OG disappointment

[Frasermitch]

Hello all
I have just brewed my first extract brew, used brewers friend to calculate bitterness etc but when all was done the OG reading was off. The calculator predicted 1059 but he sample I took from the FV last night was more like 1039. I followed the recipe and brew steps as instructed but no idea how I failed to reach this predicted OG. Can I rectify this by adding boiled and cooled sugary wort to the Fv? It has been fermenting now 15 hrs.

 

[RobWalker]

I take it you stirred properly if any topping up etc occured? how much extract did you add and what volume did you do?

 

[Frasermitch]

Yes i stirred and the wort everything went as planned, it was 3kg lme and 200g syrup. Not sure what went wrong but i think i may need to raise the gravity at least 5 points

 

[morethanworts]

I just ran 3Kg of LME and 160g Cane sugar (roughly equivalent to 200g Golden Syrup) through BrewR based on a 23L batch, and it reckons 1043, which is about what I'd have thought.

If your batch size is different, that's obviously going to affect things, but I don't think you'd get anywhere near 1059 without brewing way short of 23L.

If you took the OG reading warm and didn't temp correct it, then that could make up a point or two, but not that many.

Add the equivalent of 18g sugar per litre to raise it roughly 1%ABV (which is in the region of 7 SG points) or part thereof, as desired.

 

[RobWalker]

brew to 20L? :p

 

[mike77]

Can I rectify this by adding boiled and cooled sugary wort to the Fv? It has been fermenting now 15 hrs.

I have done this in the past with no negative effect. Last time I added 500g of DME with just enough water to dissolve it then added it to the fermenter 2 to 3 days in. No problems, got another vigorous fermentation going and the beer tasted fine.

 

[Frasermitch]

I think it maybe was just inexperience as it was my first extract batch. I did brew 23l but I should have gone 29l as I always brew my kits short. How do I go about adding sugar? Shall I just draw off some wort boil and infuse with the sugar then drop in when cool?

 

[boozy_shoes]

Were you using gallons on brewers friend? If it's an american site you have to convert any imperial liquid measurements as their pints are only 473ml and not our 568ml. Therefore what they call 5 gallons is close to our 4 gallons. Could this explain your lower OG? I've made similar mistakes before.

 

[Rolfster]

I think it maybe was just inexperience as it was my first extract batch. I did brew 23l but I should have gone 29l as I always brew my kits short. How do I go about adding sugar? Shall I just draw off some wort boil and infuse with the sugar then drop in when cool?

Just boil your sugar in a little water to make sure it is sterile, let it cool and add that.

 

[morethanworts]

Were you using gallons on brewers friend? If it's an american site you have to convert any imperial liquid measurements as their pints are only 473ml and not our 568ml. Therefore what they call 5 gallons is close to our 4 gallons. Could this explain your lower OG? I've made similar mistakes before.

I wondered about that, but I ran 19L through BrewR as well, which reckons about 1052 with the OP's ingredients. Still well short of 1059. :hmm:

 

[Frasermitch]

Appologies the og should have been 1049 typo in first post. Looking at the print off its set at 21 litres final volume . I have 23 in my FV. A comedy of small errors in my part account for the 10 points difference, maybe not getting all the extract and syrup out the cans may also account. Will have to be more accurate next time. I will bung in some sugar water to up the abv and see how we get on. Shall i drop the sugar tonight? It will be 24hrs in the FV so far if i do. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Frasermitch]

Well I have boiled 370 g of sugar which shall be dumped in when cool enough. OG before was 1040 so that's 3.94% if it goes to 1010. I calculate a final abv of about 4.75% if 18g per litre raises 1% ( I added about 16g per litre). Happy days.