O.G. Question

[BufordT]

Brewed what was to be a Pale Ale last night. 8# of Lt DME with 1/3 oz Burton Water Salts. Boiled with 2.5 gallons and put it on 3 cold water baths, 1st two 15 minutes apart. Last one (OK here's where it get's interesting) from 11:30 to 2:00 am. I fell asleep on the couch after my wife banished me from her delayed bedside (I love TIVO) viewing of The Bachelor. When I woke up I added the 2.5 to the 2.5 already in my sealed primary. The wort seemed very cool. I took a 1 minute (long enough?) temp reading, 70 degrees. Hydrometer reading was O.G. of 1.075. This seemed high for a Pale Ale, plus the recipe called for a O.G. of 1.050. I just don't see how 8# of Lt DME would get me a 1.075.

Is it possible the wort was too cool which threw off the reading? Could the salts throw it off? Is it even possible to get a 1.075 from 8#?

Here's the recipe

3/4# 90L steeped for 30 min 155'
8# Lt DME
1/3 oz Burton Water Salts
1oz Willamette 60 minute boil
1oz Hallertau last 5-10 minutes of boil
Wyeast 1084 Irish ale

[b3s]

was the hydro reading from the 2.5 wort, or the combined wort? if combined, are you sure the water and wort were thoroughly blended before taking the hydro reading? according to recipator (http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator) your OG should have been around 1.060 - 65.

[YamahaXS]

If the recipe called for Extract, rather than DME, then that would account for a higher Gravity reading. Other factors to consider are:

are you sure you had 5 gallons of wort?
are you sure the temp was 70? (you do need to adjust for temp as colder worts are denser worts = will read higher)


Also, the 1.050 expected reading sounds LOW. that much DME plus some stuff from the 90L and gypsum and I would expect at least 1.060

cheers and beers,
yamahaXS

[BufordT]

Hydro reading was taken from the combined wort, however, I'm not sure it was thoroughly mixed. I just poured the 2.5 wort into 2.5 sitting in the primary. No stirring and read it within 3-5 minutes of the pour. Temp could have very well been low too. I gave the floating thermometer @ 1 minute before reading it. (plus it was 2 am and I had just woken up)

I'll give it a good 7 days in the primary and then take another reading before transferring to the secondary. My fear is that the Irish Ale yeast won't thrive with a high O.G.

[b3s]

Originally posted by BufordT
My fear is that the Irish Ale yeast won't thrive with a high O.G.

no worries on that, i should imagine. my dry stout that i just bottled had an og around 70 and the irish ale yeast brought it down to 10 nicely.

[paul84043]

I would guess that the cool wort began to settle out and just didn't get mixed very well when you took your sample. You can take another one any time you want, the activity from fermentation should have thoroughly stirred things up by now. Your reading will obviously be lower now, but if it's only been a short period of time, I wouldn't suspect that it's dropped a whole lot.

Guess you'll know when you sample your finished product?
I don't see getting a 1.050 out of 8 pounds of dry malt, I would expect that to give you about a 1.070 and maybe even a bit higher if you're lucky.
I would expect at least a 1.065+ from liquid extract.

I just did an "Ultimate Amber" from annaploishomebrew.com , it had 7 pounds of liquid malt extract and fermentables, It came in at a 1.065

[S.F.B.]

I don't think temperature is the culprit. At 70 degrees, the reading would only be off by about 1-2. I think that OG is about right for that amount of dry extract. It sounds to me that the recipe was meant for extract syrup. 8 lbs of syrup should give about a 55 - 60 gravity.

[BufordT]

UPDATE

Primary bubbled like heck the 1st 24 hours then it stopped. After a couple of swirls it started back up stopped again after another day. Temp range 65-72 (my wife was complaining of running the A.C. for my beer) Day 6 moved it to the basement after a day or two it started bubbling again. Day 9 took a reading 1.030. As of day 11 it's still bubbling. Remember O.G. was 1.075, is it possible that it takes 14 days to fully ferment? Or do you think my yeast went dormant and kicked back up when it went to the basement.

Thanks for all the help!

[paul84043]

It definitely sounds like your yeast went into the light and somehow pulled itself back out again.

14 days in the primary for a 1.075 O.G. is not at all out of the ordinary. I would expect it to be nearly ready to transfer here sometime soon though.