Brewed an AP over the weekend, partial mash, 6 lbs of Pilsen DME, 1 lb of specialty grains. OG target was 1.050-1.055. What I came up with was 1.080. Partial boil with 3 gallons. Topped off with 2 gallons water, shook, and two different pulls with my beer thief, so wouldn’t think there would be issues with stratification.
There was a fair amount of hop particles floating in my cylinder, so I let it sit over night thinking that they would drop out, and I would get a better (closer to expected) reading. Didn’t change. At a loss how I gained that much gravity.
No complaining if there will be more alcohol, but was aiming for a more session drink. Brewed kinda heavy this winter.
[quote=“jabonneau86”]Specialty grains were 0.5 lb of Crystal 60L, 0.25 lb of Victory, and 0.25 lb of Carapils.
155 deg. for 30 minutes.[/quote]
So that’s not technically a partial mash, that’s considered extract with steeping grains as you won’t get any fermentable sugars from those grains. A partial mash will involve using base grains and getting some of your gravity from that as well.
If the only fermentables you used was 6lbs of extract your gravity should be around 1.052 in 5 gallons.
You say you boiled 3 gallons and topped off with 2. Did you take into consideration your boil-off? If you boiled 3 gallons for 60 minutes you would probably only be left with 2 or less gallons (depending on kettle geometry and atmospheric conditions). To end up with an OG of 1.080 you would either need 9lbs of DME in 5 gallons or 6lbs of DME in 3.4 gallons of water.
Are you sure your final volume was exactly 5 gallons?
No. Gravity readings are just a density reading. Density is the measure of mass per volume. Hop particulates and protein break don’t dissolve into solution so they won’t throw off the reading.
No. Gravity readings are just a density reading. Density is the measure of mass per volume. Hop particulates and protein break don’t dissolve into solution so they won’t throw off the reading.[/quote]
True, but if you have particulates or cO2 bubbles adhering the the hydrometer, they can and will throw the reading off, as they will affect the buoyancy of the meter.
Thanks guys. Looking back, Boil off could be my issue as I didn’t have it at a rolling boil the full time. Right at my hour mark LP tank ran dry so tried to conserve as much as possible. Carboy was filled right to my 5 gallon mark. I might re-check that though to ensure.
[quote=“jabonneau86”]Thanks guys. Looking back, Boil off could be my issue as I didn’t have it at a rolling boil the full time. Right at my hour mark LP tank ran dry so tried to conserve as much as possible. Carboy was filled right to my 5 gallon mark. I might re-check that though to ensure.
Adding more shaking to my brew day check list.[/quote]
More or less boil-off shouldn’t have a measurable effect on gravity if you are topping off. The end result is the same amount of extract in 5 gallons of water. So if you are certain you ended up with 5 gallons of wort in your carboy, then you either had a gravity measurement error, or you put more extract in than you thought you did.
Get a mix stir. It work great for aeration plus mixes the wort up well enough in the process that I don’t get wacky readings when using top off water anymore. Call the gravity 1.052 if you topped off to 5 gallons and are sure of the fermentables you added.
No. Gravity readings are just a density reading. Density is the measure of mass per volume. Hop particulates and protein break don’t dissolve into solution so they won’t throw off the reading.[/quote]
True, but if you have particulates or cO2 bubbles adhering the the hydrometer, they can and will throw the reading off, as they will affect the buoyancy of the meter.[/quote]
I never said CO2 wouldn’t throw off the readings; it does because it’s in solution.
I never said CO2 wouldn’t throw off the readings; it does because it’s in solution.[/quote]
You’re missing my point which was, CO2 bubbles, which are NOT in solution, will also throw off the reading if they happen to adhere to the hydrometer, as will solid particulate matter. If we’re being fair here, you never even said anything about CO2; I did.
To see what I mean, check the gravity of a water sample. Then lightly attach a few tiny beads of styrofoam to the side of the hydrometer to imitate CO2 bubbles,and check it again. You’’ see what I’m getting at.
[quote=“65SS427”]You’re missing my point which was, CO2 bubbles, which are NOT in solution, will also throw off the reading if they happen to adhere to the hydrometer, as will solid particulate matter.[/quote]If you have CO2 messing up an OG reading in your pre-pitch wort, you have made a mistake somewhere.
If you are using a kit or known recipe and followed it, don’t worry. It has been brewed before to get the reference OG so unless something went terribly wrong it should be pretty close. Let it finish out and take a FG. If it is close to the expected one then something went right.
Just to avoid possible confusion, I would like to add that this is NOT true for all-grain but for extract should always be the case. With all-grain the efficiency of your system could have quite an effect on your OG.
