Low OG

[NewWestBrewer]

Just looking for some answers as to why my brew missed it's OG by 0.12. This is for a 3 gallon batch.

Process: steeped 450g of grain in about 3/4 gal of water at 158 for 30 mins. Sparged with 1/2 qt at 165.

Added that to 1.5 gallons of boiling water in brew pot. Took pot off when adding LME. Added 1/3 LME at 60, 1/3 at 15 and 1/3 at flameout. We also used about 1 oz more hops than the recipe called for.

Questions: 1. Would adding the LME at different times change the OG (recipe called for it all to be added at 60 min)

2. Would the additional hops absorb enough wort to make that amount of difference?

3. Is it something else?

We have done 4 extract with grains batches and all have been spot on before this one. This is the first one where we deviated from the recipe.

Thanks for any input.

 

[ncbrewer]

Most likely the top-off water wasn't completely mixed with the boiled and cooled wort. It's really hard to get enough mixing to get a good hydrometer reading. I don't even check OG any more. If you added the correct amount of extract and water, the OG will be right.

 

[DocScott]

1. No
2. No
3. Poor mixing of top off water and wort.

You did a mini mash but the majority of your fermentables are coming from your lme. If your volumes are correct, it's hard to be off on your gravity by that much. This is a very common problem with extract batches w top off.

 

[NewWestBrewer]

Thanks for the quick responses. That is what we figured but I guess we thought we had stirred enough but I guess not.