Gravity drop by 28 Points overnight?

Is this something that is normal? I just put the beer in the primary yesterday at about this time, the Original Gravity was 1.070. Today, I took a reading and i'm sitting at 1.042. All of my readings where taken at 60F, and I read the sample three times.

Recipe, please. That is a pretty huge OG. 1.042 sounds like normal OG reading. AG or extract?

Yeah, that could be possible. If it's actively fermenting, leave it alone. You're only risking infection by opening up the fermenter.

Yes it is possible. I've had a few brews ferment out almost completely in under 24 hours.

Beersmith's right. Wait until airlock activity has slowed down considerable before taking readings.

Well I have a stainless steel spigot at the bottom of the fermenter, so I don't ever have to open it up, just a small turn for about 2 seconds gets my sample, so i'm not worried about infection.

As for the activity, yes, this stuff is really active. It has a nice little stream of bubbles about every 5 or 6 seconds.

Kayos said:

Recipe, please. That is a pretty huge OG. 1.042 sounds like normal OG reading. AG or extract?

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The recipe is here. I was pretty surprized at the OG, however BeerSmith software estimated 1.066.

With the honey and sugar, plus the extract, yeah, the gravity is that high. There's alot of simple sugar in there. The yeast is going to go through it pretty quick.

Brewsmith said:

With the honey and sugar, plus the extract, yeah, the gravity is that high. There's alot of simple sugar in there. The yeast is going to go through it pretty quick.

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Yup, you are right. With those sugars, it could do it. Good Luck!

Aaron1983 said:

As for the activity, yes, this stuff is really active. It has a nice little stream of bubbles about every 5 or 6 seconds.

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Bubbles every 5 or 6 seconds and it dropped 28 points in one day? Those have to be some monster sized bubbles. Using a blow off hose?

Bearcat Brewmeister said:

Bubbles every 5 or 6 seconds and it dropped 28 points in one day? Those have to be some monster sized bubbles. Using a blow off hose?

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Yeah, 1/2" ID Vinyl tubing into a gallon of star-san/water solution.

Hope you're keeping the temperature under control. that fast a ferment can generate lots of heat. I might add, with that much crystal, you'll have a fairly high final gravity.

david_42 said:

Hope you're keeping the temperature under control. that fast a ferment can generate lots of heat. I might add, with that much crystal, you'll have a fairly high final gravity.

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If by under control you mean in a closet, than yeah....

I've been monitoring closet temps throughout the last couple of days, it's stayed around 67-70 degrees the whole time.

Prolly a typo, but to me it appears the OP's FG is greater than OG:


Estimated Og: 1.066
Estimated Fg: 1.071
Bitterness: 33.7 IBU
Color: 12.2 SRM

Check the recipe:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=57692

blacklab said:

Prolly a typo, but to me it appears the OP's FG is greater than OG:


Estimated Og: 1.066
Estimated Fg: 1.071
Bitterness: 33.7 IBU
Color: 12.2 SRM

Check the recipe:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=57692

Click to expand...

Yeah, it is a typo, but it's fixed now. Thanks for pointing that out.

Aaron1983 said:

If by under control you mean in a closet, than yeah....

I've been monitoring closet temps throughout the last couple of days, it's stayed around 67-70 degrees the whole time.

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Well, if it's 70 degrees in your closet, it might be 78 degrees inside your fermenter. I recommend one of those stick on thermometers (like for aquariums) so you can monitor the actual temperature of the fermenter.