What went wrong?

[Mellow52]

This is my second brew and my OG is very high. I am loosing sleep over it trying to figure out what I did wrong.

This is what went down:

Belgian Blonde Ale

Grains
Wheat 0.25 lbs.
Crystal 40L 0.75 lbs.
Cara-Pils 0.75 lbs.
Munich 0.5 lbs.

Extracts
Pale 0.5 qts.
Adjunct 2.0 qts.
Super Light 0.5 qts.

Bittering Hops
Perle 0.5 oz.
Kent Goldings 1.0 oz.

Finishing Hops
Saaz 1.25 oz.
Irish Moss 1 Scoop

Yeast
Belgian Wit -White Labs liquid WPL400

1. Take yeast out of fridge to get to room temperature, shake occasionally
2. Ad 2 gal of water in kettle and get to 160 - 170 F
3. Steep all crushed grains in sock for 30 min (went over steeping temp to 180F for about 10min)
4. Add 3.5 gal of water (extra 0.5gal water is for boil off) and raise to 200 F (I have a Polar 32 qt kettle)
5. Turn off heat and add all extracts (pre warmed in hot water to flow easily) and stir well bring to a boil
6. At boil add bittering hops, rolling boil for 60 min
7. Stirring occasionally to avoid scorch - no lid at any time
8. 15 min before full boil add finishing hops
9. Kill boil and use wort chiller to bring to 70F
10. Transfer to primary (6.5 gal plastic bucket) by pouring through sieve
11. Take OG
12. Pitch yeast and shake vigorously for 5 min to aerate
13. Place lid on with airlock filled with vodka

14. Ferment (in dark) at 67-74 F for 2 weeks and/or FG is a constant over two days
15. Prime, bottle and age for 3 weeks before first sampling

So after brewing I came up with 4.75 Gal so I just added tap water to make it 5gal. My OG reads 1.072 at 68F.

Questions:
1.Why is the OG so high and not in the beer 'start' range?
2.What will this do to my beer in the end?
3.Was the high steeping temp the start of my problems?
4.Am I right to think a high OG = high sugar content?
5.Anything I should do to try and save it?

Thanks for any help.

 

[dbreienrk1]

1st: What are your target OG and IBU calcs?
2nd: Qts is a weird measurement for dry or liquid extract...what were you using dry or liquid and what was the measurement?
3rd: Can you be more specific about the grains and extracts used? I've guesstimated by turning your Qts into lbs and you should have an OG of ~1.037.

Your reported OG is nearly double that. Take another reading to verify your original was correct. Let's start here and we can move forward.

Another thing, high temperatures during the steep/mash process is a no-no...anything over 170 pretty much kills all enzyme activity which would actually decrease your OG.

 

[Mellow52]

1st: What are your target OG and IBU calcs?
2nd: Qts is a weird measurement for dry or liquid extract...what were you using dry or liquid and what was the measurement?

Let's start here and we can move forward.

I wish I knew my target OG and IBU. I bought this kit from my LHBS and when I asked the same question I got this as a reply.

"You would want to just follow the detailed basic extract homebrewing instructions ( which we have on our website in the instructions section: http://www.brewapp.com/instructions.html ). As a general rule, we don’t provide gravities with our recipes… Mainly because we have found that they can vary, depending on the ingredients themselves (which do fluctuate from month to month) and because results will vary depending on who brews it… With that said, you’re looking at beer that should be in the 7%ABV range (with a gravity roughly around 1.065)."

The extract was Qts - Liquid.

Extracts
Pale 0.5 qts.
Adjunct 2.0 qts.
Super Light 0.5 qts.

I do not know anything more about the recipe and what was given to me. Here is the instructions and this is about all I know about the ingredients. http://www.brewapp.com/recipefiles/BELGIAN BLONDE ALE - 5 GAL.pdf

Thank you for helping me.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

If the expected ABV was around 7% then you're in the ballpark. You did good. Get some sleep.

 

[JLem]

Nothing seems wrong. Assuming the LME weighs 3 lbs per quart, I calculate an OG of approximately 1.067 for you recipe. If your volume is a little low or if there's a little more than 3 pounds of extract per quart, you could definitely hit 1.072.

Just out of curiosity, why did you think something was wrong?

 

[Mellow52]

Thanks for the help guys!

I guess it is the noob factor that made me think something was wrong. The OG fell outside the 'beer start' range on the hydrometer and I automatically thought that was a problem. Also the bad I made on the steeping temperature hitting 80F (correction 180F) before I caught it and quickly lowered it.

 

[JLem]

thanks for the help guys!

I guess it is the noob factor that made me think something was wrong. The og fell outside the 'beer start' range on the hydrometer and i automatically thought that was a problem. Also the bad i made on the steeping temperature hitting 80f before i caught it and quickly lowered it.

80f?

 

[Mellow52]

80f?

Sorry, meant 180F.

 

[unionrdr]

I try not to go over 165F for steepin grains. !70 & up you can leach tannins from the husks. Not to mention comminting enzymatic murder.