Final gravity low compared to label on kit. How to correct?

[tuskenraider]

Hi,

I just did my second ever batch of beer with a 5 gal. BeerCraft Barley Wine kit. The kit's directions were pretty generic, but easy to follow. Anyway, I lost count of my initial water volume while filling my pot, to where I had either 5 1/4 or 5 1/2 gallons and didn't think of it that big a deal as some volume would be lost to the brewing process. After chilling the wort down to 76° and taking the OG, I was readinng 1.070 with the kit label stating 1.086 as the target, so I'm a bit off. FG is supposed to be 1.024. Also, I'm not sure of the relevancy, but since I had use of a wort chller, I did a full boil, instead of the 3 gal. called for and then adding 2 gal. to the fermenter. The wort easily filled the fermenting bucket to 5 gal, with maybe a quart of trub left over in the pot, so I didn't lose much to evaporation it seems as my first brew did. This is supposed to be a English Mild Barley Wine, but I'm worried it won't even be "mild". I read a thread or two about adding sugar or maple syrup after a week, but I figure I need a specific recommendation by the experts to have the beer finish as it's supposed to be?

 

[birvine]

If it's been a week, I would hesitate to add more sugar now. You might hurt an otherwise good beer. It might be a little less lower ABV, but that's ok. Make a strong batch next time and life will be harmonious!

B

 

[a10t2]

So what is your FG? How far off are you?

Also, is this an extract kit? If so you should probably calibrate your hydrometer and whatever you use to measure volumes. It isn't possible to be that far off the OG target with an extract kit. In which case it could just be that your hydrometer is reading low and you're closer to the FG target than you think.

 

[sburggsx]

Read up on hydrometers. I was measuring my first batch with a OG of 1.030 but at 83 degrees. When I cooled it down to 58-62 degrees I was at 1.040, or the target range. I haven't calibrated it so I don't know how far off I am from target, but it sure looked a lot better when I took the reading at the correct temp.

 

[BryceL]

My first thought would be to make sure you did your hydrometer reading correctly, as others have mentioned. If you are sure that your readings were good, I would say that you might have not boiled off enough water, resulting in the lower OG...especially if you lost track of your volumes somewhere along the way. Find a good way to keep track of your boil volumes (I use a stick marked with gallons). If your at 60 mins and it looks like you still have too much wort you can always boil a bit longer/harder. One last idea, if you are doing extract, is to make sure you get as much out of the container as possible. I made this mistake on a couple of my first brews.

 

[tuskenraider]

Thanks for the responses. First, I just brewed the beer this past Saturday 7/30, so it just got going. The kit used dry DME, so all was easily poured out of both bags in the kit. Second, the hydrometer is brand new as I just bought most of my own equipment this past Saturday as well. It's came with the Deluxe Brewer's Best kit, as I borrowed my Uncle's equipment for my first batch. I was not aware of a hydrometer needing to be calibrated and for different styles of brewing, but I foresee doing extract brewing for a dozen batches at least. I'm also kinda suprised this was not mentioned to me by the gentleman selling the kits(brewing and beer) or by my Uncle(both experienced brewers). I'll read up the on the hydrometer........so much info to digest here, it's crazy.

 

[bonzombiekitty]

I was not aware of a hydrometer needing to be calibrated and for different styles of brewing,

I think you misunderstand. The hydrometer doesn't need to be calibrated for different styles of brewing - it needs to be adjusted for the temperature of your sample. Your hydrometer should come with a chart that will tell you how to adjust your reading based on the current temp.

 

[tuskenraider]

Wow, what a mistake on my part. I should have read all the sheets with the equipment, but went right to brewing with it as I did with my borrowed equipment. That still puts me only at 1.072 OG then according to the online charts when measuring at 76° though.....

 

[Jayman931]

Everybody makes mistakes...I read a few books, watched videos and researched for about a year before I put my kit together. I thought I was gonna walk up to the kettle and flawlessly make beer.....lol.....My first kit I brewed was 2 days ago and it was anything but flawless...took me an hour to cool my wort to 75.....When I I was putting my airlock on my carboy...I pushed the bung all the way into the carboy with my wort! I opened my liquid yeast and it partiallly exploded like a soda can...

I guess the moral of the story? I learned more brewing one batch than I did researching and studying what to get and how to brew. Chalk that one up to the experience column. I would make a sizable bet your brew will turn out good....

Cheers!

 

[bonzombiekitty]

Wow, what a mistake on my part. I should have read all the sheets with the equipment, but went right to brewing with it as I did with my borrowed equipment. That still puts me only at 1.072 then according to the online charts when measuring at 76° though.....

I'm guessing 1.072 was your OG, not FG.

If that's the case, since you used extract the reason you got a lower reading for the OG is one of two things:

1. You didn't mix top-up water well enough and took a sample from a spot with a lower concentration.
2. You didn't have your volumes correct and added too much water.

What is your FG?

 

[tuskenraider]

I guess the moral of the story? I learned more brewing one batch than I did researching and studying what to get and how to brew. Chalk that one up to the experience column. I would make a sizable bet your brew will turn out good....
Cheers!

I hope so. The first one was, an BB kit IPA that was decent with the dry-hopping I did. I first did help brew two beers with my Uncle and brother before doing my own and so I thought I had the basic process down. And I had access to all the equipment he had, so I just bought the same stuff, but forgot some of the details of the process. I'll be tackling a milkshake porter my other uncle brewed for my wedding about 10 years ago that was a huge hit, as a 10 year anniversery sort of thing. He's out of state now, so it's up to me. Unfortunately it'll have to be converted to an extract recipe for me at this time, but maybe in a year's time I'll be ready to try the original AG recipe. Cheers.

 

[tuskenraider]

I'm guessing 1.072 was your OG, not FG.

If that's the case, since you used extract the reason you got a lower reading for the OG is one of two things:

1. You didn't mix top-up water well enough and took a sample from a spot with a lower concentration.
2. You didn't have your volumes correct and added too much water.

What is your FG?

No FG yet as it was brewed 2 days ago. Also, I did a full boil, so no top-up water. I suppose it would have to be the extra 1 or 2 quarts extra I added at the start, beyond the 5 gal. then.

Sorry, I've got to get better with the details to prevent having to reedit my posts.

 

[bonzombiekitty]

I suppose it would have to be the extra 1 or 2 quarts I added beyond the 5 gal. then.

That would do it. If you added an extra half gallon, that would bring you back down somewhere in the mid 1.07's

 

[a10t2]

I suppose it would have to be the extra 1 or 2 quarts extra I added at the start, beyond the 5 gal. then.

That could be part of the issue, but to drop it from 1.086 to 1.072 you'd have to have 6.0 gal of wort, so it may not be your entire problem.

86*5.0/72 = 5.97