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adams67mustang

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Yesterday I took a William Brewing Porter kit I got for Christmas and bastardized it a bit with a partial mash and flavorings:

2 lbs Maris Otter 2-row Pale Malt
1 lb crushed flaked oats
1 lb Bairds chocolate malt
1 tsp enzyme (recommended by LHBS)
7 quarts water.

Started Mashed at 150 degrees and held in 170 degree oven while the temp slowly climbed to 157 over 1 hour. Sparged with 164 degree water.

4 gallon boil:
Added the 6 lbs Williams Porter Extract (estimated OG 1.039)
3 lbs Briess Golden Light DME
Kit Hops
Extra 2 oz East Kent Goldings

After 30 min boil addition of 12 oz molasses
After 45 min boil addition of 1 oz licorice root
After 55 min boil addition of second kit hops
Finished boil at 60 min.

Chilled wort, filled to 5.5 gallons, and aerated for 30 min. Shook carboy for about 5 min to thoroughly mix. Pitched Wyeast German Ale with starter and 1 package rehydrated safale s-04.

Also have 4 oz Cacao Nibs for steeping in the secondary when it comes time. Its currently bubbling like mad in the primary.

I have high hopes for the beer, despite the fact that it will be a winter beer not ready til spring :confused:

OG measurement (pre aeration) came in at 1.120 However, my calculations show that with 70% mash efficiency it should only be about 1.085.

Any thoughts why the OG would come in so much higher? I find it unlikely my efficiency was much higher than that. Other thoughts on the recipe?
 
You are correct on the expected OG being around 1.085. I think you'd need about 3 more pounds of DME to get that gravity up to 1.120. I just don't see how it is possible to have that large of a discrepancy. Even 100% efficiency from mashing 4 lbs of grain will not gain you much. That said, I can only state the obvious "maybe it was this, or that"....

Hydrometer issue? Check it in distilled water to calibrate.
Temperature of the wort (would have to be really really cold to get that reading).
Volume of wort? Maybe you had much less than 5.5 gallon. Would need only slightly less than 4.5 gallons to reach that high of an OG given the grain bill.
Wort wasn't mixed well after water addition but before aeration, so you took a sample of concentrated wort. Appears to be consistent with pre water addition gravity.

Last one is probably the most likely....but I'm betting that the true gravity of the beer is much closer to 1.085.
 
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