I just brewed the White House Honey Porter and the OG came out to 1042 and it should have been 1054. I then tested the hydrometer with water at the same temp as the wort - the carboy thermometer sticker thing showed 70-72 and the hydrometer showed right at 1.0000.
I am thinking about what I did different here and I did decide to steep the grains for the whole 20 minutes - not just until the water got to 170 because it got there so fast. My water did hit 180 a couple of times so I would take it off the heat (it is an electric stove) until it dropped and then put it back on.
I also used an immersion chiller for the first time ever and my wort got down to about 80 when I put it in the carboy. I know that the 3ish gallons of cold water dropped it down to the 70-72 that it is showing.
Any ideas why the OG is so low?
What does this mean, is it just going to have less alcohol, but be good in every other way?
By your post this is an extract batch, partial boil with top off water.
Most likely, even though you tried very hard, the top off water and the wort did not get completely mixed. The sample you pulled had more water than wort in it.
Unless you did not have enough DME/LME or your final volume is off.
These are the only 3 things that can cause the OG to be off in an extract batch.
What he said. Steeping grains add almost nothing to total gravity. The only way to screw up the OG of extract brewing is to not use enough extract, or use too much/little water. I mostly brew all grain, but when I do an occasional extract batch I don’t even measure the OG. I just assume its close enough to correct.
You’ll be fine.
Here’s a silly question: Have you added the honey yet? I don’t know this recipe, but many tell you not to add honey until after primary fermentation. In which case the OG value probably includes the contribution from the honey, which you may not have put in yet.
Well, the porter finally stopped fermenting - it bubbled fo 9 days before the krausen finally dropped. I took a hydrometer reading and it is right at 1010, so I will give it another day and then transfer it to the secondary.
I’m an extract brewer too and in the past have had different readings for my OG compared to what it was suppose to be, most recently a 1.020 OG for the Innkeeper. I figured it was something to do with a borrowed hydrometer (mine recently cracked) but it sounds like inadequate mixing. I usually just take my reading right in the bucket before pitching. I try to measure before aerating if i remember (not always) so this could be my issue. thanks!
I measure gravity after aerating. My OG has never been too far off from what was expected. (partial boils, extracts) After reading this I can see that a bunch of air in the wort might throw off the gravity measurement? Is one supposed to measure before aerating? One obvious advantage to measuring after aerating is that it would eliminate the problem of unmixed wort and top-off water I would think.
[quote=“althiels”][quote=“Nighthawk”]
Most likely, even though you tried very hard, the top off water and the wort did not get completely mixed. The sample you pulled had more water than wort in it.
[/quote]
I’m an extract brewer too and in the past have had different readings for my OG compared to what it was suppose to be, most recently a 1.020 OG for the Innkeeper. I figured it was something to do with a borrowed hydrometer (mine recently cracked) but it sounds like inadequate mixing. I usually just take my reading right in the bucket before pitching. I try to measure before aerating if i remember (not always) so this could be my issue. thanks![/quote]
[quote=“atoms”]I measure gravity after aerating. My OG has never been too far off from what was expected. (partial boils, extracts) After reading this I can see that a bunch of air in the wort might throw off the gravity measurement? Is one supposed to measure before aerating? One obvious advantage to measuring after aerating is that it would eliminate the problem of unmixed wort and top-off water I would think.
[/quote]
You would think so. You would also think that after shaking a carboy/pail for 1-2 minutes to aerating you would have thoroughly mixed it also. For some reason it doesn’t happen all the time.
Did you check all the ingredients? I got a kit from them last weekend and it was supposed to have 3LBS of dried malt extract but someone had messed up and only put 1LBS in. I called and they sent out the 3LBS bag of it plus a new glass for my trouble.
