We have attempted this particular oatmeal stout twice…both times we missed our target gravity by quite a bit. I’m wondering why?
We are still pretty new to homebrewing, so still trying to get all the proportions right. However we modeled this particular recipe after a kit we purchased.
I’m curious what causes a beer to miss the gravity target? In this case, our target was 1.050 - 1.058
Our actual gravity turned out to be 1.038…which means our ABV will be less than 3%
Thanks.
these are two of the usual (clift notes version) answers:
if AG, then perhaps the crush was poor
if extract, then perhaps it is over diluted or not mixed well.
others will probably chime in with longer, more detailed answers, but I’d look to these first.
cheers
Your question is similar to asking a mechanic what is wrong with your car over the phone.
More information is needed.
I’m going with answer #2 of Stormybrew’s
Understood…this was a partial grain/extract recipe.
Here it is:
.75lb Briess black malt 6 row
.75lb Briess chocolate malt
.5lb Quaker oats (cooked first before adding to steep)
3.3lb muntons dark lme
2lb Muntons extra dark dme (added last 15 min)
.5oz millennium pellet, 60min
1oz fuggles pellet, 30min
.5oz goldings pellet, 15min
Irish moss, 15min
+1 on more info needed. i think you might have tried a partial mash? EDIT, i see you posted your recipe and it looks like you dont have enough fermentables.
That’s what I don’t understand. The recipe we modeled this after only had 12oz of grains and 6.6lb of LME.
ours has more than 2x grains and we added 2lb of DME…granted, we have half the LME, but we thought the extra grains and DME would make up for that.
Here is a BeerTools analysis of your recipe.
[quote]Untitled Recipe
0- Untitled Style
Size: 5.0 gal
Efficiency: 60.0%
Original Gravity: 1.048 (1.000 - 1.100)
Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.000 - 1.100)
Color: 33.68 (0.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 4.7% (0.0% - 10.0%)
Ingredients:
.75 lb Black Malt
.75 lb Chocolate Malt
2 lb Dry Dark
3.3 lb Liquid Dark Extract
.50 lb Oat Flakes
Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.11[/quote]
I’m still going with “wort/top off water not mixed well before taking the hydrometer reading” as to why your OG is off.
Your original recipe had 6lb of LME. This recipe has 3.3LME and 2DME. Which is very similar for sugar content. The specialty grains are not going to add much to the mix.
At 4 gallons we were at 1.035. We topped off to 5 and were at 1.038. We them aireated it for 2 minutes by rocking the pail back and forth…this should have sufficiently mixed it. Still at 1.038 after that.
What is this Beer Tools thing you speak of?
BeerTools/ProMash/Qbrew and a number of other online recipe generators. There are even some xcel spreadsheets people have developed and offered for free.
Tastybrew.com has a recipe calculator.
Qbew is a shareware program.
BeerTools/Promash are commercial (free to try, $ to continue to use).
[quote=“stompwampa”]At 4 gallons we were at 1.035. We topped off to 5 and were at 1.038. We them aireated it for 2 minutes by rocking the pail back and forth…this should have sufficiently mixed it. Still at 1.038 after that.
[/quote]
You can’t be at 1.035 with 4 gallons and add 1 more gallon and be at 1.038 I agree it was not mixed well enough. Sanitize a big spoon or a stir paddle and mix it with.
The first reading should have been higher than 1.035 much higher than 1.038.
Thanks, guys. Perhaps we just didn’t mix very well despite thinking we had.
This ^^^.
4 at 1.035 + 1 at 1.000 = 5 at 1.028.
Not mixed well enough at some point in the process. If you actually have 5 at 1.038 now, then the original 4 was not at 1.035, or you didn’t have 4 or you don’t have 5 or you didn’t add 1.
some where the measurements are off or the mixing is off.
but who really cares for this batch. 
you made beer and even if it is not at the expected ABV, it’ll still taste good. Be xtra vigilant on the next batch, at all phases, and you’ll hit your numbers.
cheers
