[1stnspc]

Hi all! After a 2-1/2 year hiatus from home brewing (I know, I'm awful. But I have continued my AHA membership!), I have returned. In the last two weeks, I've brewed three beers and kept coming up with the same problem.
I started with some extract kits to get back into the swing of things before I move on to AG, but I've noticed something: after I transfer the wort from the kettle to the fermenter and add some water, the target OG and the final volume are not what I think they should be. From what I remember, most recipes are for a standard five gallons unless otherwise stated. I've been hitting the OG, but the volume is just over four gallons. I think that it would be better to be at the OG rather than the volume. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks for any insight!!!

[denny]

Hi all! After a 2-1/2 year hiatus from home brewing (I know, I'm awful. But I have continued my AHA membership!), I have returned. In the last two weeks, I've brewed three beers and kept coming up with the same problem.
I started with some extract kits to get back into the swing of things before I move on to AG, but I've noticed something: after I transfer the wort from the kettle to the fermenter and add some water, the target OG and the final volume are not what I think they should be. From what I remember, most recipes are for a standard five gallons unless otherwise stated. I've been hitting the OG, but the volume is just over four gallons. I think that it would be better to be at the OG rather than the volume. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks for any insight!!!

You may be experiencing inadequate mixing when you add the water and getting a false reading.  It's really difficult to get wort and water mixed well enough for an accurate reading.  Usually for an extract batch where you add top off water it's going to be more accurate to calculate the OG than to measure it.  If you use all the ingredients in the kit and make it to the volume the kit is designed for, the OG has to be what they tell you it is.

[kramerog]

Mixing would be the first suspect.  A second suspect is that you need to correct your OG for temperature.  Hydrometers are generally calibrated for 60 or 68 F.  If the wort was 80 F, for example, there would be a large upwards correction.

[1stnspc]

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep these things in mind next time!