ABV dropping?

Question for you guys....I just recently brewed a Belgian Tripel and my ABV is supposed to be around 8.5%-9%... I racked to a secondary this past Saturday and took a hydrometer reading... If my calculations are right, my beer came out to 7.6% ABV. What is contributing to this reading?

I like my beer rather strong...I prefer it to be 8% and higher.

What was your OG reading and what was the gravity reading that you just took? What temperature were you taking the readings at? How long has the beer been fermenting? What yeast did you use? Have you taken more than one gravity reading?

A big beer can take awhile to finish fermenting so the yeast could possibly still be doing their work and slowly creating more alcohol. Alternatively, the yeast could have gone dormant which means fermentables might still be in the beer. If the yeast has gone dormant you are going to have carbonation issues when bottling however if you are kegging as long as the beer tastes good you should be okay.

I would suggest that if you are comfortable keeping things sanitary when taking samples for testing to simply test every few days and see if the gravity continues to drop. If it does your yeast are still at work and if not you have other issues such as dormant yeast or improper yield calculations.

If you don't feel comfortable taking samples and keeping things sanitary then give it another 2 weeks in secondary, that should be plenty of time for the yeast to finish off all the fermentables HOWEVER if your gravity hasn't changed and your beer is 1-1.5% below expected ABV I would take a serious look at your calculations and try to figure out what happened. Bottle at your own risk!

Cheers

7.6 and a target of 8.5 for a new brewer isnt bad at all. There's hundreds of factors that can account for the difference, One big one is temperature. Without adjusting for temps or taking a reading at precisely the same temperatures can make up for that difference. You could very well be at 8.5% or even lower than expected. That's nothing to worry about at all.

Generally I take an initial hydrometer reading just to check Im on target with a recipe or in the ballpark then completely forget about it for a month or two. If Im super lazy Ill swap it to a clean carboy for another month or two just to postpone cleaning bottles that little while longer. I don't recall the last time Id taken a FG for the purpose of bottling. Months later I expect it should be finished so Ill just bottle it. If I'm in a rush Ill check it a couple times over a week or two to make sure its stable before bottling.

My point inst that I'm a lazy brewer. Far from it but when the yeast is done its done. I keep meticulous records of yeast strain, temp when pitched, starter or pitched dry, fermentation temperature and temperature of hydrometer readings. etc. this helps me tailor a yeast strain to a finished gravity or what flavours the yeast can introduce to the finished product even a couple degrees higher or lower during the initial fermentation can drastically change the FG. Check it again in a week if your not in a rush and see where its at, if its stable bottle it. You can change up some of these variables for the next batch if your not satisfied but sometimes leaving a few things to chance brings a nice surprise.

I was planning on leaving it in the secondary for at least 2 weeks. I did take a sample of the beer after I was done racking and it tasted just like the last time, great and not any undesired smells or taste. However, I should state that the temperature during primary did fluctuate...I live in central Texas and it was supposed to have been winter. The second or third day of fermentation, I noticed the temperature was at 77F and I put it in my bath tub and filled it up with cold water. Roughly 65F. The temperature then dropped and maintained around 62-64F. I then placed it back in the dining room after the outside temperature dropped to 65-68F.

My brewing experience is minimal but I have been making wine for a number of years. My question is why are you referring to a drop in your ABV and not to the changes in specific gravity. A drop from what? From what the recipe suggested you reach? But why are you referring to "calculations". What SG does your hydrometer show? What SG did it show before you pitched the yeast? Is the issue that your starting gravity was already too low or if it was in the ball park is the issue that your yeast has not finished fermenting fermentable sugars? If the gravity has stopped dropping and there is still a great deal of (un) fermentable sugar might your mash temperatures have been too high? What was your mash temperature? If the temperature of your mash was on target might the recipe you are using have included more unfermentable sugars than you imagined... Or is my ignorance of brewing such that I completely misunderstand what the nature of this beast might be...

Well what I am referring to is that my OG was supposed to be 1.083-1.086. I was able to achieve 1.080. After racking, I took some remaining wort and checked it with my hydrometer. The FG calls out to be 1.017-1.022 and I measured 1.022. According to those calculations, my ABV is 7.6% while the target is 8.5%-9.0%. However I do know that there are still fermentable sugars in the beer and the yeast have not finished it's job. Hence the secondary for 2 weeks. My question being, (I guess I should have been more detailed), can my beer climb back up to the desired ABV in reference to what "it currently reads"?

