Starting Gravity... what if?
- Thread starter eighteez
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Your going to be doing extract brewing for your first time, don't worry then, your gravity will more than likely appear to be off, when it really isn't and it won't really matter.
Don't do anything about it, just follow your directions/recipe and the TRUE gravity will be right, Extract brewing is foolproof brewing.
It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain revcipes) to have an error in reading the OG...In fact, it is actually nearly impossible to mix the wort and the top off water in a way to get an accurate OG reading...
Brewers get a low reading if they get more of the top off water than the wort, conversely they get a higher number if they grabbed more of the extract than the top off water in their sample.
When I am doing an extract with grain recipe I make sure to stir for a minimum of 5 minutes (whipping up a froth to aerate as well) before I draw a grav sample and pitch my yeast....It really is an effort to integrate the wort with the top off water...This is a fairly common new brewer issue we get on here...unless you under or over topped off or the final volume for the kit was 5 gallons and you topped off to 5.5, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"
More than likely your true OG is really what it's supposed to be. And it will mix itself fine during fermentation.
Don't do anything about it, just follow your directions/recipe and the TRUE gravity will be right, Extract brewing is foolproof brewing.
It's a pretty common issue for ANYONE topping off with water in the fermenter (and that includes partial mashes, extract or all grain revcipes) to have an error in reading the OG...In fact, it is actually nearly impossible to mix the wort and the top off water in a way to get an accurate OG reading...
Brewers get a low reading if they get more of the top off water than the wort, conversely they get a higher number if they grabbed more of the extract than the top off water in their sample.
When I am doing an extract with grain recipe I make sure to stir for a minimum of 5 minutes (whipping up a froth to aerate as well) before I draw a grav sample and pitch my yeast....It really is an effort to integrate the wort with the top off water...This is a fairly common new brewer issue we get on here...unless you under or over topped off or the final volume for the kit was 5 gallons and you topped off to 5.5, then the issue, sorry to say, is "operator error"
More than likely your true OG is really what it's supposed to be. And it will mix itself fine during fermentation.
It's good to get into the habit for when you are doing partial mashes and all grain, where you sometimes take multiple pre and post boil readings during a brewing session. If you don't get into the habit NOW, more than likely you'll run into trouble later because your not in the habit of it in your process.
And sometimes you get lucky and stir it perfectly, it's just not a big deal if it doesn't read it if you know.
tlael
Well-Known Member
If you have patience and don't care about calculating ABV % and/or attenuation, no.
If you are interested in learning how things work and drawing baselines, then yes.
Getting into good brewing processes NOW will ultimately make you a better brewer. SO many new brewers who post "my beer's not fermenting becasue my airlcok isn't bubbling, or I think my yeast is dead." Don't have it in their consciousness to do it, or were afraid of doing it thinking it will ruin their beer. Even allgrain brewers.....So the first thing they think about is starting a help me thread, rather than taking a reading ( a couple days after yeast pitch).
But those folks who start doing it immediately, even if they stick with extract for awhile and opt to forgo it for the reasons I cited in later batches. Have no problem reaching for it at the first inkling of trouble.
