OG seems low?

[kramer]

This dumb, because it is what it is, and I've also tested my hydrometer with water...and it came out 1.01. Here's what I've got:

* Total capacity of fermenter- 6 gallons
* 9 lbs Munich Malt extract
* 1 1/4 pounds of malted grains..boiled and strained
* OG is 1.042??

Doesn't the OG seem low considering I used 9 lbs of extract?? I was actually going for a high gravity beer, considering the "recipe" called for only 7.5 lbs of extract. For a higher gravity, malty brew...how much extract (assuming you're doing that way) would you use?

 

[dcp27]

did you top off with water before taking the gravity reading and what volume are you at? you should have been around 1.07 @5gals

i hope you didn't boil the grains.

 

[kramer]

did you top off with water before taking the gravity reading and what volume are you at? you should have been around 1.07 @5gals

i hope you didn't boil the grains.

yea, I did boil the grains....I thought you need to in order to liberate the starches? No? What harm could it do?

 

[dcp27]

nope, just steeping specialty grains around 150F will leach out the sugars. boiling the grains can cause astringency. in general you don't want your grains going over 170F unless you're decocting

 

[kramer]

nope, just steeping specialty grains around 150F will leach out the sugars. boiling the grains can cause astringency. in general you don't want your grains going over 170F unless you're decocting

wonderful......would you recommend keeping or dumping? I definitely boiled for about 1 hour.

 

[dcp27]

i wouldnt dump it, theres no gaurentee it happened or that its bad enough to be undrinkable

 

[Revvy]

Attention new brewers, yes your original gravity reading is wrong. Don't panic.

And as to the boiling of grains, I wouldn't worry about it. That's one of those "oversimplifications" of a more complex issue, that new brewers repeat constantly and panic about, but is really overrated in terms of a mistake.

Read this thorough explanation/debunking of that chestnut, here, before you let anyone spook you about it.

 

[Revvy]

wonderful......would you recommend keeping or dumping? I definitely boiled for about 1 hour.

You don't EVER dump your beer until you've seen it through the entire process and then some....You don't have a knee jerk reaction just because some throws the panic button....
You don't dump your beer, for making a minor little mistake. Your beer is hardier than that.

And you don't dump something because you think it's going to turn out bad. You only dump a beer that you KNOW is bad, and you give it at least a couple of months in the bottle before you even make THAT decision.

Read theses two threads that were compiled for nervous new brewers to realize that your beers are not a weak baby that is going to die if you look at it wrong.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

Read this one especially

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

Our beer is really resilient despite the boneheaded things we do to it. And even if something appears to be wrong, often time and the yeasties go along way to correct itself.

I think about it in terms of my time and money, I'm not going to dump 30 or more dollars worth of ingredients, 6 hours of brewing time, and at least 2 months from yeast pitch to cracking the first bottle, on what could be a minor mistake (that may not even harm the beer anyway,) until I have exhausted all probability that the beer won't improve. And even then that means at least walking away from the bottles for maybe 6 months or more.

And so far I have never beer wrong.

After all these years of brewing I still haven't had a dumper.

And I've made some big mistakes.

But I have never had a beer that wasn't at least palatable, after all that time.

They may have not been stellar beers, but they were still better than BMC or Skunky Beers in green bottles that people actually pay money for.

So just read those threads and next time, relax, and give your beer a chance to prove how strong it really is.

 

[kramer]

You don't EVER dump your beer until you've seen it through the entire process and then some....You don't have a knee jerk reaction just because some throws the panic button....
You don't dump your beer, for making a minor little mistake. Your beer is hardier than that.

And you don't dump something because you think it's going to turn out bad. You only dump a beer that you KNOW is bad, and you give it at least a couple of months in the bottle before you even make THAT decision.

Read theses two threads that were compiled for nervous new brewers to realize that your beers are not a weak baby that is going to die if you look at it wrong.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

Read this one especially

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

Our beer is really resilient despite the boneheaded things we do to it. And even if something appears to be wrong, often time and the yeasties go along way to correct itself.

I think about it in terms of my time and money, I'm not going to dump 30 or more dollars worth of ingredients, 6 hours of brewing time, and at least 2 months from yeast pitch to cracking the first bottle, on what could be a minor mistake (that may not even harm the beer anyway,) until I have exhausted all probability that the beer won't improve. And even then that means at least walking away from the bottles for maybe 6 months or more.

And so far I have never beer wrong.

After all these years of brewing I still haven't had a dumper.

And I've made some big mistakes.

But I have never had a beer that wasn't at least palatable, after all that time.

They may have not been stellar beers, but they were still better than BMC or Skunky Beers in green bottles that people actually pay money for.

So just read those threads and next time, relax, and give your beer a chance to prove how strong it really is.

Thanks MUCH!!! I really really planned on this one being a super-tasty, extra malty brew....so I'm a little disappointed that I may be limited to "drinkable" . Oh well.....maybe I'll go start another bucket to compliment it

Thanks again for the comments!

 

[Kingfish]

Did you cool your wort sample to what your hydrometer calls for?

 

[dcp27]

my bad on the spooking, just meant to point out that it could happen, not make you think that you ruined your beer

 

[Sacreddog717]

Did you boil the full amount or top off with water? Was it a 5 gallon batch in a 6 gallon fermentor?

 

[kramer]

my bad on the spooking, just meant to point out that it could happen, not make you think that you ruined your beer

no worries. I prob did screw it up, since this was supposed to be my "good" batch of extra malty goodness. It'll prob only be "drinkable" now. Oh well. Maybe I'll do another bucket today.

 

[kramer]

Did you boil the full amount or top off with water? Was it a 5 gallon batch in a 6 gallon fermentor?

only boiled the grains in maybe 1 gallon of water. Topped off with cold. 6 gallon bucket. Still, 9 pounds of malt and over 1 pound of grains....that's got to be 1.06

 

[Revvy]

my bad on the spooking, just meant to point out that it could happen, not make you think that you ruined your beer

I've found that over the years one needs to tread lightly where new brewers are concerned. Especially when the chances are truly low that something will be wrong, over complicating it and adding more room for potential stress should be avoided.

 

[dcp27]

no worries. I prob did screw it up, since this was supposed to be my "good" batch of extra malty goodness. It'll prob only be "drinkable" now. Oh well. Maybe I'll do another bucket today.

im sure it'll be more than just 'drinkable'. since the grains were only in 1 gal of water, its very unlikely that you will get any astringency from them. at least you know not to boil them in the future now.

also, you're OG is definitely higher than measured. it may have been missed in revvys posts, but wort and water are quite difficult to mix well enough to get an accurate gravity. you likely pulled a mix of water and wort, which explains the lower reading. you should be around 1.07