Higher original gravity than anticipated

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by coleheideman, Nov 21, 2018.

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  1. coleheideman

    coleheideman Initiate (0) Feb 4, 2017 New York

    Hello homebrewers,

    I am brewing a peanut butter brown ale from a brewer's best kit and the instructions gave me a target OG of 1.040- 1.044. My OG ended up being 1.050, which I felt was considerably higher than anticipated. I have a few ideas why this might be.

    First, I tried something sorta different this time in that after I used the bit of grains they included (8 oz cara munich dark, 4 oz chocolate barley, 6 oz carapils) I used about a cup or two of warm water over the grain sock as a kind of sparge.

    Second, maybe the temperature was still a bit warm when I did the reading? It was around 70 degrees F, probably lower, though.

    This is the first time I have exceeded the OG expectation for one of these kits. Just wondering if it will have any unwanted effects. I assumed I will end up with a beer that is a bit higher in abv than intended- the target being 3.6 - 4.2%. The instructed FG target is 1.012- 1.016, and the yeast being used is Safale 04 I believe. A blue packet, dry pitched.
     
    #1 coleheideman, Nov 21, 2018
  2. Prep8611

    Prep8611 Savant (1,208) Aug 22, 2014 New Jersey

    My guess since this seems like an extract +steeping grains kit is that you are simply short a bit of water. It’s of no concern and I wouldn’t fix it.
     
    #2 Prep8611, Nov 21, 2018
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  3. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    At 70F, your gravity should have read too low, not too high. But at 70F the difference would be negligible anyway.

    With an extract kit, if you got a gravity significantly higher than the recipe called for, either the kit's designer screwed up (unlikely), or one of these things happened...

    - You ended up with less than the intended volume of wort (boiled away too much).
    - You should have topped off with more water after the boil, but didn't
    - You topped off, but didn't mix it thoroughly before taking the hydrometer sample.
    - Measurement error.
     
    #3 VikeMan, Nov 21, 2018
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  4. Prep8611

    Prep8611 Savant (1,208) Aug 22, 2014 New Jersey

    Tell him he shouldn’t fix it now and that he shouldn’t panic
     
    #4 Prep8611, Nov 21, 2018
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  5. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Agree.
     
    #5 VikeMan, Nov 21, 2018
  6. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    Tell him too that some/all water can be made up with the boiled priming solution if bottling this beer. :slight_smile:
     
    #6 PapaGoose03, Nov 21, 2018
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  7. coleheideman

    coleheideman Initiate (0) Feb 4, 2017 New York

    yeah, it was a little short on water. I topped it off with a few cups but it didn't impact the reading at all. Maybe I didn't mix it in well enough, I am always worried about oxidation when it comes to things like that. I figured it was no big deal. While I've got some people- have any of you used Brewer's best's peanut butter flavoring? I've used their orange flavoring and found it strong but not too bad, clearly a flavoring but not in a totally artificial tasting gross sort of way. I've read good things about the peanut butter flavoring compared to alternatives like powdered peanut butter.
     
    #7 coleheideman, Nov 22, 2018
  8. coleheideman

    coleheideman Initiate (0) Feb 4, 2017 New York

    Thanks, I've never thought to do that. I'm going to keg it though, if it turns out well. :grinning:
     
    #8 coleheideman, Nov 22, 2018
    PapaGoose03 likes this.
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