Is My Hydrometer Broken? Or Am I A Newbie?

[gava]

Hi..

I put down a brewcraft asahi lastnight , I followed the kit to a tee mixed all the goodies in etc.. (apart from the yeast) put in the fridge to get down to 25c to pitch the yeast..
before doing that I took a hydro reading and it said it was 1064 am I right thinking thats really high? i lot of others i've seen are getting 1046.. I left the sample in another fridge overnight to bring it down to 16c (think i read this is the hydrometers best temp to reading) but nothing changed.. is my beer going to be fine? will the FG still be around 1006 or will it be high? (its a old hydrometer probs around 4years old)

 

[Supra-Jim]

What volume have you made the recipe to?

If you have ended up with a final volume that is lower than the recipe is designed for, then you will have a high OG reading.

From memory regular home brew hydrometers are calibrated for 20deg.

:icon_cheers: SJ

 

[Adamt]

Either that, or you didn't stir well enough and the ingredients were more concentrated at the bottom where the reading is taken from.

 

[brendo]

ofen a good idea to draw a small amount of wort out of the tap into a glass or similar to clear the tap of any undisolved/concentrated sugars that are caught in there and then take a new sample into your test jar.

Sounds to me like it wasn't stirred properly or a higher concenration in the tap which is giving you a false high reading.

brendo

 

[gava]

it was a 21lt mix..

hmm I thought I stired it alright but I guess I didnt. What are the drawbacks of not stiring it enough??

 

[brendo]

it was a 21lt mix..

hmm I thought I stired it alright but I guess I didnt. What are the drawbacks of not stiring it enough??

really only affects the hydrometer reading as you will not have a consistent mix of sugar dissolved in the solution, therefore you will get a higher gravity reading at the bottom of the solution than you will at the top.

I guess the bigger issue of not stirring enough would be that you are not necessarily getting enough oxygen into the wort - which will increase the lag time for your yeast kicking off - the initial growth phase for yeast is aerobic (requires oxygen), once they are done growing they switch over to an anerobic phase while they are busy munching all the sugar.

 

[gava]

I assume since the kits suggest to stir then put in the yeast it would be a bad idea to give it a stir now.. also that could inject bad things into my brew since I would have to take the lid off.. looks like I will have to sit and wait? i've got a tempmate keeping it at 12c with a 0.5swing so its at the temp people suggest..

Can setting it at 12c work agaist me if my yeast is having hard time kicking off due to not stirring enough? I did pitch at 25.2c left over night when i got up it was at 12c

 

[caleb]

A: You are a Newbie

Just kidding. What ingredients were actually in the kit? 1064 does sound too strong for a basic lager, especially one that I'd expect to finish fairly low...

You might be able to get away with topping it up with more water, at least to 23-24 litres I'd guess. But first, tell us everything you put in it. I'm guessing you've done something like a "brew enhancer" AND a kilo of dextrose as well....

 

[gava]

A: You are a Newbie

Just kidding. What ingredients were actually in the kit? 1064 does sound too strong for a basic lager, especially one that I'd expect to finish fairly low...

You might be able to get away with topping it up with more water, at least to 23-24 litres I'd guess. But first, tell us everything you put in it. I'm guessing you've done something like a "brew enhancer" AND a kilo of dextrose as well....

yeah im a newbie but its exciting even when i do stuff up a beer.. wierd

it was a brewcraft kit which had the following
-beermakers lager
-500g brewcraft japanese blonde malt
-Brewcraft blend #10
-Brewcraft finishing Hops Saaz 12g and Hallertau 12g
-Yeast SafLager S-23

What I did..
-Put lager/malt/blend cans in warm water
-poured into vat (mixed well..so i thought)
-put hops in boiling water for 10-15mins put into vat
-put cold water to 21lts and mixed well.
-put into fridge until temp went to 25.2c
-took hydro reading , wasn't happy then put in fridge overnight to get to 16c same reading.
-pitch yeast (saf larger s-23 put the yeast from the can away) and somethign else I forgot what it was called.. sorry

 

[mwd]

Its 99% properly fine, just a bit denser down the bottom. Should work out O.K.

You can try rocking the fermenter gently to get a rotary motion of the fluid without splashing upto the lid. That should get it mixed up.

 

[Adamt]

Yep, as you didn't stir after you added the hot water, this would give you the density imbalance. It's not anything to worry about as the yeast will still find the food (also the SG will equilibrate over time).

 

[gava]

Yep, as you didn't stir after you added the hot water, this would give you the density imbalance. It's not anything to worry about as the yeast will still find the food (also the SG will equilibrate over time).

I did forget to put the Hops in boiling water before I started to put the other stuff in the vat so while the hops were in cups of boiling water the vat sat there with the hotwater and malt/larger kit in it.. (it stat for 10-15 like that with plastic wrap over the top while the hops were soaking)

once that was done I put the hops in mixed , filled up to 21lt of cold water, mixed then put in fridge.. so there was mixing involved but I guess not enough.. I think i'll just let it go and see what happens..

 

[brendo]

I did forget to put the Hops in boiling water before I started to put the other stuff in the vat so while the hops were in cups of boiling water the vat sat there with the hotwater and malt/larger kit in it.. (it stat for 10-15 like that with plastic wrap over the top while the hops were soaking)

once that was done I put the hops in mixed , filled up to 21lt of cold water, mixed then put in fridge.. so there was mixing involved but I guess not enough.. I think i'll just let it go and see what happens..

One thing I have found in the past is that when you put the kit in, depending on what else you have in there already, you end up with a pretty concentrated mix inside the ap. Something I have done in the past is that as I add some water, I would mix and progressively tip the fermenter back away from the tap to purge it. this meant that by the time I was done, what was in the tap was usually pretty diluted.

Just another idea to try...

Brendo

 

[caleb]

What I like to do with kits is to disolve everything in a big pot with hot water first, then add to fermenter. Much easier than tipping thick extract into the fermenter then trying to stir it around with your whole arm stuck down in this huge container.

 

[gava]

What I like to do with kits is to disolve everything in a big pot with hot water first, then add to fermenter. Much easier than tipping thick extract into the fermenter then trying to stir it around with your whole arm stuck down in this huge container.

Caleb; I saw that writen on the packet and I thought I should give that a go because I do get annoyed trying to mix it within the vat... I'll give that a go on my next brew..

Just went home for lunch to check on brew.. the bottom of the lid looked like the yeast has started to work so I'll leave it... cheers for your help people.. lets hope in three weeks im kegging a nice beer