original gravity not expected

[Bugeater]

How fine did you mill the grains? A poor crush tends to be the cause of most low OG problems.

Wayne

[a10t2]

Other things that came to mind: how well did you stir before taking the gravity reading? I know you did it post transfer which would lead me to believe that it was well mixed but perhaps it wasn't and you only got the top portion in your sample.

That was my first thought too. Was this a partial boil?

How much extract did you use? LME or DME? If we can figure out the gravity contribution from the extract we can get an estimate of the mash efficiency, which would help for troubleshooting.

[jeibl]

I used a wheat LME, 3.3 lbs of it. I did use more water to top off the carboy then I have in the past with my extract boils, but I thought I mixed up the wort and top off water appropriately. I did take the sample off the top though because i forgot to take a sample before as I usually do. How do you guys usually take your OG reading, maybe any advice to get a more accurate reading?

I just mashed my grains through the mill once, but I thought that would be enough. Maybe twice next time? I also noticed that my grains were very clumped together throughout the process, so I probably need to measure out the water more accurately instead of eyeballing it. i added the LME while the wort was heating up to the boil and when it started boiling I added an ounce of hops and boiled for 60 minutes, and then used a wort chiller to cool.



As of now I have fermentation, but It really started to slow down, and it has only been about 4 days. I havent had a fermentation slow like this with any of my pure extracts. I am pretty curious about this beer...

[a10t2]

I used a wheat LME, 3.3 lbs of it. I did use more water to top off the carboy then I have in the past with my extract boils, but I thought I mixed up the wort and top off water appropriately. I did take the sample off the top though because i forgot to take a sample before as I usually do. How do you guys usually take your OG reading, maybe any advice to get a more accurate reading?

3.3 lb of LME in 5 gallons would be ~1.024 all by itself, and I think we can assume your mash efficiency wasn't 0, so your OG had to be higher than that. For mini-mashes I generally get 50-65% efficiency, and even at 50% the OG would be ~1.042.

For partial boils, I would take a gravity reading before topping off, then calculate the OG based on how much you're diluting. If you have a refractometer and a hydrometer you can take post-fermentation readings with both and calculate the OG; otherwise you just won't know this time.

[Old_Skool]

"""Ok, we've already covered ratios. Not a problem there. You can't denature proteins, but 160 will begin to denature the enzymes""


DOH !

[a10t2]

Don't feel too bad, enzymes are proteins.

[crupp]

How fine did you mill the grains? A poor crush tends to be the cause of most low OG problems.

I was thinking that's a mill problem, too. 3 lbs of extract in a 5 gallon patch works out to be about 1.024. did you look at your crush? I did a few batches where I had horrible efficiencies, and I realized that my mill was spaced out a bit too far, and most of my grain wasn't getting crushed. Once you mashed in, did you get it good and stirred up?

Also...I think I read everything here, but does your hydrometer read zero with plain old water?

[Alchemywunderkid]

Also...I think I read everything here, but does your hydrometer read zero with plain old water?

Let me get a hallelujah on this one!

One of the most important things I've learned was to calibrate everything... often. Knowing that your instruments are accurate will give you a better comfort level and aid in problem solving. I'm still working on it, but the better I calibrate, the better I know my system and the better I can adjust the results of my brews.