Noob question about OG

[gingervitis]

I'm formulating my first extract recipe, and I have a quick question about calculating the OG. I'm doing a 5 gallon full boil with an initial boil volume of 6 gallons. When I'm calculating the OG by multiplying (.035) x (pound LME per gallon of boil water), do I use 5 gallons or 6 gallons as my "per gallon of boil water" in the calculation?

TIA

 

[orcus332]

I would use whatever volume of finished wort you will have. If you boil down to 4 gallons, you're going to have a pretty concentrated wort with a high OG. If you dilute that with an additional gallon of water, that will lower the OG. I'd go with 5 gallons for your calculation.

 

[Dogphish]

use the free recipe calculator at hopville.com, just be sure to set your batch size and boil size correctly.