Should my gravity be this low? recipe inside

[RippinLt]

4 lbs extra light dme
1 lb rice syrup solids
1 lb corn sugar

Hops:
1/2 oz cascade flavoring
1 oz cascade aroma
1/2 oz continental bittering

Steeping Grain:
1/2 lb crystal 10 row
1/2 lb carapils.
1/2 honey something, to be honest I cant remember and the receipt is in my car. Its pooring. If it is important I'll get it later

I took gravity before pitching the yeast and measured 1.030

Heres my procedure:

---boil 2.5 gal
add rice solids
add 1lb dme
add bittering hops
---boil 45 minutes
add 3lbs dme/corn sugar
add cascades
---boil 10
add cascades
---boil 5 minutes

Cool/take reading

The only thing I could come up with is that I didnt take an accurate temp reading before checking out the gravity. Possibly had the thermometer in a warm spot...

Thanks in advance friendo.

 

[Yooper]

Is that for five gallons? If so, you should expect an OG of 1.053 or so.

 

[a10t2]

What was the final volume? Given that, you can just calculate the OG.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

What was your final volume in the fermenter?

Temp makes a difference. You want to take a temp reading of the wort at the same time as checking gravity. There is a temperature correction table that will give you a value to either add or subtract to your reading depending on what temperature the wort is. Check out this link for more info on using hydrometers.

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixA.html

 

[cervezarara]

Hi Rippin-
Is it possible you didn't thoroughly mix the wort with the top up water? The gravity of 2.5 gallons of wort should have been somewhere around 1.10. The top up water needs to be stirred/shaken very well to blend completely. I can't believe temperature correction for your hydrometer would account for the difference between 1.030 and 1.054, which you should have been close to.

Cheers.

 

[RippinLt]

5 gallon yield. Perhaps I did not mix well enough. I did pull from the top of the fermentor for my test. Either way I pitched and cranked on the lid. No signs of fermentation yet but I never seem to get quick starts.

Liquid California ale yeast

Maybe fermentation seems to take so long to begin because I'm pitching it onto a top layer that consists of mostly water...

 

[trub quaffer]

Maybe fermentation seems to take so long to begin because I'm pitching it onto a top layer that consists of mostly water...

Are you aerating before pitching? Shake the hell out of that wort or aerate with a stone and oxygen before pitching to improve your fermentation.

 

[a10t2]

Honestly, when brewing with extract it's sort of pointless to take an OG reading. Unless you left something out or missed your target volume, the OG will be what it's supposed to be, and you can calculate it more precisely than the typical consumer-grade hydrometer can measure it.

If you are going to take a reading, when doing a partial boil, I'd suggest doing it before adding the water, then dividing by the dilution ratio to get the overall SG.

Slow fermentation is almost certainly a sign of under-pitching. Are you making starters?

 

[frankstoneline]

I also come up with something in the neighborhood of 1.052, seems like a pretty drastic shift in OG. I agree with the shaking comment above, shake it like crazy. with an OG that low it seems like you shouldnt be having problems with your yeast, however it's always beneficial to make a starter (just figured this out myself)

 

[RippinLt]

The reason I still take readings with extract is because I do not have a recipe to follow so I am still interested in the OG. Fermentation has violently started after 14 hours which is my quickest yet. This was the first time I used white labs liquid. thanks