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Bitter Recipe Question
Hey all, I thought I'd report back (and ask another question, of course).
I brewed the recipe with my typical 2 gallon amount of water to start, rather than the 3 quarts suggested in the recipe. I added the DME in waves, about half at the beginning of the boil, then a little more, then the rest as the boil went on.
Everything went well (I'd never used that much DME before), and I pitched with liquid yeast for the first time (also enjoyed it). Before doing so, of course, I took a OG reading with my hydrometer. Here's where it gets hinky. My reading was around 1.070, which is much higher than the target OG of 1.048 (as per the recipe). So now my question - uh, what? That's awfully high for a bitter, isn't it? Now, I fully intent to RDWHAHB, but I'm just curious as to what happened, and whether or not this will come out right. Any thoughts on what I did wrong? Ah well.
Thanks in advance!
First off, It is very typical to get an inaccurate gravity reading when doing partial boils. You need to mix up your wort really well after adding your top off water. I use carboys as fermenters and when I brewed partial boils I bought a solid stoper to plug the opening so I could shake the hell out of it for 5 minutes and not make a mess.
Secondly, after going back and rereading your recipe, it seems like the 1.048 is a bit low for what I'd expect considering your recipe. DME, depending on type and brand, usually yields 9 gravity units per 5 gallons. So 7lbs per 5 gallons is going to give you 63 gravity units (9 gravity units x 7 lbs) --> 1.063 specific gravity. Plus, add a couple points for the half pound of crystal and you're in the range of 1.070.
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