i'm still very new at this and really don't understand the point of taking gravities other than to watch the progress of fermentation. i measured the og in a taddy porter clone before pitching my yeast last night and it was very off. i got 1.044 at 77 degrees (converted to about 1.046) and the instruction sheet said it should be 1.051. what could cause this? i boiled more water this time and used an immersion chiller for the first time. but i don't think this would have much of an effect. any ideas what went wrong? how can you adjust the gravity levels, or do you really want to, or is it just a number to used to try for consistency?
very off og
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Im new to and not sure how hydrometers, if they have the same conversion charts and what not for temp, but 77 is pretty hot on my to be using the hydrometer, mine is calibrated to 68 degrees I beleive. And having it at 77 would put it pretty close to where it is supposed to be on my chart.
I did the same thing last sunday when I brewed, It was way to cold on mine and the conversion chart was a little off, I waited for a sample to get to temp and took another reading and it was right on
I did the same thing last sunday when I brewed, It was way to cold on mine and the conversion chart was a little off, I waited for a sample to get to temp and took another reading and it was right on
Buford
Well-Known Member
Are you using top-up water? If so, did you stir the wort after adding the water? I forgot to do that once and my SG reading was way off as I only picked up dilute wort at the top. The heavier sugars were in the bottom of the bucket.
zoebisch01
Well-Known Member
hobbsj said:
Well gravity readings are an interesting topic. First off what they tell you is basically the proportion of sugar in the solution. This in general affects the hops utilization (how much bitterness will be extracted from the hops) and the alchohol produced. Your number could be off a few points from: reading error, volume measurement error, process error (as mentioned above), temperature error or even equipment error (although it is rare with glass bulb hydrometers, but your thermometer could be off and that can skew your correction value). It won't make a tremendous effect as you are fairly close (although not spot on) with your target.
You can adjust gravity levels by compensating with DME, or even adding sugars. It is not really necessary unless you are so far off and need to save the day. You are about 10% off the target...so I wouldn't sweat it too much. Now, if you always want to perfectly (to the best of your ability) repeat the beer again in the situation you might want to adjust. Or not. It is a personal preference really. What you should know is that if your starting gravity is sufficiently low this can change your bitterness levels slightly in the favor of being more bitter. So that is something to consider.
A common problem is not enough mixing. Before you pitch your yeast, you cannot mix it too much. The more oxygen that gets into the cooled wort the better.
[Probably one of a short list of brewing items people won't argue about. Although they will argue about HOW.]
[Probably one of a short list of brewing items people won't argue about. Although they will argue about HOW.]
Silverbrain
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I have made a total of 3 batches and not once have I been on the mark regarding my OG. Papers have said OG of 1.040 - 1.050 and im hitting 1.034-1.036 consistently. 2 Sierra Nevada types, 1 India Pale ale type. I am still trying to figure out why this is. This weekend im going to try a kit from northernbrewer (been using a local homebrew shop kind) to see if perhaps its the kit im using.
TheJadedDog
AFK ATM
Silverbrain said:
A low OG typically means there is not as much sugar in the wort, what are the recipes you have used?
If it's an extract recipe, it's really impossible to TRULY screw up the OG unless you add too much top-off water. The sugars are there - they are in the wort - they can't go anywhere. Almost inevitably, the issue is the lack of stirring after adding the top-off water issue that's been mentioned.
Silverbrain
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I will post my recipe later when im home. After my wort is chilled, I add water to get to 5 gallons then stir the heck out of it, lots of bubbles on top. I then take my reading before pitching my yeast. I concur though that the sugar is all there from the extract so thats where im puzzled. All my batches are 5 gallons on the nose when complete. Could it be im steeping the grains wrong and not getting near enough sugars from them? Or perhaps im not taking the extra time and really wringing out the extract bag to get every last drop..
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