.

Since you started with 6 gallons and boiled off less than the gallon you expected your volume is going to be higher resulting in a lower starting gravity and then you added your extract your volume is going to go up so even though you started with what was thought to be enough water that was probably too much.

What was your final batch size? I’m thinking it had to be close to 6 gallons.

And to answer your question, I start with 3 gallons of water and add top off cold water to 5ish gallons to ferment that way I end up with a full keg.
 
not sure if this matters, but looking at that kit on label peelers....it has the option to add 1lb dry extract to it to increase ABV TO 7.5%...which is weird because the kit label it should already be that? but 1lb dry extract would be the missing 9 point of gravity?
 
If I had to guess your volumes are off, those kits are designed to be pretty spot on and since the exact gravity of the extract is known the only way to be off more than a couple of points is either what you are using to take your reading is off or your liquid is off.

Since you started with 6 gallons and boiled off less than the gallon you expected your volume is going to be higher resulting in a lower starting gravity and then you added your extract your volume is going to go up so even though you started with what was thought to be enough water that was probably too much.

What was your final batch size? I’m thinking it had to be close to 6 gallons.

And to answer your question, I start with 3 gallons of water and add top off cold water to 5ish gallons to ferment that way I end up with a full keg.
I ended up with about 5.5 gallons in the fermenter. I'll boil 5 gallons next time and top off if needed
 
not sure if this matters, but looking at that kit on label peelers....it has the option to add 1lb dry extract to it to increase ABV TO 7.5%...which is weird because the kit label it should already be that? but 1lb dry extract would be the missing 9 point of gravity?
My kit contained 3 pounds of Pilsen light DME and 3.3 pounds of Pilsen LME. then 2 pounds of golden syrup and 1 pound of soft candy sugar as late additions
 
just remember if you do it that way, you may still get a weird gravity reading, because the sugar doesn't mix thoroughly instantly.....
I guess if all went the same if I came out with a half gallon too much water I could boil 5.5 and try to nail 5 gallons in the fermenter
 
with great effort i got the recipie sorta...so 6.6lb's DME and, 2lb golden LME....for 5.5 gallons that's a gravity of 1.065....and you said you had a boil over?
 
My kit contained 3 pounds of Pilsen light DME and 3.3 pounds of Pilsen LME. then 2 pounds of golden syrup and 1 pound of soft candy sugar as late additions
ok...well with your ingreidients, i get exactly 1.062 for 5.5 gallons? not sure what picture i was looking at of the kit then....
 
Another thought, aside from having a 10% larger volume in the fermenter, accounting for 10% less gravity.
Was any extract lost during the unfortunate boil over?

Also, how much wort did you leave behind in the kettle after transfer to the fermenter?

I'm asking, so you can keep tabs on your volumes, etc., as most extract recipes should give you the exact gravity at the exact volume.

Batch size is defined as the volume of wort in your fermenter, at the associated gravity. AFAIK, for most if not all extract brew kits that means the whole content of your kettle goes into the fermenter, trub and all.
 
out of curiosity...is this what you got in the kit?

only pic i could find...but it looks like 6.6lbs DME, and 2lbs LME, and maybe 1lb sugar?

1640899162577.png



and were the ingriedents loose, or in the original box?
 
When doing extract kits keep it simple . Start off with 3 gallons, do your steeping , boiling ect.. then top off to give you 5 gallons . Those kits are always accurate for og.

You wound up with .5 gallon extra . Which is more beer but this is why your #'s are off.
 
out of curiosity...is this what you got in the kit?

only pic i could find...but it looks like 6.6lbs DME, and 2lbs LME, and maybe 1lb sugar?

View attachment 753917


and were the ingriedents loose, or in the original box?
Looks similar but mine only had one 3 pound bag of DME and one 3.3 pound plastic jar of LME. Sugars syrup and what not look the same otherwise
 
Looks similar but mine only had one 3 pound bag of DME and one 3.3 pound plastic jar of LME. Sugars syrup and what not look the same otherwise


did it come in the box like that? i checked out hobby homebrew's website....kinda got a shady vibe from it.....
 
with great effort i got the recipie sorta...so 6.6lb's DME and, 2lb golden LME....for 5.5 gallons that's a gravity of 1.065....and you said you had a boil over?
Very small. I didn't catch the boil taking back off and it got a little heavy rolling for hire full my pot is and tossed a splash of foam from the DME out. It wasn't much. As long as I maintained a nice slow rolling boil I didn't have anymore trouble during hop additions
 
did it come in the box like that? i checked out hobby homebrew's website....kinda got a shady vibe from it.....
Yes it was in the box. Matched all the brewers best paper work contained inside also. And the pdf brew sheet as well. I'm not sure about the other kit.

