low gravity before the boil, ..how?

[stee41]

Just sparged my boddingtons (orfys recipe) he reckons after 2 sparges I would be left with 30.5 litres of 1.030 pre boil, I am actually left with 1.020 at 30.5 litres what have I done wrong here, any ideas?..recipe below

Brew Type: All GrainStyle: English Ordinary Bitter
Brewer: OrfyBatch Size: 23.00 L
Boil Volume: 30.50 LBrewhouse Efficiency: 80.0 %
Prepare 40.21 L water for brewing
Prepare Ingredients for Mash
3.30 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain
0.25 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain
0.12 kg Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain
0.03 kg Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain
Single: Add 9.66 L of water at 75.0 C
60 min - Hold mash at 68.0 C for 60 min
Add first wort hops to boiler at start of sparge
Amount Item Type 25.00 gm Northern Brewer [8.50%] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops
-- Drain Mash Tun
-- Batch Sparge Round 1: Sparge with 17.78 L of 77.0 C water.
-- Batch Sparge Round 2: Sparge with 9.77 L of 77.0 C water.
-- Add water to achieve boil volume of 30.50 L
-- Estimated Pre-boil Gravity is: 1.030 SG

Boil for 60 min

[Eric]

Sounds like you haven't compensated your hydrometer reading for temperature.
Rule of thumb is add ten points.

[stee41]

oh ok, took the reading at 77c what temp am I supposed to take hydrometer readings at for accuracy or is there a conversion chart somewhere?...anyway, just transfered 23 litres to my FV

cheers

Stee

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Hydrometers are normally calibrated to work best at 20C

If you took the reading at 77C that is quite a long way different hence the strange reading.

Using the calculator in BrewMate this suggests you temperature corrected value would be 1.046.

[stee41]

Thanks for that,1.046? woahh...! well this leads me onto another question, if I'm only expecting to hit 1.030 how come I hit 1.046? that seems like a big difference to me !

[Eric]

Sounds too high for me for that recipe. If you can, keep a sample and let it cool for a reading later when the pressure is off and you can check your hydrometer readings in water at 20C and say 60C. All these sort of thing happen in early days, adds to your knowledge and patience no end. Good luck.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Something does seem out there.

You wouldn't be able to get that high gravity with those ingredients, given the volumes you have said, even with a 100% efficiency you would only hit 1.040 pre boil.

Somewhere along the liine something is not quite right.

I would take another reading once the wort has cooled to 20C and see what that gives you, also see what reading you get on your hydrometer in tap water, it should be 1.000.


EDIT - must learn to type quicker

[Horatio]

Check on the side of your hydrometer as they are not all calibrated at 20c, some are calibrated at 15c (I think it's 15c anyway?). Then check it in water at the correct temp to see if it is accurate.

[stee41]

thanks guys, you are so helpful, my hydrometer is calibrated to 20C, I took another reading at 30C which read 1.036, which converted to 1039, I'm well happy and its bubbling away nicely with a decent rocky head, all excited and planning a batch of Orfys Hobgoblin next week

[stee41]

More possible problems... my mrs kindly moved my ale yesterday morning next to the boiler so she could have more bench space in the utility, I came in from work tonight and the brew was 26C and no airlock activity, I managed to get the temp down to 23C and took a hydrometer reading it was 1.010, the brew looks pretty lifeless now with no yeast activity that I can see, it looks fine, and really clear and tastes fine, will I have problems considering I brewed this beer on Friday and now it appears as though it has fermented out already ? I run these readings through the online hydrometer calculator and it should read 1.011..what do you think guys?

[Blackjack]

The hydrometer confusion is dead simple.
As already discovered the reading will a be a false low because the wort being measured is a lot lot hotter than 20C.
HOWEVER. By the time the sparges are collected in the boiler and then some is put in the test cylinder and the cold hydrometer is plunged in, the actual test temperature is now down around the late 50's or maybe 60Cso the corrected reading will actually just be almost dob on what the recipe demands.

[Eric]

Yes, that's warmer than you want and a bit fast, no doubt, because of it. Nothing you can do now, your wife now knows a bit more about brewing and you should now put it somewhere cooler, if you can, to help the yeast drop as it does seem primary fermentation is complete. The final taste will be different but it won't be the end of the world.