I Never Can Match The Brew Kit's FG, But I was Close This Time !!

Murphy's Stout - ABV 5.5% - Starting Gravity 1.061

My Readings : Starting 1.061 (on the money !!!) Final Gravity 1.020 = 5.38% ABV ??? So Close.


Am I the only person this happens to or can you guys hit it just right?

Extract or all grain?

At least you hit the high gravity! That's the good one to hit! Not to say the last one isn't, but I usually end up a little lower FG probably due to my mash tun not really holding the heat all that well.

Extract Kit where you steep the grains, and then add your LME, etc............Still I wanted that 5.5 !!!.........So close.

hmmm...what kind of yeast and how long did you ferment it in primary?

White Labs WLP005 Liquid ( English Ale). Primary 27 days, no secondary.

Then it should have fermented all the way. You are on the border of having to make a starter, but I usually make one for anything 1.050 and up.


Ah, forget my nonsense answer up top and look at this post

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/wlp-005-a-317763/

It says that your strain tends to drop out early and fall to bottom, and sometimes requires some agitation. Good to know, I wanna make a stout soon as well with this yeast

How do you agitate without risking oxygenation? I would think most of the oxygen is out of the fermenter after the first couple of days so you could just leave the Air lock in and give it a little swirl.... but i have no idea if that's the right thing to do or not.

Matt3989 said:

How do you agitate without risking oxygenation? I would think most of the oxygen is out of the fermenter after the first couple of days so you could just leave the Air lock in and give it a little swirl.... but i have no idea if that's the right thing to do or not.

Click to expand...

Yea that's right. You are just getting the yeast off the bottom to say "C'mon boys, we got some work to do"...

You missed your FG by a couple of points. It's insignificant. You have no problem to solve.

phuff7129 said:

You missed your FG by a couple of points. It's insignificant. You have no problem to solve.

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True, but I would say depending on how the OP wanted to finish, 1.020 could be a tad on the high side. Even my SWMBO knows that it's all about the finish that counts (yes pun intended)

Instead of making a new thread, thought I'd bump this one with a quick question.

Bottled this batch in a few 12 once bottles, the rest in 1 pints. If this is considered a heavy beer how long to carb ??.........

dstranger99 said:

Instead of making a new thread, thought I'd bump this one with a quick question.

Bottled this batch in a few 12 once bottles, the rest in 1 pints. If this is considered a heavy beer how long to carb ??.........

Click to expand...

3 weeks as usual. Higher abv would require longer carb but not 5.3%.