10% ABV on my beer brew?!?!

[Link45]

I must have done something wrong!

Two brews i have on atm have finished fermenting. I just took a FG reading and added finings to clarify before i bottle at 4 weeks.

1) Coopers Australian Pale Ale OG-1.042 - FG-1.010

As far as my calculations go, its somewhere around 4% ABV

2) Brigalow Munich Lager OG-1.090 - FG-1.010

As far as my calculations go, its 10.5% WWWHAAATT!!!

Help! Where am i going wrong, that cant be right!

 

[Kharnynb]

wrong og measurement i would guess, this is a ready hopped extract kit, as long as you followed the correct water additions etc, it should not have an og of 1.090.

probs accidentally grabbed a sample that had a bigger concentration of extract.

 

[Link45]

wrong og measurement i would guess, this is a ready hopped extract kit, as long as you followed the correct water additions etc, it should not have an og of 1.090.

probs accidentally grabbed a sample that had a bigger concentration of extract.

Thanks, when i did the OG, it was well stired, no issues, as i put both worts on at the same time, did the other one first, no issues, then was shooooocked to see the gravity on the other!!! Its the darndest thing, no clue!

 

[Gameface]

Was the bottom of you hydrometer resting on the bottom of the sample tube?

 

[bradleyhunt]

What was your recipe?

 

[theseeker4]

Thanks, when i did the OG, it was well stired, no issues, as i put both worts on at the same time, did the other one first, no issues, then was shooooocked to see the gravity on the other!!! Its the darndest thing, no clue!

Stirring, even "well", is often not enough to completely mix extract with water. If you used the amount of extract you were supposed to, and your volume of wort was what you should have had, you ended up with the OG that was predicted, regardless of what you measured. It is impossible for you to have created new sugar, so if you didn't add extra extract or sugar, either your volumes were off, or your OG measurement was off.

 

[day_trippr]

What was your recipe?

Right. Knowing the grain bill and volume into the fermentor it's trivial to calculate the actual OG.

And 90 points in a lager doesn't sound likely...

Cheers!

 

[ktblunden]

Not to mention, going 1.090 to 1.010 would be extremely difficult to do without some serious yeast management and probably step feeding.

 

[Link45]

Was the bottom of you hydrometer resting on the bottom of the sample tube?

Good question, but yer nah i checked it again and again as i was shocked at the difference between brews.

 

[Revvy]

The answer is here....Attention new brewers, yes your original gravity reading is wrong. Don't panic.

 

[Link45]

What was your recipe?

It was a cheap can of Brigalow Munich lager brew can with the Mangrove Jacks No 15 blend.

 

[Link45]

Stirring, even "well", is often not enough to completely mix extract with water. If you used the amount of extract you were supposed to, and your volume of wort was what you should have had, you ended up with the OG that was predicted, regardless of what you measured. It is impossible for you to have created new sugar, so if you didn't add extra extract or sugar, either your volumes were off, or your OG measurement was off.

Yep it has to have been that, the measurements were right on and i do everything as per my the instructions atm not having a clue, so the samples i took to test were obviously thicker than other areas.

Thanks for that post Revvy, it helped greatly.