Original Gravity - Belgian Dubbel

[Sippin37]

I just brewed the Belgian Dubbel extract recipe kit from Northern Brewer and my original gravity was 1.041 while on the sheet included with the kit it said the original gravity should be 1.065. I followed the directions exactly. Can anyone explain why I am so off? And is this a big concern?

Thanks

 

[hopsalot]

please post your brewing process.

 

[Sippin37]

Heated 2.5 gallons of water in a 6 gallon pot.
Poured crushed grain into mesh bag and steeped for 20 minutes until the temp. reached
170 degrees fahrenheit.
Brought to a boil and added 6.3 lbs Gold Malt Syrup and 1 lb. Golden Light
dry malt extract.
Removed from the burner and stirred in malt syrup and dry malt extract.
Returned wort to boil.
Added 1 oz. Tradition hops and boiled for 60 minutes.
Added 1 lb. Dark Belgian Candi Sugar 15 min. before the end of the boil.
Added 1 oz. Hersbrucker hops 10 min. before the end of the boil.
Cooled the wort in sink with ice bath - took about 25 min. to bring to 80 degrees.
Filled primary with 2 gallons cold water.
Added the wort to the primary and topped off to 5 gallons.
Temperature was 74 degrees when I took hydrometer reading.
Reading was 1.04 at 74 degrees, so adjusted reading is 1.041.

Recipe kit says O.G. should be 1.065

 

[bearcamp]

Did you mix your top off water with the cooled wort? You need to mix it up. After you do you should have a closer reading to what the recipe states

 

[Calder]

Based on the extract and sugar you should be at 1.061/1.062. The steeped grains will make this higher. The sugar content of these items are pretty consistent. Believe your recipe and not the hydrometer.

It seems that people using extract and/or partial boil tend to have problems getting good readings because the wort and make-up water don't mix too well. Don't worry, the yeast will do the job for you.

 

[beergolf]

Using extract it is almost impossible to miss your OG if your volumes are correct. As mentioned above it is most likely the wort and water was just not mixed well.

 

[Revvy]

When I see the words "extract" and "Gravity off" I don't need to know the rest of the "process" to know what's wrong.

We get this question 3-4 times every day, so you're not alone. And in reality, nothing's wrong.

It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain revcipes) to have an error in reading the OG...In fact, it is actually nearly impossible to mix the wort and the top off water in a way to get an accurate OG reading...

Brewers get a low reading if they get more of the top off water than the wort, conversely they get a higher number if they grabbed more of the extract than the top off water in their sample.

When I am doing an extract with grain recipe I make sure to stir for a minimum of 5 minutes (whipping up a froth to aerate as well) before I draw a grav sample and pitch my yeast....It really is an effort to integrate the wort with the top off water...This is a fairly common new brewer issue we get on here...unless you under or over topped off or the final volume for the kit was 5 gallons and you topped off to 5.5, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"

More than likely your true OG is really what it's supposed to be. And it will mix itself fine during fermentation.

And just use the number it says in the instructions as the true OG, because it will be.

So the answer is, relax and do nothing.

 

[Sippin37]

Thanks guys. I realized that I definitely took the hydrometer reading right after topping off the wort with the water without mixing it. Luckily I did mix the wort around in the primary before pitching the yeast. It's been a year since I did my last batch, so definitely a little rusty.