Og

[Abrayton]

I just brewed a chocolate oatmeal stout extract kit Saturday. I accidentally aerated the wort and pitched the yeast before taking a reading and got an OG of 1.083 (the kit estimated a high end OG of 1.071). Does aeration and pitching yeast have an affect on the gravity reading? Thanks for any help!

 

[hercher]

No, aeration and pitching have no effect (I'm assuming you pitched a single packet of dry yeast).

Did you end up with the full volume the recipe called for? That could explain the difference between your OG and the target gravity.

 

[BrewerinBR]

several reasons for higher readings but oxygen and yeast are not among them.

 

[Abrayton]

I did end up about a half gallon short of five. Also, due to heating issues with the stove and a faulty thermometer, I ended up steeping for about 90 minutes and the after adding the extract it took 45 minutes to get a boil.

 

[hercher]

The missing half gallon is the culprit. Don't sweat it, though. Your beer will be better.

For future reference, you can top off your fermenter prior to fermentation with water.

 

[Abrayton]

I should have clarified that I did top off to five gallons. It's going nuts fermenting right now and I think it's gonna be great! Thanks for responses.