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Question
why do we do orginal gravity for wort from mash tank,lauter tun,wort kettle,whirlpool and fermentation vessel?
A gravity from the pre-boil stages can tell you if you need to adjust the gravity during the boil by adding DME or by boiling longer or maybe by sparging more or less.
A post boil gravity tells you if you have hit your target gravity and again allows you to make adjustments, perhaps by dilution.
Once you are in the fermentation vessel and have pitched your yeast, that gravity is the actual original gravity used with the FG to determine alcohol content and attenuation percentage.
Chris Bushman
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Answers by Expert:
Chris Bushman
Expertise
I've been homebrewing beer and mead for about 15 years. I've made beer trips to the Netherlands, the UK, France, Germany, and Belgium.
Experience
I've brewed a couple of hundred all-grain beers and a few dozen meads. I'm a member of the Maltose Falcon's Homebrew Society, the oldest homebrew club in the US. I've attended the Homebrewers Fantasy Camp at American Brewers Guild.
In real life I am Optical Effects Supervisor and Laboratory Supervisor for a large movie visual effects house in Hollywood. I've been a fireman, a teacher of English in Okinawa, a personal computer tutor.
Other hobbies include orchid culture, koi keeping, photography, sausage making, pickling, and ham radio.
BS Zoology, UC Davis
Member, Society of Motion Picture/Television Engineers http://www.smpte.org/ - Member, American Radio Relay League http://www.arrl.org/ - Member, Quarter Century Wireless Assn. http://www.lockport-ny.com/radio.htm - President, Zen Nippon Airinkai, So Cal Chapter http://home.earthlink.net/~filmlabrat/ - Member, Maltose Falcons Homebrewing Society http://www.westval.com/mfalcons/ - Alumni, American Brewers' Guild http://www.abgbrew.com/
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