Surly Cinic OG: 1.10 !?!

Brewed my first partial mash today, so I went right by the instructions. But my OG was a whopping 1.10!! It’s supposed to be 1.053. The temp was around 70 degrees. I thought there might be something wrong with my hydrometer but it seems to be fine. What might be going on here?

Wort stratification is common with beers that have extract added, especially if it wasn’t a full volume boil or the extract was added near the end of the boil. If it were an extract brew and the volume was correct, there would be absolutely nothing to worry about. With a mini mash brew, if you were within 8 degrees or so of your mash temperature, you’ll be fine. RDWHAHB.

J

If it’s all extract, you should be fine.

Either:

  • you simply read it wrong
  • you took the reading before topping off to 5 gallons (assuming you’re topping off)
  • you forgot to top off to 5 gallons
  • your water/extract wasn’t mixed properly and you took a reading of the thicker extract part

More info on your process and when you took the reading would help.

But yeah, there’s no way a 1.053 beer would come in at 1.100 if everything was done properly or even close to properly.

You would have had to severely undershoot intended volume to gain ~50 gravity points…as in being short 2 gallons or more. Being its partial mash, even 100% grain conversion wouldn’t get you there.

I agree that it’s likely wort stratification causing the high reading.