Need Reassurance (Low O.G.)

[Octang]

I made a 5 gallon batch of Pumpkin Ale today from a kit I got from AHS. Everthing went perfect except my Original Gravity reading was only 1.037 (recipe appx 1.052), which worries me bc I don't want an incredibly weak beer.

I did make some mistakes which will hopefully help you explain to me why I shouldn't worry...

I made a 1 liter starter out of LME that was for the recipe (I figured as long as I dumped my whole starter into the wort it wouldn't matter that I stole 1 cup of extract from the 7 pounds I was given for the brew) (I also assumed that this would have a negliable effect on O.G.)

I boiled 4 gallons of water and added an additional 1 1/2 gallons of water to the carboy giving me 5.5 gallons total. (recipe called for 5.25)

I forgot to take my hydrometer reading before I pitched my starter so I did so a few minutes later.

I am assuming if any of these mistakes/changes affected my OG it would be the first one. So please tell me that as long as I added the whole starter to my brew that I have nothing to worry about. I am really looking forward to serving this seasonal brew to friends and I would hate for their to be very little alcohol in it!

 

[SavageSteve]

What most likely happened is that you didn't mix the wort well after you added the top off water to the carboy. Happened to me my first time, too.

Your beer will be fine!

-Steve

 

[SavageSteve]

Oh, and it looks like you overshot your volume, too, which would lower the specific gravity a little bit.

-Steve

 

[Octang]

What most likely happened is that you didn't mix the wort well after you added the top off water to the carboy. Happened to me my first time, too.

Your beer will be fine!

-Steve

Ah! I didn't even think about that! You are correct. Normally I add the cold water first, but this time I added the wort first for some reason and added the cold water on top of it. I didn't do anything to mix it either other than what mixing occurred when I dumped the liquid and as it sloshed around as I carried it to my brew closet for storage.

Thanks

 

[Yooper]

If you added your whole starter to your wort, you have nothing to worry about!

Here's why- the starter was 1.040. It fermented out, probably to 1.010. So, when you added it back to the wort, along with the yeast, the SG was just a little higher than water. But, the alcohol was around 4% ABV. So, you added beer which is fine- the alcohol is lighter than water (and wort), so that's why the SG is low in finished beer.

You may be a little low on the OG, because you added a 1/4 gallon extra of water. That's fine- you'll just have an OG of 1.050 instead of the predicted 1.052.

 

[Octang]

Yooper, thanks a lot! That makes a lot of sense.

 

[Arkador]

rest assured
it is nearly impossible to miss your SG by more than about 5% as long as you use the perscribed amount of extract to water.

The starter low gravity and incomplete mixture of top off water are most assuradly the culprit.

 

[Kickass]

Here's why- the starter was 1.040. It fermented out, probably to 1.010. So, when you added it back to the wort, along with the yeast, the SG was just a little higher than water. But, the alcohol was around 4% ABV. So, you added beer which is fine- the alcohol is lighter than water (and wort), so that's why the SG is low in finished beer.

You may be a little low on the OG, because you added a 1/4 gallon extra of water. That's fine- you'll just have an OG of 1.050 instead of the predicted 1.052.

Thats what i was thinknig when reading the initial post.