Yeast question

[snafu858]

I made a true brew IPA kit that includes:
6.6 lbs Malt Extract amber
1 lb Crushed Crystal Row Barley Malt
1 oz. UK Pilgrim Hop Pellets (60 min boil)
1 oz. UK First Gold Hop Pellets (~2 min boil)
1/2 oz. Heavy Toasted Oak Chips.

To that I added 3 lbs of DME.

It has been in my fermenter since Sunday...strong fermentation first few days, slowing down but still producing CO2 in airlock.

I plan to rack and dry hop with 1oz Columbus and 1 oz Cascade this weekend.

My issue:
OG from all the recipe calculators (around 1.09) don't match my measured OG (which was 1.114)
Can this be right?
Did the steeped grains add that much sugar to the wort to raise the OG that much?
Can the yeast handle the OG (if accurate)? the yeast is Munton's ale yeast in a yellow packet)

 

[BBL_Brewer]

There's no way the OG was 1.114. Either your hydrometer is out of whack or you didn't read it right. If you are talking about FG instead of OG and the reading was 1.014, then that sounds right, no need to worry.

 

[TopherM]

First off, steeping grains don't add any sugar to wort. They just add color and flavor. That's why you don't mash them when doing extract brewing.

Anyway, when you are talking about OG for an extract recipe, assuming you get all of the extract and DME into the wort, and then you get all of wort into the fermentor, and you have the proper water volumes, then the OG is going to be 100% the same as the recipe. DME and LME are 100% efficient, i.e., the OG of DME and LME is a set variable.

HOWEVER, new extract brewers make a few common mistakes that can lead to the reading being off:

1) Not getting every last drop of the extract/DME into the wort drops OG a bit
2) Not getting every last drop of the wort into your fermentor drops OG a bit
3) Not MIXING your top off water completely with your wort can lead to an inaccurate reading, since gravity is a measure of relative density.
4) When you add your top off water to your wort, you should add water until you hit your OG, NOT to a specified water volume. The recipe is correct when your OG is correct, so if you end up with 4.8 gallons at the proper OG, that is better than ending up with 5.0 gallons with an improper OG, as at that point you've watered down your wort.

In your case, where you actually have a HIGHER OG than expected, you either didn't have enough water volume, or you didn't mix your top off water and wort 100%, and just took a reading from a part of the wort that was denser than the rest of the wort.

Hope that helps!