Pilsner

[Findley Brothers]

So I just made a 5 gallon Pilsner and wanted a different kinda citrus taste so I added some orange/earl grey tea to my cold crash. The recipe I used for the Pilsner said OG would be 1.047 and I ended up with 1.071. Does this have something to do with the tea added? It was an extract brew and followed recipe exactly but OG ended a lot higher. Any reason why? Or what effect it will have with FG?

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I guess this may be a dumb question, but are you positive you have exactly 5 gallons?

 

[Findley Brothers]

I guess this may be a dumb question, but are you positive you have exactly 5 gallons?

We started at 2.5 and after cold crash had 1.25. Filled up to 5 gallons like the recipe said.

 

[passedpawn]

The tea did not affect the gravity in any way. BTW, it's pretty easy to add orange zest by just using an orange. The orange in tea is always Bergomot, and you can buy that essential oil various places and add to the boil (if you boil).

If the OG was truly 1.071, you'll end up with a 7% beer. However, assuming this is an extract (liquid or dry) beer, that is highly unlikely. I can't explain your gravity reading, but extract kits do not give you extra fermentables.

Are you using a hydrometer for measuring the gravity?

 

[doug293cz]

It's almost impossible to have your OG be off by more than 1 point when doing an extract brew, unless your volume measurements are off.

One common problem that gives erroneous SG readings is wort stratification when adding top-up water. It takes much more aggressive mixing than most people realize to homogenize wort and water. In cases with stratification, your SG readings can be either way too high, or way too low, depending on whether you sample from an extract rich or extract poor zone.

Brew on

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

The reason people are asking questions and showing skepticism is that gravity comes from adding mass to the wort. If you didn't add significant mass or subtract water, you didn't increase the gravity. It's a physical impossibility, so any other explanation is more likely. Looks like your hydrometer reading is off.

 

[rburrelli]

When did you take your OG reading? Was it before adding the water?

 

[Sammy86]

When did you take your OG reading? Was it before adding the water?

I was literally going to say the same thing! Seems like you either took the gravity before adding the water or you you didn't mix it thoroughly and got a denser sugar sample.