Low Og - Kit & Extract

[Blitzer]

Hi All,

Quick question just did the following recipe:

1 Coopers Canadian Blonde Can
1.5kg Liquid Malt Extract - Light
20g Cascade hops - 30 min boil

I got an original gravity of 1035 after topping up to 22 litres? Does this gravity seem quite low?

The only thing I can think is the malt that I can't get out of the can or during transferring between pots & fermenter I left a tiny little bit on the bottom of the pot. The final beer if I bottle will be 4.5%, next time should I use some maltodex or dex to pep it up a bit? I was hoping to get a 5-6% beer.

 

[bum]

How confident are you that it was thoroughly mixed?

 

[mwd]

Warm the cans and rinse them out with boiling water should get every last drop of goop out.

Have you put the ingredients through Ian's spreadsheet to see what you should expect. Also might have not mixed properly.

 

[Blitzer]

If it's not mixed properly, will it pick up itself? Or should I go give it a stir I have already pitched the yeast.

Spreadsheet says it should be @ 1045

 

[mwd]

Nah leave it alone the yeast will sort it out no great problem nothing to get worried about.

 

[bum]

If it's not mixed properly, will it pick up itself?

Yeah, your yeasties are hungry buggers and they'll find everything they can.

The spreadsheet is likely to be pretty close as long as you entered everything correctly. I can't see the goop sticking to the tin and pot blowing out your reading so much.

Just a quick note: not mixing properly is usually more likely to show a higher reading (all the fermentables at the bottom) - but it is possible that too little mixing may have allowed more watery wort to exist in the tap itself.

 

[MHB]

A bit of basic brewmath
(1.7+1.5)Kg @ 80% solids is 2.56Kg in 22L*100 = 11.63oP {SG = (4*oP)/1000 +1} so your OG is 1.0465 (give or take)
Now the kit and LME might not be exactly 80% solids, but thats pretty dam close
Say the FG is 1.010 you have a change in gravity using the old points system of 46.5-10=36.5
Divide the 36.5 by 7.5 and you get 4.86666 call it 4.9%
Your apparent attenuation using the same method would be 36.5/46.5*100= 78.5% that really is at the higher end of what you could expect, really much more likely to finish at 10.11-12 so around 4.7-8% ABV is on the cards.

It really is worth learning a bit of the basics of brewing maths, spreadsheets and brewing software are very good and handy, but its a bit like being back in primary school, they dont hand you a Casio on day one you have to learn the basics and how to use maths then you get the tools to make the job easier.

For this beer if you want to get close to 6% you will need to be thinking of adding a Kg of dextrose, if you are going to add it partway through the ferment (a good idea really) dissolve it in a bit of boiling water, let it cool (bit of foil or gladwrap over the top) and add it in, just tossing the Dex in dry can get very entertaining.
Mark

Someone dropped some beer in for me to taste and the bottle just exploded off to get a mop...
M

 

[Blitzer]

It is using one of the new coopers fermenters so the tap is quite high off the base so it could just be watery wort if I did not mix properly. Let's hope so as I can't figure out what else it might be.

Thank you for the math, took a bit to try and figure out some random numbers but I will write it down

If your math is correct and I bottle individually it adds like another .4% I'm looking at decent enough strength and will avoid adding any dex, as the majority on the board think it's a bad thing to add.

 

[mosto]

Had this same problem with my first brew. OG came out about 1035ish, so ABV was calculated at about 3.5%. Left it as it was and it came out fine, and the general consensus between me and a few mates was that it definitley higher than 3.5%, so I put it down to not mixing properly.

 

[wbosher]

It is using one of the new coopers fermenters so the tap is quite high off the base so it could just be watery wort if I did not mix properly. Let's hope so as I can't figure out what else it might be.

Thank you for the math, took a bit to try and figure out some random numbers but I will write it down

If your math is correct and I bottle individually it adds like another .4% I'm looking at decent enough strength and will avoid adding any dex, as the majority on the board think it's a bad thing to add.

According to the coopers kit dvd, it says to discard the first tube full and refill, before taking a reading. I wondered why that was but I guess this could be why.

 

[Blitzer]

So I have just checked this beer after being about a week and half in the fermenter.. the hydrometer is show a super low reading like almost the same as water?

Is this possible? What could cause this issue?

 

[Danhutch333]

Have you tried putting your hydrometer in water?

Judging by your low initial reading and your low final reading you may have an incorrectly calibrated tool.

If it gives you a reading of 990-ish in water then you have your culprit. There's your 10 points of difference which was mentioned earlier in the post.

 

[Blitzer]

Have you tried putting your hydrometer in water?

Judging by your low initial reading and your low final reading you may have an incorrectly calibrated tool.

If it gives you a reading of 990-ish in water then you have your culprit. There's your 10 points of difference which was mentioned earlier in the post.

I will have to check, I was freaking out I had an infection though it tasted okay a little less hoppy than I would have liked.

 

[michaelcocks]

Just enjoy the beer and calibrate your hydrometer in tap water is fine (IME) should read 0.000

The amount of from table in there should be more like 1055 than 1035
I would expect 1035 with can plus 0.5 kg of dme
Probably not mixed and the heavy stuff is coating the bottom

Enjoy glasses of beer and measure your hangover in the morning !!!

 

[michaelcocks]

Just enjoy the beer and calibrate your hydrometer in tap water is fine (IME) should read 0.000

The amount of from table in there should be more like 1055 than 1035
I would expect 1035 with can plus 0.5 kg of dme
Probably not mixed and the heavy stuff is coating the bottom

Enjoy glasses of beer and measure your hangover in the morning !!!

Argh predictive text

*fermentables*