OG is much higher than expected

[Goon]

I brewed a Citra AIPA tonight andmy target OG was suposed to be 1.046. After i chilled the wort I took a reading and it was 1.070! I mashed at about 152 for an hour and fly sparged over about an hour using 170 water to sparge. I finished upo sparge once I reached 6.5 gallons of wort I ended up adding about .5 gallons of water to get the OG down to 1.066 but i didn't want to add anymore so I had enough head space left in the fermenter,

So what can cause such a high OG? Is my mash really that efficient? I don't mind extra alcohol in my beer, but if I do a clone beer I want it to come in close.

Thanks,

Toben

 

[cyberbrew]

Do you mill your own grains? Could be that if you used the mill at the LHBS they may have their mill tighter than most...

1.046 seems a bit low for an IPA...what's the recipe look like?

 

[bu_gee]

That level of disrepancy screams of measurement error or the recipe was just off. You'd have to post the recipe so we could see.

 

[Goon]

See Recipe Below:

All the OG, FG. ABV was from Beersmith

CITRA AIPA

IBU'S: 101.6
ABV: 5.1%
OG: 1.046
FG: 1.014

5 lbs US Pale Malt 2 Row
5 lbs Pale Malt Maris Otter
1 lb Crystal 60

1 oz citra 60 min
.5 oz citra 30 min
.5 oz citra 20 min
.5 oz citra 10 min
.5 oz citra 5 min
1 oz citra 10 minute whirlpool
1 oz citra Dry-Hop 7 days

Wyeast American Ale 1056

Mash at 152 for an hour

60 minute boil with hop additions as noted below

Primary 1 week
Secondary 2 weeks

 

[TallDan]

Must not have measured correctly, 100% efficiency with that grain bill would be 1.063. What temperature was your gravity sample when you measured it?

 

[Goon]

68

 

[Goon]

Do I need to calibrate my hydrometer?

 

[TallDan]

Do I need to calibrate my hydrometer?

Wouldn't hurt. Also possible that your grain measurements weren't accurate.

 

[Gavin C]

2 possibilities

Measurement error in weighing your grains. (too much used)
What was the preboil gravity. If this is in the expected range that possibility can be eliminated

Measurement error in using hydrometer.
Sample was loaded with exorbitant amount of trub or hydrometer was resting on the bottom of the test jar. Both errors you would certainly have noticed I'm sure

I'm at a loss to otherwise explain it however.

You're not taking a sample and topping off with water by any chance are you? Again highly improbable. Just mention it to cover all the bases

 

[Goon]

Well I didn't take a pre boil reading. I did buy grains for 2 different batches yesterday. One was 11lbs and the other was 15 lbs . I am pretty sure I used the 11lb bag for this brew, but I could have used the wrong one. I will know later tonight or tomorrow when I brew the other batch. The we're similar grain orders so the flavor shouldn't be too off.

 

[Arbalest]

Put the other grains on a scale and see what they weigh.

 

[huckbof]

uh yeah, you probably used the bigger bag of grain

 

[Goon]

Uh yeah I did, also found out I gained a few pounds myself this winter. Well lesson learned.

 

[huckbof]

uh yeah duuuuuuuuuuude

 

[Goon]

Well here is to hoping that my beer actually comes out good enough. Hey maybe I stumbled upon something with this Screw Up! See my Citra AIPA thread in recupes for further updates.

Thanks again all!

 

[guitarguy6]

Does an OG of 1.046 and an FG of 1.014 equate to an ABV of %5.1? Wouldn't that be around %4.2?