OG higher than expected

[DarrellQ]

I brewed "Kama Citra Session IPA" from a kit on Saturday and the kit calls for a OG of 1.050. I followed the recipe exactly and ended-up with a OG of 1.070 as measured with a cheap "Beer and Wine Triple Scale Hydrometer." It calibrated exactly as expected with plain water. I used a package (11.5 g) the Safale US-05 that came with the kit. Will the yeast be overwhelmed at this OG? I have the fermenter in a home-built mini fridge kept at 65 degrees with a controller with it's probe taped with insulation on the side of the plastic bucket. Strong airlock bubbling started in less than 24 hours.

Greatly appreciate your comments.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Your yeast will manage, and you will make tasty beer, albeit a little more flavorful, bitter, and higher in alcohol. Note you can always dilute with sterilized water to hit your target OG. I can help you with the amount if you can measure the volume in your fermenter and are certain of your OG.

As far as your OG, with the only data point being your measured OG it is very difficult to pinpoint why you overshot so much. Do you know your post boil volume?

The reasons for such a large overshoot could be as follows...

1. Poorly calibrated hyrdometer, perhaps the piece of paper slid inside it which is the only way a hydrometer could be so off
2. Your boiled off much more water than expected and concentrated your wort. However at that level of overshoot based on my calculation you would needed to have boiled nearly 280% more water than expected. If your pre-boil was suppose to be 7 gallons and post boil was suppose to 6 gallons, you would have to boil down to 4.3 gallons which is really putting the flames to your kettle.
3. If all grain, you had an incredibly high efficiency. Although if you post boil volumes were on target, this would imply greater than 100% efficiency, which is just not possible
4. Whoever prepared your kit did not measure accurately and provided nearly 40% more grain or syrup than the recipe called for.

Probably some other reasons as well, but as I mentioned, it is not possible to pinpoint until we know your recipe (lbs), your pre boil and gravity as well as post boil volume and gravity.

Without any more data, of the 4 possibilities above, I would guess a bad hydrometer, or a crazy high boil rate.

Regards,

KB

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

If it was an extract kit the high OG reading is most likely due to the extract not being completely dissolved and evenly diluted.

if you’re using extract and your volumes are correct, you’re OG should be what the kit claims it will be.

 

[Maxkling]

Extract or All Grain? What’s was the volume in the fermenter?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that somethings not right, if it was all grain you’d have to get 100% efficiency, which is not possible. Or if it’s all grain you have to have boiled it down to 3.5 gallons.

If it’s extract, then you either added something extra, once again had the wrong amount of water, or you fell victim to what most new extract brewers who top off, which is improper mixing, which is fine in the end.

 

[DarrellQ]

I started with 2.5 gallons of water, steeped grains 20 minutes, added 6 lbs malt syrup and 1 lb DME, hops and more hops. I used a turkey fryer burner as my heat source. Once 60 minute boil was done, more hops were added, and wort was chilled, then I added wort to the fermentation bucket that had 2 gallons of cold water already in it. I then topped it off with water to 5 gallon mark before pitching. I didn't stir it, should I have? Although I kept my boil to a nice slow roll, it did seem I had a lot of burn off.

 

[RM-MN]

I started with 2.5 gallons of water, steeped grains 20 minutes, added 6 lbs malt syrup and 1 lb DME, hops and more hops. I used a turkey fryer burner as my heat source. Once 60 minute boil was done, more hops were added, and wort was chilled, then I added wort to the fermentation bucket that had 2 gallons of cold water already in it. I then topped it off with water to 5 gallon mark before pitching. I didn't stir it, should I have? Although I kept my boil to a nice slow roll, it did seem I had a lot of burn off.

It won't matter in the end whether you stirred it or not, the yeast will do that as they consume the sugar. For the purpose of taking a hydrometer sample, yes but......
The concentrated wort is incredibly difficult to fully mix with the top off water. For now, when you make beer from an extract kit if you add the correct amount of water the advertised OG on the kit is what you will get. If you later go to all grain brewing (not as difficult as a new brewer would imagine) you can have variations in the brewhouse efficiency depending on a lot of factors. Since you won't normally be dealing with concentrated wort, the hydrometer sample will be accurate.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

6 pounds of LME = 36*6 = 216
1 pound LME = 45*1 = 45
Total points = 261 assuming they all made it into your fermenter.

OG should be 261 points / 5 gallons = 52.2

So your OG should be 1.052 if your volumes and extracts are measured correctly.

Must be hydrometer is not accurate, or sample you pulled that was not well mixed. You should be good to go.

 

[DarrellQ]

6 pounds of LME = 36*6 = 216
1 pound LME = 45*1 = 45
Total points = 261 assuming they all made it into your fermenter.

OG should be 261 points / 5 gallons = 52.2

So your OG should be 1.052 if your volumes and extracts are measured correctly.

Must be hydrometer is not accurate, or sample you pulled that was not well mixed. You should be good to go.

Thanks!