Missing my OG

[Porter0220]

I recently decided that I wanted to brew a pale ale, which I had not done before. I went to the local homebrew store which is also an actual microbrewery. I went without a recipe and asked if they could whip one up for me (big mistake) They sent me home with the following:
6lbs Plain Malt (never even heard of it)
1lb of what I believe is crystal 60, they never marked the bag
3oz of cascades.
I steeped in about 1.5 gallons of water for 30 mins. and then sparged with about .75 gallons
I added my DME right before boil and did the following for hops
1oz 60 min
1oz 45 min
1oz 2 min
I chilled the wort immediately and then topped off to 5 gallons and ended at a temp of 76, pitched yeast at 74.
The problem is that my OG is reading at 1.020, which doesn't even make sense given the ingredients.
I'm primary fermenting in glass and the baster I used to get my sample for gravity just barely reached the wort in the carbouy.
Is it possible that the surface of wort has a different gravity or did I just do something completely wrong, I"m also questioning the DME that I was given.
Any help would be appreciated

 

[woozy]

Are you doing partial mash or extract? To wit:

"6 lbs Plain Malt"

Is this 6 lbs of a DME or grain?

"I steeped in about 1.5 gallons of water for 30 mins. and then sparged with about .75 gallons"

You steeped the 7 lbs of grain or the 1 lbs of grain? (If extract, I never heard of sparging in reference to specialty grain steeping. If partial mash/all-grain you should generally mash for an hour.)

"I added my DME right before boil"

Is this the 6 lbs of Plain Malt or additional extract you forgot to mention? If so how much?

​

Best case scenario. You are doing an extract (the "plain Malt" is an extract) and your sample simply wasn't mixed.
Worst case scenario. You are doing a all-grain/partial mash (the "plain Malt" was grain) and ...well, it screwed up.

"Is it possible that the surface of wort has a different gravity"

With extract *extremely* possible. Outright likely, actually. *Shake* that wort and get a *real* sample. Otherwise the wort on the bottom (with all the extract) will have a really high gravity and the wort on the top (mostly water) will have a really low one.

 

[Porter0220]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I am doing an extract batch, by sparging I simply mean I rinsed the grains after the steep. I steep 1lb of specialty grain and added 6 lbs of DME at boil As I look at the fermenter today, I can clearly see that there is a split in the liquid, almost like a black and tan. Are you saying that I simply need to mix it better? Also, if i did not mix it will it still continue to ferment and eventually mix itself? or is this something htat must be done immediately?

 

[woozy]

Are you saying that I simply need to mix it better?

Yes.

This is the single most common cause of misread gravity readings. In fact, if you are doing extracts and you used the correct amount of extract and water it is *impossible* to go under the expected gravity. Thus any gravity reading under is a reading error, not a wort error. Occasionally there will be a badly calibrated hydrometer or someone who simply can't read a hydrometer, but over 90% of the time a bad reading is due to unmixed wort.

Also, if i did not mix it will it still continue to ferment and eventually mix itself? or is this something htat must be done immediately?

I'm going to let someone else answer that. I don't know about shaking it once the yeast has been in there for a day. I'd normally say let things be, but a black and tan line and a hydro reading of 1.020 is an extreme I've never seen before.

 

[Porter0220]

Visible fermentation had not yet started. I shook it up and took another hydro reading and i'm at 1.048...big difference and more in line with what I was expecting as well as what beer smith says.
Although I am certainly not an advanced brewer, I've brewed many batches including a few all grain and nothing like this has ever happened before. After thinking back to my procedure I think I identified the problem.
Fermentation has since started back up, still a little on the slow side but its still less than 24hrs in
thanks for your help