Gravity Reading 1.004 - Confused

I just transfered my Fat Tire clone to the secondary. My OG was 1.056. I just took a reading from the secondary and ended up with 1.004 !!? Is that even possible? Here's the full story maybe my math is wrong somehow...

My initial reading from the secondary came in at 1.000 and I knew something was up.
I checked the Hydrometer and it's showing .996 w/80 degree water. It's calibrated at 60F so that means I get .998 at 60F, .002 below what it's supposed to be.

My secondary is showing 1.000 at 76 degrees which means to 1.002 at 60F. Add the .002 that the Hydrometer is off and you end up with 1.004. I don't know what the heck happened! It tastes fine.

Sounds to me like you Hydrometer is off. Perhaps the paper insert inside came loose.

Sounds like there is something funky going on with your hydrometer reading or calibration, but as long as it tastes okay...

Yeah...I just bought this Hydrometer too; the fancy one with the thermometer built in. *shrugs shoulders*

One more question. I've seen some talk on cold conditioning but I'm not sure what it's all about. Now that I have a kegging system, should I condition my secondary in the fridge for two weeks?

Thanks for all your help guys!

shlap said:

Yeah...I just bought this Hydrometer too; the fancy one with the thermometer built in. *shrugs shoulders*

One more question. I've seen some talk on cold conditioning but I'm not sure what it's all about. Now that I have a kegging system, should I condition my secondary in the fridge for two weeks?

Thanks for all your help guys!

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I've never heard of this. Wouldn't that slow down conditioning?

Well I am in the same boat as Shlap I had a beer awhile back finish at 1.002 and thought how can this be possible. I checked the hydrometer and it was correct. All I can say is this beer was very very dry.

Take a hydrometer tube or whatever you use for taking your readings and fill it with water at 60F. Use your thermometer.

Once it's 60F remove it and replace it with a hydrometer. Record your reading.

It should be 1.000. If it is not, record the difference. If it reads 1.004 then you have to adjust all of your readings by +004.

If you take an OG sample and it reads 1.057 at 73F then your actual reading is 1.061 for correction and +.002 for the temp correction = 1.063

For an FG of 1.004 at 66F it is really 1.008 plus .001 = 1.009.

It could be an infection. The bugs will eat things that your ale yeast can't. Sometimes it will take a while for an off flavor to develop. It could be just fine, only dry, though.

Yeah my Hydro is correct and the beer tastes just fine although dry and not alot of body.

One more question. I've seen some talk on cold conditioning but I'm not sure what it's all about. Now that I have a kegging system, should I condition my secondary in the fridge for two weeks?

Click to expand...

You could put your secondary in the fridge or you could put the keg in the fridge and let it condition in there. Just like one big bottle. What you would be doing is getting the chill haze out of the beer. That is, protiens that combine with tanins and other things at certian temperatures and form the haze in cold beer. If you chill it and let it sit for a couple of weeks, eventually they will fall out of the beer and settle in the bottom of the keg/carboy which ever you do it in. I try to let my kegs sit in the fridge for at least a week, usually I cant wait that long though.

Cheers

Brew-boy said:

Yeah my Hydro is correct and the beer tastes just fine although dry and not alot of body.

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In your case you should have sampled it earlier to not have it go dry if you didn't want it that way.

For the body you can add 1-2 oz of malto dextrine along with the priming sugar.

I've been having this problem with my recent return to AG brewing- if you are mashing then this can be caused by too low a mash temp, next time try increasing the mash temp.
I also agree with infection being a possible cause- wild yeasts/other bugs can breakdown sugars that beer yeast can't and cause the FG to drop. If you have gushers or a ring in the neck of the bottle this is likely the case. If it is an infection, likely the beer will continue to ferment in the bottle over time and develop some off flavors as well as eventually become thin bitter water (drink it fast!).
This all assumes that your hydrometer reading is correct. I haven't decided what my problem is, but I increased my mash temp on my last batch and will pay closer attention to my sanitation in the future as well- mine aren't down as low as yours but still getting better than 80% attenuation.

shlap said:

I just transfered my Fat Tire clone to the secondary. My OG was 1.056. I just took a reading from the secondary and ended up with 1.004 !!? Is that even possible? Here's the full story maybe my math is wrong somehow...

My initial reading from the secondary came in at 1.000 and I knew something was up.
I checked the Hydrometer and it's showing .996 w/80 degree water. It's calibrated at 60F so that means I get .998 at 60F, .002 below what it's supposed to be.

My secondary is showing 1.000 at 76 degrees which means to 1.002 at 60F. Add the .002 that the Hydrometer is off and you end up with 1.004. I don't know what the heck happened! It tastes fine.

Click to expand...

Either you've been drinking or I have cuz I don't wonderstand a urd you just said.

I'm willing to bet it's the latter... :cross:

BierMuncher said:

Either you've been drinking or I have cuz I don't wonderstand a urd you just said.

I'm willing to bet it's the latter... :cross:

Click to expand...

Probably a little of both ;-) Reading over it again, it didn't make a lot of sense. The jist is that when I adusted my hydrometer reading to account for tempurature and being 2 points off, it came to 1.004.

AND IT JUST HAPPENED TO ME AGAIN TONIGHT!

I've never seen anything like this but these were my first 2 all-grain batches. The OG was normal on them both. The mash temp was about 153 on both.

I'm going to bring a sample in to my local home brew store tomorrow to make sure my hydrometer is working correctly.

shlap said:

Probably a little of both ;-) Reading over it again, it didn't make a lot of sense. The jist is that when I adusted my hydrometer reading to account for tempurature and being 2 points off, it came to 1.004.

AND IT JUST HAPPENED TO ME AGAIN TONIGHT!

I've never seen anything like this but these were my first 2 all-grain batches. The OG was normal on them both. The mash temp was about 153 on both.

I'm going to bring a sample in to my local home brew store tomorrow to make sure my hydrometer is working correctly.

Click to expand...

Update: I took my second all-grain batch, an IPA, to the HBS to test with another hydrometer and it came out to 1.005! I must be getting an infection from somewhere but the IPA tastes pretty good after just a week in the primary.

I mashed the IPA at 152 degrees for 60 min and used WLP001.

91%! I think you should try an isolate that wild yeast. You might have the next pacman.

david_42 said:

91%! I think you should try an isolate that wild yeast. You might have the next pacman.

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Doh! I just moved it to the secondary on Saturday and tossed the cake down the drain.

It really does taste good though, the HBS guy wanted my recipe!

BierMuncher said:

Either you've been drinking or I have cuz I don't wonderstand a urd you just said.

I'm willing to bet it's the latter... :cross:

Click to expand...

Buy a couple of new hydrometers! They're cheap. Test when cool. Consult the correction for temp chart.
Don't partake too much on brewday, until the boil is done!

Make sure to also check your thermometer you used on brew day. It could be off and causing you to mash way to low causing greater attenuation.

Solid advice on a 13 year old thread....