OG off the scale

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

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brewmeisterintng
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OG off the scale

Post by brewmeisterintng »

I bought an all grain kit from Northern Brewer (Dry Irish Stout). The OG on the recipe was given as 42. I also ran the recipe through Beer Tools which yielded 44. After brewing today I got 57 with hydrometer and temperature correction. I did double mill as I thought that the grain didn't appear to crack properly first time around. I added a couple hands full of rice hulls as I usually do. I am not overly upset at such a high reading... just puzzled. :roll:
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jeff
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Re: OG off the scale

Post by jeff »

brewmeisterintng wrote:I bought an all grain kit from Northern Brewer (Dry Irish Stout). The OG on the recipe was given as 42. I also ran the recipe through Beer Tools which yielded 44. After brewing today I got 57 with hydrometer and temperature correction. I did double mill as I thought that the grain didn't appear to crack properly first time around. I added a couple hands full of rice hulls as I usually do. I am not overly upset at such a high reading... just puzzled. :roll:
I would first verify that the final volume measures the same as that specified in the recipe. It could be that the wort is not diluted enough if the final runoff volume falls short of the recipe. A gallon short of 5.5 gallons could turn a 1.044 OG to 1.054 OG.
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slothrob
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double milling

Post by slothrob »

When I bought my mill, I got around 73% efficiency without adjusting the factory setting. I tried two batches back-to-back with double milling and got ~92% efficiency!

It looks like you might have experienced the same thing. I believe NB's OGs are based on 70% efficiency. You might have bumped into the 90% range with double milling. 95% would have given you that 1.057.
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brewmeisterintng
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I will check

Post by brewmeisterintng »

Before I brew again I will revalidate my hydrometer and ensure that the mark on the side of the 6.5 gallon carboy is a true 5 gallon mark. Who knows, it might be a combinaton of all three (milling, hydrometer, volume). When I double mill I always add a couple hands full of rice hulls to ensure I don't end up with a stuck mash. No problems yesterday...
:D
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