Pre boil gravity way off Need help ASAP as I am bringing to boil now

[boomtown25]

First all grain under way!!!! My preboil gravity goal was 1.049 and 7.4 gallons. I have over 8 gallons and pre-boil was only 1.020. Should I boil down until proper volume reached BEFORE pitching first hops or roll with everything as usual and just boil longer in the end???

 

[waldoar15]

I'd check it a few more times before I got too cranked up about it.

Hydrometer or Refractometer?

 

[boomtown25]

Hydrometer

 

[boomtown25]

do you suggest roll with regular hop schedule? Just broke into a boil (also I am going to add fruit after 3 days of fermentation and that should add some fermentible sugars as well)

 

[Smellyglove]

Did you crush the grains? Boiling down from 8 to 7.4 gallons will yield you an SG slightly short of 1.022..

 

[boomtown25]

Yeah. I think I panicked a little. Sample wort cooled a little now and preboil is up to 1.030. Feeling better.

 

[Smellyglove]

You measured without cooling the sample to reference temperature of your hydrometer? Don't do that, use the equipment at the temperature it's supposed to be used at.

 

[boomtown25]

Mashed 12.5 lbs of crushed grains, mashed in at 162 for a mash temp in my igloo picnic cooler at 152 degrees. Temp dropped to 148 so I added 1.5 qts of boiling water brought it to 152. Hour long mash, first drawings. Then batch sparged with 4.8 gallons at 168 for 12 minutes. Ended up with about 8 gallons. Boiling now. I think we are running good now. Tossed my first hops after 5 minutes at a boil.

 

[Yeastieboy]

What was the OG?

 

[RM-MN]

If your properly taken hydrometer sample still has you at a low OG, you still have the option of adding DME to bring it up.

 

[Horseflesh]

Cooling off "a little" can still give you a very wrong number. Look up a hydrometer correction calculator for next time, and cool the sample to room temperature before testing. The closer you are to the instrument's calibration temperature, the better.