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RLFoley · 11-11-2012, 04:54 PM

A week ago from today, i brewed a Belgian wheat ipa that i got from austin homebrew supply. The kit called for an OG of 1.070 with a FG of 1.016. when i took my OG reading it came out at 1.090. Today i took my first reading since fermentation began and it came out at 1.025. I just need to know what my FG should be now since my OG came out much higher.

**Austinhomebrew** · 11-11-2012, 05:05 PM

Was it extract, mini-mash or all grain?

Forrest

**homebrewbeliever** · 11-11-2012, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RLFoley

A week ago from today, i brewed a Belgian wheat ipa that i got from austin homebrew supply. The kit called for an OG of 1.070 with a FG of 1.016. when i took my OG reading it came out at 1.090. Today i took my first reading since fermentation began and it came out at 1.025. I just need to know what my FG should be now since my OG came out much higher.

Hi There RLFoley, in short, your FG should be whatever you want it to be. Basically, where you choose to have your FG at is what will offer the final sweetness and alcohol content of the beer. You could ferment until you get an FG of 1.016 anyway, and you'd get a resulting 9.9% alcohol by volume, which is actually quite nice for some Belgians, especially some Belgian strong ales. Although I'm not quite sure why you got such a high OG from a kit (unless you soaked some specialty grains and you happened to get a great extraction from them), consider it a blessing! You'll just get a stronger beer. However, you can also call the beer done when the FG is lower than 1.016, and you'd have even a stronger and dryer beer. I've fermented some of my Belgian golden strong ales to 1.005 and had them rock around 10.5% ABV; they turned out great. However, I would be wary of bottling your beer (and bottle conditioning with sugar) with a FG of much higher than 1.016 as you could *potentially* have bottle bombs on your hands, or if anything else, just very carbonated beer. If you are kegging your beer, then it really doesn't matter what FG you keg at. Your best bet is to taste your beer at 1.016 and see what you think. Be warned, however: young Belgians can have a very *interesting* flavor due to the yeast. I've bottled some Belgians that I thought tasted somewhat gross, only to find that they taste completely amazing after aging for a few months. I hope all this info helps!

RLFoley · 11-11-2012, 05:24 PM

Thanks for the helpful information!

**helibrewer** · 11-11-2012, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RLFoley

A week ago from today, i brewed a Belgian wheat ipa that i got from austin homebrew supply. The kit called for an OG of 1.070 with a FG of 1.016. when i took my OG reading it came out at 1.090. Today i took my first reading since fermentation began and it came out at 1.025. I just need to know what my FG should be now since my OG came out much higher.

If this was an extract kit and you used the proper water volumes your OG will be very close to 1.070
Your higher OG is most likely due to incomplete mixing in the fermentor after a partial boil.
A week is not long enough for a 1.070 beer, you still have a ways to go for your FG. I wouldn't check it until the 3 week point. If it's close to your expected FG, take another reading a couple days later and see if it's still dropping. Once it stops droppng over several days, it is finished fermenting.

**unionrdr** · 11-11-2012, 06:18 PM

Yup,that's a common problem with extract brewing,or any type of brewing where the wort is topped off with water in the fermenter to total volume. I pour all through a fine mesh strainer & stir roughly for 5 minutes straight to get it aerated & mixed as well as can be. I get more accurate OG readings that way.