Hot answers tagged original-gravity
7
Here's some tips on getting an accurate hydrometer reading:
check the hydrometer is calibrated, by checking that water reads 1.000 at the calibration temperature (either typically 65F or 20C). I've tried both distilled water and tap water and by both read the same.
when taking a sample from a extract-based brew, particularly partial boil where top up water ...
5
You do it by multiplying the ratios of the imperial/English units to metric units:
1 kg is 2.204 lb
10l is 2.641 gal
To convert from pounds per gallon to kilos/decaliter you multiply by 2.204/2.641 = 0.834
The answer is then
46*0.834 = 38.4 points per kilo/10 l.
Edit: I always find these things confusing with "cascaded" ratios - points per pound ...
5
An OG reading of 1.12 seems about double what you would expect for that grain bill, and gravity is only really affected by dissolved solids. Obviously the first thing you should do is check your hydrometer to make sure it is accurate, that is almost certainly the cause of the error.
In water the specific gravity should read 1.00 since specific gravity is ...
4
(TOG - GR * (BV/FV)) / (45/FV) = lbs of DME to add pre-boil to hit target OG
TOG = Target Original Gravity in Points
GR = Gravity Reading in Points
BV = Boil Volume (This is what you are taking your reading from)
FV = Final Volume (i.e. 5 gallons)
45 = # Gravity Points you get per lb of DME per gallon
So lets say you are making a 5 gallon smash beer with ...
3
It's hard to get a low original gravity when brewing from an extract kit. As long as you added all the malt extract and sugar provided with the kit, and you added the correct amount of water, there's really no way for the starting gravity to be low. I can think of two possible reasons that your OG was lower than expected:
you added more water than ...
3
You say its taking "Far Longer." how long have you been fermenting? What is the gravity of the pils? if your IPA gravity is 1008/1007 over the last two days I would say your pretty near finished. Assuming your IPA was in the 1050s/1060's when you started; you got great attenuation, I would check gravity again tomorrow and if your getting the same range go ...
3
EDIT: I'm not sure I realized it was 50 points we were talking about here, or just let my attention wander for a bit! Suspended solids can make a difference (see the comments), but you'd almost have to be measuring the SG of slurry for it to make that much of a difference!
If the original recipe called for 2 cans of extract, and you used 3 then that's just ...
3
John Palmer's book "How to Brew" offers a table of typical Malt yields including some of his own research on steeping yields. I enjoying calculating my recipes by hand rather then using brewing software, so I find the yield table helpful! Info can be found here.
3
Instead of a table, you could use an free online calculator such as Beer Calculus to calculate the OG, along with other things about the recipe.
There are also several offline software programs that do this such as BeerSmith, although it is not free.
2
You could add enough DME to offset the lower than expected starting gravity. However, you run a couple of risks by doing so.
Contamination. You'll want to boil the DME in a small amount of water to ensure any foreign organisms are dead. Cool it to room temperature before adding to the fermenter. Also, sanitize everything that comes in contact with the ...
2
I do this all of the time. And it involves no math (that I have to do, anyway).
First of all, the day before (or sooner), I have my recipe in the brewing software. I make sure everything looks good (the pre-boil gravity, the post-boil gravity, volumes, etc).
After sparging, I take a pre-boil gravity and volume. If I'm ok on volume and low enough on ...
2
There is absolutely no way to guess a recipe's OG without knowing the particulars of the recipe.
Likewise, suspended solids won't affect the reading by a significant margin unless they are actually bound to the hydrometer itself.
There are several things that could effect a hydro reading. Did you add top-off water before you took the reading. If so, ...
2
Typically with a kit if you used the proper amounts of water/sugar/extract ratio your OG will be right on.
Incomplete mixing of the wort doesn't seem like a problem considering you shook the fermenter well. In this video at 25:25 Owen Lingley from Wyeast Laboratories says that only 45 seconds vigorously shaking a carboy will oxoginate the wort to acceptable ...
2
Most hydrometers are calibrated at 60°F (15.56°C). Though the difference will be negligible at your temperatures, you should still use a calculator like this one: http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/hydrometer.html
1
There's something fishy about your numbers here. For example, to get a OG of 1.072 with your grain bill I need to assume 80% efficiency. Is that what you're used to getting?
As far as the source of your problem, it could be any number of things and right now we're only going to be able to guess. If in the future you take gravity readings throughout the ...
1
I'm sure there are some easier ways of doing this, but I enjoy doing my brew calculations by hand! You need to figure out the total gravity "points" of your wort. After you've pulled the bag and rinsed it, take a hydrometer reading. You will most likely need to correct for temperature, most hydrometer's are calibrated to 15C, by 20C they are off by 1 point ...
1
I wouldn't give the instructions too much thought, most kits suggest the same fermentation period and in my experience they are always wrong.
Also you dont need to worry about temperatures down to 17c - in fact lager yeast likes it cold.
I always leave 2 weeks for primary fermentation, then transfer to a secondary fermenter for a further 2 weeks. At that ...
1
You can enter your final recipe in an app like beersmith or hopville.com to get a general idea of your expected starting and final gravities.
Did you brew from extract with a partial boil? If so, your starting gravity reading will most likely be inaccurate since the wort and top off water won't be completely mixed.
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