Hobby Homebrew is local to me I grabbed it off the shelf. They are great people. Family owned 3 or 4 man operation. I highly recommend them
 
Yes it was in the box. Matched all the brewers best paper work contained inside also. And the pdf brew sheet as well. I'm not sure about the other kit.

Hobby Homebrew is local to me I grabbed it off the shelf. They are great people. Family owned 3 or 4 man operation. I highly recommend them


LOL, so they just haven't seen all the squarespace ads on youtube then? ;) :mug:
 
Another thought, aside from having a 10% larger volume in the fermenter, accounting for 10% less gravity.
Was any extract lost during the unfortunate boil over?

Also, how much wort did you leave behind in the kettle after transfer to the fermenter?

I'm asking, so you can keep tabs on your volumes, etc., as most extract recipes should give you the exact gravity at the exact volume.

Batch size is defined as the volume of wort in your fermenter, at the associated gravity. AFAIK, for most if not all extract brew kits that means the whole content of your kettle goes into the fermenter, trub and all.
I did my hop additions in a bag and there was no grain residue so I really didn't hanger any trub to speak of. So I dumped whole kettle
 
You lost me? Who is the "they" in this scenario?


hobby homebrew? i was letting my mind wander to have fun.....? not like this is a paycheck to me? just a :mug:


but it is fun trying to figure it out, because as far as i know something really weird/impossible happened with your brew....and i hope i get an answer to it.
 
LOL, so they just haven't seen all the squarespace ads on youtube then? ;) :mug:
Lol I had to look up Squarespace lol! Yes I'm hate the interface of the site. Prices are good though I think, and from what I see in person they would be good to work with online. They are pretty responsive to text to the shop phone and Google chat. I ain't know much about web design, and have never looked at their site on my laptop, but it's very user not friendly on a android phone lol
 
have you checked it in water? i ask because i've never gotten a temp chart with any of my hydrometers before?
It's pretty dead on in water. It's the cheapy that comes from NB. but I already had it. Chart was rolled right up in the storage tube
 
hobby homebrew? i was letting my mind wander to have fun.....? not like this is a paycheck to me? just a :mug:


but it is fun trying to figure it out, because as far as i know something really weird/impossible happened with your brew....and i hope i get an answer to it.
Well, I'm really not sure how impossible it is. I don't yet do my own math on the gravity of fermentables, but some other posters say I was right on their conversion of the ingredients I listed so I'm not sure why BB came up with the numbers they did
 
This is exactly what I'm working with
 

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Lol I had to look up Squarespace lol!


to me it seems like everyone and their mother talks about them on youtube....premium account or not.....


now i'm just clutching at straws, i had a batch that my IC was leaking and pot got filled back up with water. what did you use as a test cyclinder for the hydro. and, honestly....i just want to know how adding sugar to water doesn't have a constant gravity. so will be watching this....
 
to me it seems like everyone and their mother talks about them on youtube....premium account or not.....


now i'm just clutching at straws, i had a batch that my IC was leaking and pot got filled back up with water. what did you use as a test cyclinder for the hydro. and, honestly....i just want to know how adding sugar to water doesn't have a constant gravity. so will be watching this....
A plastic test jar that came with it. I'm not sure how to predict my own gravity. The sugars listed above (or in the pdf I just attached) what do you get? I'm quoting the pdf on what the target was. Weather or not the sugars and water volume I have described comes up to that in the mind of the more brew savvy I don't know.......
 
now looking at the last addition of late sugar....maybe the boiling wasn't enough to get it mixed in? if you had a cheap refractomoter you can reverse calculate the OG if that was it....
 
now looking at the last addition of late sugar....maybe the boiling wasn't enough to get it mixed in? if you had a cheap refractomoter you can reverse calculate the OG if that was it....
The late additions boiled 10 minutes I think try to keep from over darkening I suppose. I do have a refractometer of the cheap Amazon variety. How would one do this reverse calculation?
 
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