Jimbutler21
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2013
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Has anyone ever experienced significant miss with their OG while doing extract? I'm talking hitting 1.020 when trying to hit 1.040. I brewed a batch of Northern Brewer Cream Ale this afternoon and am beyond pissed it missed the mark so badly. I'm not a new brewer and have made plenty of extract beers (and PM and AG on top of that) and never had such a miss with OG.
I did a couple things different today than usual, but wouldn't expect such a drastic change. I brewed on stovetop instead of on propane burner (because it's f-ing hot in TX and I was working-from-home), which led to a much slower boil. It took FOREVER to even reach boil. Starting volume was 3.5 gallons, post-boil volume was ~3.25 gallons, which I then topped off to 5. (I know, I should have taken hydrometer reading prior to topping off, but can't go back in time.) I even used used hot water to rinse all of the LME out of the container and into my boil kettle, so I'm sure I got all the sugars in the wort. I've read the OG on 3 different devices and got comparable results, so I don't think it's an issue with my instruments.
Traditional Hydrometer: 1.018
Refractometer: 1.024
Tilt Hydrometer: 1.022
I read one article that said sugars can sink to the bottom and impact the OG reading. Is it possible to be off by that much? I've shaken the bejesus out of the fermenter and had little impact on the OG. I've run the numbers through several calculators and it's as though I used half the LME I should have, even though I'm sure I used all 6 lbs. (+1 lbs. of specialty grains, although I haven't included them in calculations since they shouldn't impact OG significantly).
Any thoughts on what would cause the OG to be so far off? And other question, what to do now? I ran the numbers and it looks like if I add another 4 lbs. LME in 1 GAL of concentrated wort that should correct the issue, right? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!
I did a couple things different today than usual, but wouldn't expect such a drastic change. I brewed on stovetop instead of on propane burner (because it's f-ing hot in TX and I was working-from-home), which led to a much slower boil. It took FOREVER to even reach boil. Starting volume was 3.5 gallons, post-boil volume was ~3.25 gallons, which I then topped off to 5. (I know, I should have taken hydrometer reading prior to topping off, but can't go back in time.) I even used used hot water to rinse all of the LME out of the container and into my boil kettle, so I'm sure I got all the sugars in the wort. I've read the OG on 3 different devices and got comparable results, so I don't think it's an issue with my instruments.
Traditional Hydrometer: 1.018
Refractometer: 1.024
Tilt Hydrometer: 1.022
I read one article that said sugars can sink to the bottom and impact the OG reading. Is it possible to be off by that much? I've shaken the bejesus out of the fermenter and had little impact on the OG. I've run the numbers through several calculators and it's as though I used half the LME I should have, even though I'm sure I used all 6 lbs. (+1 lbs. of specialty grains, although I haven't included them in calculations since they shouldn't impact OG significantly).
Any thoughts on what would cause the OG to be so far off? And other question, what to do now? I ran the numbers and it looks like if I add another 4 lbs. LME in 1 GAL of concentrated wort that should correct the issue, right? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!