Extract not hitting (my) target SG.

[FuzzySteve]

I've just finished a kit in an attempt to replicate one of my favourite beers; Hobsons Town Crier. The ingredients were selected with the guidance of the folks at my lhbs. The original beer can be seen here;
http://www.hobsons-brewery.co.uk/beers/town-crier.aspx

The ingredients were as follows;
1 x Lager Malt Extract Tin
1 x Medium Malt Extract Tin
1 x Cara Teabag
1 x Crystal Teabag
1 x Goldings Teabag
1 x Fuggles Teabag

I followed the instructions, but sadly the teabags came apart during the 20 minutes at 66°C, so I filtered the resultant stew before adding to the wort making it up with cold water to 22.5 litres. The SG ended up at 1.030 at 21°C.

I must say that I checked to make sure the malt had dissolved fully (which it had), and panicked. I added 750g of brewing sugar because I felt the SG was far too low. The projected FG of the brew according to the instructions is 1.014 or below, which would give me an abv of 2.1%, which is slightly stronger than a tramps pi$$.

Can I ask your advice please gents? Was my sugar addition the right thing to do? Or is this a common occurrence using lighter malt extracts?

[jimp2003]

What weight were the tins of extract?

Did you check your hydrometer was accurate by taking a reading in water at about 20 degrres C? - it should read 1.000

[FuzzySteve]

The tins were 1.5kg each. I checked the SG with three hydrometers and they all gave similar readings to within a point.

I wonder if I had a dodgy tin of extract?lol

[jimp2003]

If the hydrometer reading was right and the extract was fully mixed through when you took the sample then you have got me stumped....

[FuzzySteve]

Cheers for the advice Jimp. The extract was runny as hell when I poured it, and I made sure it was mixed well (no residue on the base of the FV). I wondered if the splitting of the teabags containing the hop and grain additions may have cause a bit of a wobble?

I checked the SG again this morning to see if any further sugars that may have been lurking 'unseen' and it read 1.040 again (as per close of play last night after the addition of the 750g of sugar).

Glad to see my train of thought was justified. You know how it is when you're starting off and you have a few quids worth of ingredients that you don't want to screw up :/

[Paddy Bubbles]

Steve, have you calibrated your fermentation vessel? The measurements on the plastic fermenters are notoriously inaccurate. Just a suggestion.

[FuzzySteve]

Steve, have you calibrated your fermentation vessel? The measurements on the plastic fermenters are notoriously inaccurate. Just a suggestion.

I think you may be onto something there! I used a different FV for this brew (and the last-which also started at 1.028 and finished at 1.002), but the last brew was a fruit beer and was gluten free, so I let it slide. My older FV was marked by my calibrations so I'll check it when this brew is done. It's a Youngs barrel fermenter and not a bucket as I'm used to.

[Jocky]

Steve, have you calibrated your fermentation vessel? The measurements on the plastic fermenters are notoriously inaccurate. Just a suggestion.

I would agree with this suggestion - they're very rough markings - the lines themselves can cover a range of several litres to start off with, and they're not necessarily in the right place anyway.

The other thing I was going to say was whether you had topped up to the right amount. There are plenty of recipes that call for 5 gallons, but don't mention whether it's US or UK gallons - 5 gallons US is approximately 19 litres, whereas 5 litres in the UK is 23 litres.

Next time just top it up to roughly 17/18 litres, measure the gravity, and then dilute a little at a time until you hit your desired SG.

[FuzzySteve]

Cheers Jocky. The extract was from Heart of England so I assumed UK gallons, however you know what they say about assumptions being the mother of all cockups.

Cheers for all your advice gents. Greatly appreciated.