Double IPA - much higher SG than expected

[harrysaxon]

Hi all,

I brewed my fourth extract beer today, Midwest's Hop Head double IPA. Everything went brilliantly, until the end. I aerated the roughly 2.5 gal. post-boil wort by pouring it between buckets several times, and built up such a head of foam that I couldn't float the hydrometer in the bucket and get a reading after topping off to 5 gallons, as I've done in the past (for some reason we aerated before topping off, I did it the other way around the first 3 times).

So I used a wine thief and took a reading in it, as I don't have a jar. I'm not wild about reading in the thief, as it's hard to get it floating freely, but I have managed to fiddle it around for accurate readings before.

Anyways, projected SG was 1.071. Reading in the thief was 1.095, temperature corrected. The hydrometer is tested and accurate.

Do the more experienced brewers here suspect this is an erroneous reading because of the hydrometer sticking to the sides, or did something weird happen? I pitched a starter of Wyeast 1056 at a cell count of roughly 250 billion - even if the reading is accurate, will it be sufficient?

Much appreciate any feedback.

 

[harrysaxon]

I did a bunch more reading, and now suspect it was because I just poured in aerated water without much churning or mixing, and I was reading the denser wort from the bottom of the bucket with the thief. Does this seem reasonable?

I gather it's no big deal in that case - the sloshing I did after putting on the lid and fermentation action will have everything well mixed by now.

 

[Ogri]

If it's an all extract batch and you have the correct weights/volumes of extract and water in the fermenter your OG will be pretty much exactly that stated in the recipe. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

[J8D]

Harrysaxon,

Your high OG of 1.095 could be from a number of things. I HATE hydrometers for pre-fermentation work. I also hate the temperature adjustments. I believe not having the wort mixed up could affect your reading. Air bubbles (in a foamy sample) could also cause an increase in readings. I suspect me having cold break in my samples have previously affecting my readings.

All these reasons are why I use a refractometer from Bobby at brewhardware.com. I make sure my wort is not separated and take a drop or two which cools instantly. I also like it because I can take readings at any point within the boil without having to wait for a sample to cool or having to do a temp adjust. For post fermentation, I still use the hydrometer.

Most importantly though, good job on paying attention and actually taking hydrometer readings. This attention to detail will make your beer better.

 

[DPBISME]

I have three hydrometers and they all register different... I don't trust a one of them...

BUT

next time you try the "thief" fill it so you can grab the top of the hydrometer so you can spin it... they might fix any potential "sticking to the sides problem".

 

[harrysaxon]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm sure, now, that it was a combination of unmixed wort and/or air bubbles that threw it off. I'm going to just go on the assumption that I was around my target.

I'm probably going to pick up a refractometer when I move to AG in the future, but think I'll find it of more limited use right now, since pre-boil gravity and so on isn't that important to know with partial boil extract batches, as far as I can tell.

I did spin the hydrometer in the thief, the thing is just too narrow. Going to pick up a test jar with a bigger diameter and just use the thief to take the sample in future.