[630skirmish]

So I did a Norther Brewer saison which called for half pound of specialty grains. I called them and they said if I do a whole pound I would up the ABV. I ended up getting 1.041 which is what they say you get by using half pound of grains but I used a whole pound. Why wouldn't the OG go up?




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[Stevie]

Sounds like they gave you bad advice. Steeping grains will add some sugars, but mostly unfermentables that will not increase your ABV. Adding more extract or cane/corn sugar would increase your ABV.

Were volume measurements accurate?

ETA - Was your wort throughly mixed when you took a reading?

[630skirmish]

Sounds like they gave you bad advice. Steeping grains will add some sugars, but mostly unfermentables that will not increase your ABV. Adding more extract or cane/corn sugar would increase your ABV.

Were volume measurements accurate?

ETA - Was your wort throughly mixed when you took a reading?

I've never been happy with their advice or "brewmasters" on the phone. My wort was complexly mixed just to be sure and I took 3 readings. Even if they were unfermentable sugars the gravity should still increase right?

I had the grains in a tight bag muslin bag with no room to move. Maybe I didn't extract all the sugars from the grain and it ended up with the same gravity?

Also I take my sample at the very top of the Carboy with a pipete but I don't think that would make a difference after being rocked and aerated. 



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[mainebrewer]

I'm assuming this kit was based on LME/DME.
If you had to top off with water after the boil, then the hydrometer reading may be significantly off due to the difficulty in getting wort and water to completely mix.
The steeping grains really don't add much in the way of fermentables to the mix. They do add color, flavor, aroma, etc. When I was using extract, I found that the steeping grain added no sugar to the mix.
 

[630skirmish]

I'm assuming this kit was based on LME/DME.
If you had to top off with water after the boil, then the hydrometer reading may be significantly off due to the difficulty in getting wort and water to completely mix.
The steeping grains really don't add much in the way of fermentables to the mix. They do add color, flavor, aroma, etc. When I was using extract, I found that the steeping grain added no sugar to the mix.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/petite-saison-d-ete-extract-kit

It was this kit. I just added more of the specialty grains. I mixed it the beer up and took multiple readings and ended up with the same OG they say you should get but I added mor grains. What's weird is even though the grains aren't fermentable the OG should still go up?


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[630skirmish]

Sounds like they gave you bad advice. Steeping grains will add some sugars, but mostly unfermentables that will not increase your ABV. Adding more extract or cane/corn sugar would increase your ABV.

Were volume measurements accurate?

ETA - Was your wort throughly mixed when you took a reading?

I got 1.041 which is what the kit says I'm supposed to get. I had the grains in a tight back so maybe I didn't extract very much and ended up with the same recipe


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