How can my SG be so far out?

[Steve]

Long story short I had stock to use up and wanted to do an experimental brew which I hope to improve and tweak over many brews as I like the style. I was aiming to probably be over sweet to counteract the coffee and the hops of the kit and to experience the effect/taste of a large amount of crystal as a starting point. The future plan is for AG but for now this was the recipe..

Recipe:
1 can Wilko velvet stout I bought when they were on offer
500g crystal malt
200g chocolate malt
227g Taylors of Harrogate After dark cold extracted over night
2kg brewing sugar I had with the kits (1kg gave 4% and this won't be a session beer more a one off and if I am overly sweet it should help dissolve the flavour)
300g lactose
brewed to 19L

According to brewerfriend.com recipe calculator with a 0 minute boil time and 0% efficiency (because non of the grain will be converted to sugars without the base malt) I should expect a SG of 1.075. After my brewing session today I recorded a SG of 1.062. To make it worse I decided to throw in a random bit of demerara and golden syrup that was left over which was probably another 100g of sugars not included in the calculator. Everything was mixed in the boiler before being transferred to the FV so everything was definitely mixed in. My hydrometer reads 1.000 in water so it's not the label that has slipped and I took the readings at about 24C so the correction isn't that much.

In short, how is it possible that I am 10+ gravity points out with such a basic recipe and no mashing?

 

[bobsbeer]

The difference may be coming from your assumption of the sugars in the Wilkos stout kit malt. Where did you get the sugar content for the kit from?

 

[Steve]

I worked back using the calculator. I added 1kg of sugar then increased the LME until i reached 4% abv as the kit states. This gave 1.9kg of LME for 4.01% abv. I know its not wholly accurate because the kit isn't pure LME but it can't be that far off can it? I also used the dark LME option which I expected to be less fermentable.

 

[RobWalker]

probably not quite mixed, and some sugars, extracts etc are subject to regional varieties and a best guess. providing you have a good FG and it tastes good, i shouldnt worry about it, hydrometers are only really essential for all grain brewing, just gives you a nice idea of abv with kit/extract.

my advice is not to drive when you drink it. :lol: