Did I miss my OG because of Hops?

Hey all,

I think I had a learning experience tonight... My LHBS didn't have and pellet cascade hops (for my Pale Ale) but they had whole hops. So I bought those instead and adjusted my recipe accordingly (this was my first experience with these!). After boiling and cooling I filled up my primary to 5.5 gallons and checked the OG... low and behold it was 1.043; about 6 points lower than I anticipated... Was this caused by the whole leaf hops absorbing some of my Wort??? This has never happened to me before i am usually within 1-2 points of my estimated OG.



I knew I should have checked it before I added the final 1/2 gallon of water. :smack:

Let me know what you think!

MT

No. The gravity depends on sugars and volume of water. The type of hops used (pellet, leaf, etc) will not affect you gravity reading.

You may not have mixed your wort thoroughly enough after topping off, or maybe you added too much water. Or perhaps had a poor mash efficiency if you mashed.

AFter adding the 1/2 gallon of water, you needed to incorprate it into the wort. Usually by shaking the fermenter. If you took a gravity reading right after dumping in the water, and not incorporationg into the wort properly... your gravity reading will be off.

Gary

Dang... Thanks for all the replies!!!... I did forget to stir it before I checked... what a bonehead move!

thanks,

MT