toestothesun

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Hello, I made a mistake and racked to the secondary before taking my FG (I know from reading I shouldn't do this but I got too excited and racked to secondary). After doing so, I got a final gravity reading of 1.014. According to the recipe (Honey wheat/extract/got it from this site), the FG should be 1.009. I added a little extra honey that the recipe didn't call for so I'm assuming that could be accounting for the difference.

Did I really screw up here or will this beer turn out ok? Also, I know the recipe said this was an easy drinking beer, but should I expect my ABV to be 2% as my hydrometer is suggesting? When I was playing around with calculators before I brewed it, they were suggesting approximately 5% ABV.

Any help/insight would be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

IrishBrewer74

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Let it sit... You'll be fine. There are probably be enough yeast still in suspension that they'll finish off what needs to be done, it might just take longer than expected.

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toestothesun

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You think? How long do you think I should let it sit?

AZ_IPA

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Do you know what your OG was?

How long did you leave it in the primary before racking to secondary?

lumpher

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as stated, should be ok with a little extra time. what was the og for it to end at 2% with fg of 1.014? that would be an og of 1.030.

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I don't think I ever had an extract batch finish at 1.009 (1.014 doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility for a FG to me). Just take a couple hydro readings on consecutive days and see if the gravity is stable. As for the 2% ABV my guess is that your are looking at the potential alcohol scale on you triple scale hydrometer... hopefully you checked your OG (if ABV is important to you). Use that and your FG to determine alcohol. An easy ABV approximation OG-FGx131.

Hope that helps

toestothesun

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OG was in the neighborhood of 1.052 but I don't remember exactly. I wrote it down but don't remember exactly where. I had it in the primary for 17 days.

jiggs_casey

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'if' you racked it to your secondary too soon, it will continue to ferment until it is done. you can tell if it's done by taking readings over the course of a few days. if the readings stay the same, you can consider it done. what you DON'T want to do is bottle before initial fermentation is complete. you could wind up with bottle bombs...

in regards to using a secondary, there's a lot of debate. personally, if i'm trying to brew a 'clear' beer, i'll use one. if i'm brewing a stout, nope. you could rack to a secondary when adding different flavors, i.e. fruit or dry hopping. but, if you do, again, initial fermentation should be complete.

as far as your particular recipe goes, dunno... post the recipe and your notes and see what others say....

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toestothesun

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Yes I am looking at the potential alcohol scale. I believe the OG was close to 1.052 (as the recipe suggests) but I don't recall exactly. I wrote it down someplace but don't know exactly where.

AZ_IPA

Recipes 

OG - FG * 131 = ABV

or in your case

1.052 - 1.014 * 131 = ~5% ABV