Missed OG by a lot

Northern Brewer General
1

So, I did my first 5 gallon batch yesterday and ended up missing my OG by quite a lot. I made a Patersbier which was suppose to have an OG of 1.047 and I ended up with 1.030. So I had a few questions on technique too see where I went wrong

  1. How much water are you suppose to use for a full boil? I ended up using 6.25 gallons of water cause I believe I read that somewhere was the correct amount to use when doing a full boil.

  2. I have an electric stove top currently for brewing. It took a decent amount of time to get the water to a boil (however it was able to get it to a boil). Once I added in malt extract syrup, should I have waited til it was boiling to start the timer, or started the timer once it was added? It took about 30 mins to get it back to a good boil, but I started my timer once I added the syrup.

  3. When transfering it to the fermentor, there was a wierd “skin” that was forming. Was this just hot break/ cold break type of things?

Thanks for any help on teaching me better techniques

:cheers:

Bigunn

2

I don’t think you missed your OG unless you terribly over filled your fermentor.

It is pretty hard to miss OG with extract. You probably just didn’t shake it up enough to mix the wort well enough and got a false reading.

3

Judging by your description (your timer ran for 30min even though you weren’t actually at a boil?) sounds like you may just have too much wort after the boil. How much is in your fermentor? You should have boiled it down to about 5 gallons or so. Like the above statement, it’s damn near impossible to miss the OG on an extract kit.

4

I ended up with 5 gallons in the fermentor, and tossed out just a little bit. I am just unsure about after I add the malt extract and other things, should I wait until its boiling to start timing it, or start timing it from when I add them. I suppose with a better heating source they are basically one in the same, but it takes my electric stove top a while to get it going again.

5

With extract it’s not as big of a deal, but yes you should be actually boiling for 60min. Get your water boiling. Turn off the flame and add the extract. Turn the flame back on and when it starts to boil, start your timer. You could even add the extract before it starts boiling, make sure it’s mixed in well and not stuck to the bottom of your pot, then bring it to a boil. But you DO want to boil for 60min.

6

[quote=“bigunn”]…

  1. How much water are you suppose to use for a full boil? I ended up using 6.25 gallons of water cause I believe I read that somewhere was the correct amount to use when doing a full boil.

  2. I have an electric stove top currently for brewing. It took a decent amount of time to get the water to a boil (however it was able to get it to a boil). Once I added in malt extract syrup, …[/quote]

I read this and my first thought is you (a) gathered 6.25 gallons of water and then (b) added your extract to it. Assuming that’s true, it’s virtually certain that you had 7+ gallons and didn’t boil off nearly enough. I suspect this because, of course, I’ve done that, myself.

Your full-boil volume should be 5.25 gallons plus extra to account for evaporation losses. 6.25 gallons for a stove-top boil sounds about right, and remember to account for all volumes (including hops).

7

Just like others said you dont start your timer till you are boiling again. You did end up with too much wort at the end because of your time being shortend so much which resulted in your OG being way low. Live and learn on to the next brew.

Best thing to do is start a brew notebook on your brewing day and keep track of what works/doesn’t.

8

If you are not boiling for 60 minutes, you are not adding the hops at the correct times.

9

Heat the liquid extract in the microwave or in some hot water. Room temperature extract will lower the wort temperature more than heated extract. It’ll save a little time to get back up to a boil. Put a lid on the pot to keep the heat in and you will get to a boil faster. Once the temp is at boiling, take the lid off. If you lose the boil after uncovering, it’s ok to cover the pot half way.

10

Heat the liquid extract in the microwave or in some hot water. Room temperature extract will lower the wort temperature more than heated extract. It’ll save a little time to get back up to a boil. Put a lid on the pot to keep the heat in and you will get to a boil faster. Once the temp is at boiling, take the lid off. If you lose the boil after uncovering, it’s ok to cover the pot half way.[/quote]

If you cover the pot to get it back up to heat watch it VERY carefully as you could get a boil over. How do I know…well lets say I might have done it once :slight_smile:

11

Heat the liquid extract in the microwave or in some hot water. Room temperature extract will lower the wort temperature more than heated extract. It’ll save a little time to get back up to a boil. Put a lid on the pot to keep the heat in and you will get to a boil faster. Once the temp is at boiling, take the lid off. If you lose the boil after uncovering, it’s ok to cover the pot half way.[/quote]

If you cover the pot to get it back up to heat watch it VERY carefully as you could get a boil over. How do I know…well lets say I might have done it once :slight_smile: [/quote]
Good call!