Extremely High OG

[brewdjoffe]

Hi Brewers,

This is my first time posting on the forum and I am new to homebrewing so apologies in advance for any stupid questions/comments.

Yesterday I brewed my 3rd batch of beer. The first two were from a kit and this is the first one in which I found a recipe that I liked and attempted to brew it.

I went with this Citra Pale Ale from home brew academy - http://homebrewacademy.com/citra-pale-ale/ - mainly because I like the style and love the taste of Citra hops (I managed to source some vacuum packed Citra hops from Ebay (last years harvest)). I went with the extract option as I have not yet graduated to all grain brewing. From reading some of the comments on the site, and because I wanted to boost the body and alcohol content of the beer, I added an extra 0.2 pounds of Crystal 40 and CaraPils.

I steeped the specialty grains in 10 litres of water at 70 degrees celsius for 30 minutes. Then I proceeded with the boil, adding half of the LME (I had to use 250gm of DME since I didn't have 8.25 pounds of LME) at the beginning and half with 15 minutes left. I also used a whilrfloc tablet when I put the second batch of LME.

After cooling the wort and transferring to the FV I topped up with water to 22.7 litres (6 gallons), and shook the FV for 2 minutes to aerate the wort and mix it in with the top up water. I then pitched the yeast as the temperature was around 22 celsius.

Only then did I take my first gravity reading. I have one of the plastic fermenters with a spigot at the bottom of the barrel, so I took the reading from there. I filled the hyrdometer once and discarded that liquid as I thought it might have some sediment in it. Then I took the reading and it came out to 1.200! I didn't really know what to do considering that I followed the recipe pretty much exactly (besides from the added specialty grains). I had a look online and for the most part I read that I shouldn't worry too much, especially considering that it is an extract brew.

However the gravity seems way too high for me. I think that the most possible explanation is that because of the whirlfloc and because I probably didnt mix the top up water in enough, I got a reading from the bottom of the barrel where all the sediment had settled.

Does anyone have any suggestions or comments about why the gravity is so high and what I might have done wrong?

Thanks in advance!

 

[btrots87]

Like you said, you probably just haven't mixed the top up water well enough so the heavier wort is sitting on the bottom of the fermenter. Happened to me before.

As long as you put the right amount of water and extract in as per the recipe there isn't much more that will effect your SG with extract brewing. I really wouldn't worry about it.

 

[MHB]

Up front, this is the only time I for one will be doing your conversions from Imperial to metric, brewing is a lot easier in metric and we live in a metric country, being old enough to remember the other system you hopefully have no idea how luck you are.

First up we need to work out what you actually put into the brew: -
0.2lby of crystal and CaraPillis 0.4lbw is about 0.181kg, say about 75% was soluble yield is 0.136kg
You aren't too clear about exactly how much LME you added, I'm taking a guess that it was 3Kg, its 20% water so at 80% yield is 2.4Kg
Your 0.25kg of DME is pretty much 100% solids so has a 100% yield 0.25kg
Total solids (0.13+2.4+0.25) = 2.78575 Kg dissolved into 22.7L

If you play around with the equations you get an OG of 1.047
What has probably happened is you have poured very heavy syrupy wort into the fermenter, it has filled the space in the tap, when you have diluted the wort the stuff in the tap hasn't gotten mixed in, your sample is reading way higher than your wort. This is a very common trap for new brewers, happens a lot especially if you have the sediment reducer fitted to the tap.

Take another sample and I think you will get an more sensible answer
Mark

 

[dannymars]

This exact thing happened to me.... not mixed enough, I shook mine too.

 

[brewdjoffe]

Thank you all for your advice. I thought that might be the case but I just wanted to make sure.

@MHB Thanks Mark and sorry for the imperial numbers. I also should have added everything that went into the brew. Here it is:

430gm Crystal 40L (30 minutes at 70 degrees Celsius)
315gm CaraPils (30 minutes at 70 degrees Celsius)
3.4kg Light LME (1.7kg at the beginning of the boil and 1.7kg at the end of the boil)
0.25kg Light DME
15gm Citra (60 mins)
15gm Citra (45 mins)
15gm Cascade (45 mins)
Whirlfloc tablet (45 mins)
15gm Citra (60 mins)
15gm Cascade (60 mins)

I'm going to dry hop with 30gms of Cascade and 15gm Citra.

The additional Crystal and Carapils I was referring to was in addition to what the recipe called for (I added another 90 grams of each).

Another question I was wondering was how much does the amount of steeping water effect what is extracted out of the grains? Since the recipe didn't specify the number I assumed 10 litres would be appropriate at 70 degrees Celsius as this is what a lot of other recipes call for (or thereabouts).

Thanks again!!!

 

[MHB]

The extra will move the OG up a bit but not too much, no where near 1.200 so same applies as to your gravity. Just a quick finger count gives me 1.059
When steeping grain, you want at least 3 times the grain weight, you can use as much more as you like, if you use less you will probably leave some of the extract in the grain. 10L is heaps.

Just a tip for future reference, answers are only as good as the information you provide, next time if you include everything at the start it will make for better answers.
Mark

 

[peteru]

If you only pitched the yeast within the last 24 hours or so, it's probably safe enough to run a couple of litres of the wort into a sanitised container and then add it to the top of the fermenter. At this stage the yeast should still be in the growth stage so a tiny bit extra oxygen should do no harm. That ought to get out any malt that has deposited near the tap and when it comes to taking readings, you should not have any more issues.

Either way, if the yeast starts, it'll eventually get through all the sugars, even the stuff hidden in the tap, so you can always opt to do nothing and wait.

 

[MHB]

I suspect the first sample flushed out the tap pretty thoroughly, don't **** with a beer once it has started, unless you really understand what you are doing!
M

 

[indica86]

If you only pitched the yeast within the last 24 hours or so, it's probably safe enough to run a couple of litres of the wort into a sanitised container and then add it to the top of the fermenter. A

Odd thing to suggest.

 

[stewy]

There is no reason to take an OG reading when extract brewing. As long as you know exactly what malts went in & how much water you mixed it into the software will give you a more accurate OG than your hydrometer plus mixing technique.

Only need to take FG readings at end of fermentation prior to bottling

 

[Digga]

There is no reason to take an OG reading when extract brewing. As long as you know exactly what malts went in & how much water you mixed it into the software will give you a more accurate OG than your hydrometer plus mixing technique.

Only need to take FG readings at end of fermentation prior to bottling

I have gone to doing just this probably being lazy or maybe because I'm onto my 3rd mixing spoon as I seem to snap them mixing to hard or something.

Even if I'm using spec grain and what not I'll just trust ianh's spreadsheet and use that as a guide to OG.

Anyways most important thing is stable FG... %alcohol is just an approx really what's a extra beer between friends??

 

[peteru]

Well, if you take the pragmatic approach, then if you're kegging and force carbonating, you don't really need the FG readings either. If it looks like it's done, just keg it, carb it and drink it.

Bottles, well that's another story...

 

[Digga]

Yeah I keg and have been known to cc and keg a batch when I NEEDED IT LOL