If there is more fermentable sugars in your beer an if the yeast decide to eat them then yes you ABV will go up, however if your yeast is done or stalled for whatever reason then it will stay right where it is.

How long did you primary for? Since its supposed to be almost 9% I would have left it be for at least 3 weeks, big beers can take awhile.

CADETS3 said:

Well what I am referring to is that my OG was supposed to be 1.083-1.086. I was able to achieve 1.080. After racking, I took some remaining wort and checked it with my hydrometer. The FG calls out to be 1.017-1.022 and I measured 1.022. According to those calculations, my ABV is 7.6% while the target is 8.5%-9.0%. However I do know that there are still fermentable sugars in the beer and the yeast have not finished it's job. Hence the secondary for 2 weeks. My question being, (I guess I should have been more detailed), can my beer climb back up to the desired ABV in reference to what "it currently reads"?

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How do you know there's still fermentable sugars in the beer (that will be fermented by your yeast)? The only real answers to this and your question about abv "coming back up" is to take some readings and when your gravity has stopped changing and truly reached its FG, that's your FG, and that taken into account with your OG will determine your ABV.


ABV doesn't "drop" and then "come back up", it's not like you boil some wort and pitch some yeast and it starts at the target ABV written on a recipe sheet and changes from there....it starts at 0% ABV, some yeast munch on sugars and poop out alcohol.


If the kit or recipe you're referring to gave ranges of 1.083 OG and 1.022 FG as possibilities, that would be around 8.1% ABV, and at around 7.7% ABV where you're at, you're not that far off. There's not much information here about how you brewed what you brewed to determine why your OG and possible FG are what they are, but seems like you're pretty close to target.

For a Belgian Tripel I would get that beer up to the mid 70's to help finish it....Belgian yeast gets very finicky around those last few gravity points and the increased temp helps it out...it will not impact your flavor profile, that has already been set during the earlier stages of fermentation.

I left it in the primary for 2 weeks and racked this past Saturday. My house is currently 68F. Excuse me for my ignorance...i'm just seeking help. I understand that there are many factors that could lead to why my target isn't closer but I just would like to know as to why I was only able to achieve such ABV.

What is the best way you recommend to get the beer to the mid 70s helibrewer?

Presumably from the way questions have been framed, it's likely for that gravity that you underpitched (a beer this gravity would need a fairly big starter) and underaerated (again, a beer this gravity is a little to high for aeration period, let alone just shaking, and would probably benefit from pure oxygen). If you made a big starter and used pure O2 and a stone, then go ahead and disregard.

The problem with using extract for Belgian beers (again assuming you used extract) is that extracts are designed for "average" fermentability (some more fermentable than others), and you can't control it. With Belgian beers, it's often tough to get the attenuation that you want. A Tripel should finish WELL below even what the recipe stated (I like them ~1.008-1.010 or so, nice and dry). But if this was an underpitched, underaerated extract beer, I'd say you're done where you're done. Going forward, reduce the extract and add an equivalent gravity's worth of simple sugar after fermentation starts to die down (rather than adding in the boil, after fermentation really slows down maybe 4 or 5 days in, dissolve in as little water as you can, boil a few minutes, cool to room temp and add to the fermenter). That'll really help you dry it out to where it should be, as well as reducing the size of starter and aeration needed.

If it has been two weeks it's likely done, but yeah, maybe just get it to a warm room and cover it from light and see if it warms up a bit more if it will eek out a couple more points. Take measurements over a few days. If it doesn't quite make it, should still be a good beer as it's close.


I've let Belgian yeasts run warm purposefully and probably would do so on a tripel too - generally by means of pitching a bit warmer than usual and not controlling the temp during fermentation (a lot of Belgian yeasts are aggressive / quick and as such fermentation will naturally ramp the temp of the liquid up). Depends on the yeast and the Belgian beer you brew too, as in how much estery Belgian yeast funk you want, etc. You can search around here on each individual yeast strain and find a lot of info I'm sure.


Your OG could be off a few points simply by means of a discrepancy in volume, or slightly inaccurate hydrometer, or slightly stratified reading, or reading taken at a certain temp and temp not accounted for (or temp accounted for but thermometer slightly miscalibrated). The most likely culprit as to your FG ending up on the high end without knowing anything more about your process and just taking a guess based on the types of questions you're asking is on a 1.080 beer, you probably underpitched yeast-wise. If you used liquid yeast (would think so for a Belgian), you would have wanted to make a yeast starter, and if you used dried yeast, you would have likely wanted more than one packet.