St Peters Honey Porter % issue

[Gareth Collier]

Hi guys, currently just finished fermentation. Just about to keg and put in my own made kegorator.

Just like to ask my OG reading was 1.080 which seemed very high to me. Is this normal? if not why?

FG reading stable at 1.014.

This giving me around 8.66% I just can't understand why. As says average 4.5% on the box.

Bit to high in percentage for my liking will blow peoples head off lol.

Any suggestions why starting OG was so high? Nerver seen in a beer before.

Added nothing to the wort just added hop powder 2 day later.

 

[hotbeer]

It'd help to know if this was a kit or a clone recipe of another that you used. As well if this is extract or all-grain.

If you used the recipe of some other and this is all-grain, then maybe you simply get a better efficiency with your mash than the other person does.

If a kit, then perhaps they gave you sugar for use at bottling time and you added that to your wort in the boil instead. But I haven't run the calculation to see if the OG that will have given you 4.5% ABV would have made it anywhere close to 1.080 SG on just the priming sugar alone.

Also, if your volume of wort coming out of the kettle after boil was significantly less volume than the recipe was for, then you'll also have a much higher OG.

Other things too could be culprits.

 

[Gareth Collier]

I made the kit out of the tins that was in the st peters stout kit. With the correct boiling water. Like I have done with many kits over the years.

No sugar added at all as I keg and dispense with gas.

Many thanks for your reply.

 

[Rish]

How did you get your OG? Drop a hydro in the fermenter or pull a sample from a spigot or with a ranking cane? Or some other way?

 

[hotbeer]

I guess this must be a extract kit then. If you finished with the same quantity of wort into the FV as you did with the other beers, then it will almost have to be a measurement error. Or you'd have to allow that they mistakenly gave you some extract that was too high a gravity, or if DME, then they gave you too much.

But 4.5% ABV seems a little low for a Stout Beer. Maybe that's a mistake on the kit label if it says that's the ABV. 5.5 to 8.0% seems more normal for a stout to me.

I couldn't find a St. Peters Honey Porter kit with a quick google. I did see some of their other beer kits.

edit....

But looking further I did find their already made beer and it does show 4.5% ABV.

And now I finally found the kit...

https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/st-peters-beer-kits?variant=15227212595315

and the insructions.... https://brew2bottle.co.uk/pages/st-peters-beer-kits-instructions

 

[mac_1103]

Is this the kit? Are these the instructions? I think there really are only two ways to get a high OG with this kind of kit. One is to add too little water and the other is to not mix thoroughly enough. Assuming that your volume is correct I'd be pretty shocked if your OG really was that high. I'm pretty sure the beer will be exactly what it was supposed to be.

 

[Gareth Collier]

Is this the kit? Are these the instructions? I think there really are only two ways to get a high OG with this kind of kit. One is to add too little water and the other is to not mix thoroughly enough. Assuming that your volume is correct I'd be pretty shocked if your OG really was that high. I'm pretty sure the beer will be exactly what it was supposed to be.

The kit is st peters Honey Porter. Kettle water was boiled and measured out. Only thing i can see is topping up level showing 500ml/400ml over not sure if that caused anything. Mixed in very well gave a very good stir. I took a photo of the OG so I know it was correct.

Appreciate the reply will see how it taste after kegging and serving with co2 on tap.

Been doing these kits for many years never seen this happen before.

 

[mac_1103]

Only thing i can see is topping up level showing 500ml/400ml over not sure if that caused anything.

If you topped off too much then your OG would have been lower not higher. Probably should have been around 1.050, and there's no way to create extra specific gravity from that extract. So like I said, 1.080 can only be explained by a volume error or poor mixing/stratification.