LME and OG

Last weekend I brewed a Ruination Clone from an extract recipe in BYO. Their OG was listed at 1.075. Mine turned out to be 1.061. I followed the recipe except for one variation.

It said to add the LME at the beginning of the 60 minute boil. But through research aand talking to the guy at my LHBS, I decided it was better to add the LME with 10 minutes left for the boil. This variation I did in hopes of upping the saturation rate of the hops. Would this variation be responsible for the difference between my OG and te recipe? What else could have made a difference?

LongDog said:

Last weekend I brewed a Ruination Clone from an extract recipe in BYO. Their OG was listed at 1.075. Mine turned out to be 1.061. I followed the recipe except for one variation.

It said to add the LME at the beginning of the 60 minute boil. But through research aand talking to the guy at my LHBS, I decided it was better to add the LME with 10 minutes left for the boil. This variation I did in hopes of upping the saturation rate of the hops. Would this variation be responsible for the difference between my OG and te recipe? What else could have made a difference?

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I do the same thing and my OG is always on target. Was this a full or partial boil. For partial boils you have to make sure you mix the water and wort very well before taking a gravity sample. After topping the fermenter off with water I always make sure to give a good mix for proper aeration and gravity readings.

Hmmm I poured the 3 gallons wort into the primary with 2 gallons of bottled spring water. I then topped off with a half gallon more of spring water. That's when I took original gravity. Then I aerated the heck out of it and pitched the yeast.

You are probably right. I didn't mix the wort with the top off water. I wish I would have done that! Now my ABV will probably be wrong.

I had the same problem with a partial mash recipe, I can suggest you to verify your measurement equipment (densimeter?), mine was totally wrong and made me sick for a long time.

LongDog said:

Hmmm I poured the 3 gallons wort into the primary with 2 gallons of bottled spring water. I then topped off with a half gallon more of spring water. That's when I took original gravity. Then I aerated the heck out of it and pitched the yeast.

You are probably right. I didn't mix the wort with the top off water. I wish I would have done that! Now my ABV will probably be wrong.

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Well since you didn't mix well before taking a reading then that is most likely your problem. As long as you mixed and aerated the wort before pitching the yeast you will be fine. Does your recipe have an expected OG? Most recipes will tell you the OG and expected FG. If you followed the recipe exact then your OG should be on target. If you can't find the OG and you really want it you can input the recipe into a software program like brew target, beer smith, or one of the free online ones.

The best you can do is assume the stated OG in the recipe was close and then take your FG measurement to calculate the ABV.

Or, just forget about the alcohol level and enjoy your beer.

Thanks everyone. Yes, the listed OG was 1.075. The reading I took was 1.061. I suppose it is because I didn't mix the wort with the top off water before I did the reading. Next time I will mix the wort near aeration then take the reading!

It is nearly impossible to completely mix the top off water once in the fermenter. No worries, the yeasties will most definitely take care of that for you when they get going.

You also want to check the calibration of your hydrometer as well as take into consideration the temperature of your wort when taking the reading.

You can plug that recipe into any brew software to verify gravity. One thing about extract is LME and DME will add a consistent predetermined amount of gravity so as long as your amount of extract and water are correct it is nearly impossible to miss your target.