OG too high on my Porter

[jldc]

First of all, when my OG was too high, I shook the carboy and repeated my reading, then shook it again and repeated again: 1.070 (each time) when is should be 1.052.

My recipe has 6 lbs of Dark DME, 1 lb each of Brown and Crystal Malt, and 10 oz of Chocolate Malt in a 5 1/2 gallon brew.

Instead of simply steeping, I "kind of" did a mini-mash. Steeped for 45 min at 155 (in 3 1.2 qts water) then transferred my bag to 1 gallon of 155 water for ten min. Could this explain the higher OG? The wort was pretty bitter - did I over extract and get tannins? I also wonder if late extract additions can increase the variability of the SG readings?

I am going to fire up a HB now since there's nothing I can do anyway, but I'm interested in comments.

 

[Moonpile]

None of the grains you used have any diastatic power, so the mini-mash didn't do it.

Sounds like you thoroughly mixed your wort at the final volume. Are you sure about your volumes? Is it possible you somehow added more DME?

Also, if it's a 5gal final volume, then 6lbs of DME alone should get you to 1.052, but the Crystal and others will add some points, though 1.070 is a stretch. I figure more like 1.058 or so.

At that temp, I wouldn't worry about tannis.

 

[jldc]

None of the grains you used have any diastatic power, so the mini-mash didn't do it.

Sounds like you thoroughly mixed your wort at the final volume. Are you sure about your volumes? Is it possible you somehow added more DME?

Also, if it's a 5gal final volume, then 6lbs of DME alone should get you to 1.052, but the Crystal and others will add some points, though 1.070 is a stretch. I figure more like 1.058 or so.

At that temp, I wouldn't worry about tannis.

My final volume was 5.5 gallons. I did a partial boil and added pre-boiled water to get to that level. I didn't weigh the DME - I just added a 1 lb package and a 5 lb package. I didn't weigh the specialty grains either, but they seemed about right.

 

[GAbrewer]

Not to be rude, but at this point if the gravity came out higher than you expected there's not a whole lot you can do about it at. May as well just let it ferment and see how it comes out. But then, I've had a few homebrews tonight, so you might want to take the advice of more sober and experienced people than me. In any case, just RDWHAHB. I know I did.

 

[jldc]

Not to be rude, but at this point if the gravity came out higher than you expected there's not a whole lot you can do about it at. May as well just let it ferment and see how it comes out. But then, I've had a few homebrews tonight, so you might want to take the advice of more sober and experienced people than me. In any case, just RDWHAHB. I know I did.

It's fermenting like crazy now - already coming out the blow-off. We'll just have to see.

 

[ryron01]

Not to be rude, but at this point if the gravity came out higher than you expected there's not a whole lot you can do about it at. May as well just let it ferment and see how it comes out. But then, I've had a few homebrews tonight, so you might want to take the advice of more sober and experienced people than me. In any case, just RDWHAHB. I know I did.

It is good to know for the next brew.

 

[Fat Guy Brewing]

I got 1.068 and 1.064 on my last 2 porters using 3 lbs. of dark DME and 3 lbs. of light DME. Maybe your wort temperature was high? Also check your hydro that its reading correctly, 60* water should be 1.00.