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OG much higher than est. OG

Philbrew

Apprentice
Joined
Apr 16, 2015
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Location
Hermiston, OR
I brewed an American rye ale today.  Extract and partial mash (mini-mash).  BeerSmith est.OG was 1.044.  Measured OG was 1.061.  Waaaay above target.  I know that I followed the recipe exactly.  I measured OG with a calibrated hydrometer AND a calibrated digital refractometer (brix 14.9).

Mashed 1 lb. of rye malt and 1 lb. of cara-pils in a grain bag in a 1 gal. cooler with 2.5 qts. water.  Added 5 lbs. 5 oz. of american light LME and 4 oz. of light DME to the boil.  6.25 gal. in the fermenter.
I exported the recipe to the cloud, file name = 10.  Bye-Bye Miss American Rye

Am I doing something wrong in my recipe formulation?  Or is this a program problem?
 
HAHA.  Answered my own question.  And the answer is...none of the above.
Apparently there was some stratification going on.  I took the original SG sample from the very bottom of the fermenter.  This morning, with fermentation just starting, I opened the fermenter, stirred and took a sample from the middle.  Brix = 8.5 (1.034), much more like what I was expecting.  It's going to be a good refreshing summer beer.  Sorry for the head-scratcher.
 
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