Need advice quick

[Nick Good]

I have started doing biab and have got a couple of excellent brews but I have just put another one down and allmost forgot to take a gravity reading. I had already put the yeast in dry so I took the lid off and took a sample. I was expecting around 1040ish and got 1005!!!!!

I soaked the grain at 67C for 60 mins and boiled for 90 mins. Everything went really well I thought. I cooled overnight in the pot with plastic wrap. Temp when I took the gravity was 22C.

Any ideas on why and can I fix it?

Nick.

[Ralph]

Have you checked the hydrometer is reading correctly? Should read 1.000 in plain water at 20 deg.

[Nick Good]

checked, got 1000.

[Peter Smith]

have you got a sample and where you live?  I can use refractometer if you are close by to confirm OG

I have missed OG but never by 90%

[Nick Good]

Mt. Roskill but no samples.

[Richard Rice]

Was the grain milled correctly?  I've had problems with low OG (not that bad, tho) which improved when local homebrew shop tightened up the milling.  Brother-in-law also had a really bad mash once (around the 1.020 mark) when he got whole grain milled at a different homebrew shop...most of the grain hadn't cracked so was a really bad mash!

[Nick Good]

Yes, I even checked the spent grain to be sure. Got sticky fingers to so must be some sugars there.

[Barry]

1.005 sounds so low as to reasonably suspect an incorrect measurement.

Only other explanation would be that you converted pretty much no starch to sugar, I would imagine it would be impossibly to convert so little start as to give that kind of reading. It would be pretty much none, or significantly more than that.

Mash temperature too low is pretty unreasonable – it would have to be really low — below 55–ish°C (kind of educated guess)

Mash temp too high maybe? Your strike water inadvertantly denatured all enzymes before any conversion took place? Strike water above say 80–ish°C (denaturing occurs above 75° but anything between 75 and 80 and you'd get more conversion as the water temp levels out with the cooler grain.

Very odd, check your instruments.

[Peter Smith]

my refractometer cost $20 of ebay, its awesome tells you gravity at sparge ,pre boil before etc etc etc helps you adjust hop levels if og is too low etc

I still use hydro but only at end of ferment, thinking of starting to use the conversion spreadsheet and only refrac as I can read my refrac better and easier.

[Hamish Jones]

Can you give us a link to the one you got Peter as I need to get one but not sure about which of the eBay ones to get?

[Nick Good]

I was really fussy this time and took the water to 69C before adding the grain. Added a little heat at 40 mins stayed at 65-67C.

[Nick Good]

I asked the same question on Aussie home brewer and one thought was adding fresh water which I did but I poured it in at some height to get the oxagen in it could be this as the brew is just starting to get up a head of steam and surely it would not ferment if there were no fermentables in there would it? I thought the splashing would mix the fresh water. What do you think?

[Scott H]

Have you tried checking it again just to be 100% sure.

Try checking it with another hydrometer maybe that ones a dud?