eggbeater59

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i lost the baster and had no idea where it was. have brewed a couple now and figured that it would be okay to just keg it and call it good.
well...
i overshot my fg by 8 pts. guess fermentation wasn't complete. 72 * for 3 weeks with a smack pack, i'm not exactly sure what i did wrong. well, at least i know for next time.

my red ale has turned into a belgian strong ale, lol.

Aleforge

Recipes 

What was your target FG? If you overshot it by 8 then yes your ABV is higher then projected. However it doesn't mean your fermentation wasn't complete, just that it fermented out to a lower gravity then expected.

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IrregularPulse

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Ditto, If you overshot your FG it means you fermented MORE than planned. This would give you the higher ABV. If your fermentation wasn't complete, then your ABV would be LOWER and your red ale would have turned into NearBeer from the 60's....Or whenever that stuff was around. I'm just a young pup and have only heard of it.

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eggbeater59

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og was 1.049, which was spot on. fg was 1.019; target was 1.011
so i guess then i undershot it, since it didn't drop as far as expected. that makes more sense now
assuming i would have caught this in time, what would i do to rectify my lazy yeasties?

Got Trub?

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Make a starter and be sure your wort is well oxygenated.

GT

IrregularPulse

Recipes 

+1

Also, what temperature was your fermenter at and what yeast?

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rsmith179

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As the post's title suggests, Always check your gravity! This is the only way to really know when fermentation is complete. Hovering at near 70F for three weeks should have done it for you. If you are still off on your FG after that time, try giving the carboy a nice little swirl. This will bring the yeast back into suspension and get them working again. I always try to get my beer as close the proposed FG as possible just to make sure no bottle bombs are created in the process.

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eggbeater59

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alright guys, well i guess i'm going to fix this by brewing another beer. sounds like the best solution to me! instead of worrying about proper cell count/aeration and such i'm just going to rack this stuff onto a yeast cake.
guess i have more motivation to finish buying my ag stuff now