Varying Og

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muthead

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Hi Guys,

Last night I made up 2 brews. Both Pilsners with the same base recipe, just different hop additions and yeast. Both target OG of 1045

Base Recipe =

3kg Briess Extra Pale LME
300g LDME
300g Dextrose

Both 6 litre boils,

a) 130g Tettnang in a 60 minute boil with WY2124 and;

B) 130g Saaz & 30g Tettnang in 60 minute boil with WY2278

Let them chill overnight and throughout today, got home tonight and prior to pitching the yeast took gravity readings. Recipe A was bang on at 1045, but Recipe B was 1060 - wtf??

Can anyone enlighten me as to why their could be such a stark difference when the same base ingredients and procedures were used for both?

Appreciated,
Mut
 
Can anyone enlighten me as to why their could be such a stark difference when the same base ingredients and procedures were used for both?

you have either stuffed up when weighing, stuffed up measuring water volumes, drawn a hydrometer sample that included some denser material (trub or hop particles) or different temp readings using hydrometer or some other stuff up

think back and see if you remember any differences
 
Also if the can and sugars aren't heated and stirred well you can get it unevenly dispersed through the water. If you're 100% that your measurements were correct for both batches, just go with the SG you got that makes the most sense mathematically. If I get an outlier reading (ie not what my brew software calculated) I stir for a few minutes and take another one.
 
Also if the can and sugars aren't heated and stirred well you can get it unevenly dispersed through the water. If you're 100% that your measurements were correct for both batches, just go with the SG you got that makes the most sense mathematically. If I get an outlier reading (ie not what my brew software calculated) I stir for a few minutes and take another one.

i assume that he boiled all ingredients, so the problem might be that the 6 litres containing all the sugars didnt mix well with the top up water
 
Yep, this has happened to me a couple of times. A 30 second stir often isn't enough. I stir my wort continuously for a few minutes (sometimes 5-10) prior to pitching for this reason and also to aerate it. I haven't had an unexpected OG reading since stirring more thoroughly. I've missed OGs from boil overs since though haha not worth it, but I feel like a witch over a cauldron: "a pinch of calcium sulfate and a rats tail" PUFF!
 
Thanks guys for your responses, re traced my steps and I'm assuming it must be taking a reading full of hop particles / trub to throw it so far off!
 
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