I am so mad! Always calibrate Hydro

So I am on my fourth all grain batch. Many have turned out very thin and dry after fermentation.

I cracked my hyrdro taking a reading on a Tripel IPA I just brewed. The hydro was reading a TG of 1.020 right where it should be, but it had the top snapped off. So I get a new one, a different brand. It reads 10 ptnts different. I test it in a finished beer out of the bottle...still 10 ptnts.

My thoughts were the new one was wrong because when I brew to recipe I was hitting my gravity ptnts perfect. So I run out and get distilled water which should read 0 ptnts. New one reads 0, old one 1.010

I am so upset because I have been trying to figure out why my beers taste good when I transfer to secondary, but then after clearing up and kegging they are no good.

I sat in the kitchen swearing up a storm. I put my heart and soul into those beers and there no good. My wife says....well now you know why.... aren't you glad it happened. Yes, but man am I upset.

How do I salvage these beers. Do I brew the same beer with high gravity and blend back? Do I add maltodextrine?

If they are already bottled just drink them! That and you can't really blame a hydrometer for a week or thin beer. We have all been there, done that (thin beers) and one needs to know your reciepe and mash details to give you advice. I am sure that is where you can improve your beer. In my experience, in very general terms, to get a thicker, heavier beer, one needs a larger amount of grains and higher mash temperatures.

Since the top snapped off, the center of gravity shifted down giving you an artificially high reading, confirmed by the distilled water test.

FG aside, what don't you like about the old brews?

What joety said. I'm trying to figure out how they could be good after primary and bad when you bottle.

joety said:

Since the top snapped off, the center of gravity shifted down giving you an artificially high reading, confirmed by the distilled water test.

FG aside, what don't you like about the old brews?

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The top snapped today. I replaced it today. I have not been using it that way this whole time.

Do you think it was accurate and since breaking its now reading high? In which case I am getting very high attenuations.

Boleslaus said:

What joety said. I'm trying to figure out how they could be good after primary and bad when you bottle.

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I taste when I transfer to secondary. Take reading and usually give it one more week. If I was off, then I should have pulled them at this time, not waited another week as i usually get more ptnts in that last week. IE- last beer was moved to 2nd at 1.021 and finished the week around 1.009 and then I crash cooled for a few days and racked to the keg.

They taste very dry without any residual sugar.

nediver said:

The top snapped today. I replaced it today. I have not been using it that way this whole time.

Do you think it was accurate and since breaking its now reading high? In which case I am getting very high attenuations.

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If the hydro snapped and this threw off the center of gravity and makes it artifically high, then if I check one of my finished beers i measured a few weeks ago, it should be different and higher than my notes?

I can't say for sure it was accurate before the top snapped off, but I can say snapping the top off would make it inaccurate in the direction you determined, therefore, it's safe to say it was likely accurate at the time and thus your "bad beer" issue is likely unrelated.

nediver said:

If the hydro snapped and this threw off the center of gravity and makes it artifically high, then if I check one of my finished beers i measured a few weeks ago, it should be different and higher than my notes?

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Correct, assuming it was done fermenting, that test should work. The broken hydro should give you a higher reading than when it was not broken.

Ok so my belgian blonde on tap reads 1.011 on the new hydro and 10 ptnts higher on the old one. So the ten ptnts is due to the hydro breaking and in fact my readings were probably accurate.

New problem. My Tripel Ipa now over attenuated. OG was 1.082 and now is 1.011, target was in the 1.018 to 1.1021 range. Hard to judge the taste from hydro sample. Its very hoppy and needs to clear.

AFAIK, tripels and tripel IPAs are supposed to be fairly dry.

nediver said:

Ok so my belgian blonde on tap reads 1.011 on the new hydro and 10 ptnts higher on the old one. So the ten ptnts is due to the hydro breaking and in fact my readings were probably accurate.

New problem. My Tripel Ipa now over attenuated. OG was 1.082 and now is 1.011, target was in the 1.018 to 1.1021 range. Hard to judge the taste from hydro sample. Its very hoppy and needs to clear.

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I can't speak for the author of the recipe, but you want to get triples down to 1.011, not 1.021. The reason so much sugar is used in a triple is to boost the alcohol while keeping the beer drier. Although they call it a Belgian Blonde (at least I think they do), Duvel's to me a good example of a triple which you can find nowadays just about anywhere. That is a dry beer, unlike Gulden Draak, which is not representative of most triples I've had from trappist breweries, and I've had most of them.

You shouldn't be touching the beer until its finished fermenting in the first place although I agree this is more difficult to determine "finished" with a broken hydrometer. However, it is not the reason you're beers are thinning out. Your idea that you need to move the beer to secondary at a predetermined gravity reading to prevent over attenuation is misguided. The beer is done when it is done.

ArtVandelay said:

You shouldn't be touching the beer until its finished fermenting in the first place although I agree this is more difficult to determine "finished" with a broken hydrometer. However, it is not the reason you're beers are thinning out. Your idea that you need to move the beer to secondary at a predetermined gravity reading to prevent over attenuation is misguided. The beer is done when it is done.

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Sorry I gave u that impression. I use secondary to clear up beers and to free up my 6.5 for the next batch, they usually get moved while there is still some fermenting to be done. Wouldn't u want this to be the case since it helps to push out any O2 that is picked up during the transfer. I think my problems stem from perhaps mash temp, residual sugars or lack there of contributing to mouthfeel, and carbonation problems as I am new to kegging. The hydro was replaced the day it broke. The confusion was whether the new one was accurate.

Of course I am just guessing at those things, and would appreciate advice attached to the criticism on techniques as I am a new brewer.

I added some maltodextrine and it did make a difference. I used probably 6 oz for 5 g.

What temps have you been mashing at? You don't use a hydro until after you collect at least a little bit of wort. If you have been having problems, then you should calibrate your thermometer and see what that thing says in a cup of ice water and some boiling water.

If your new hydrometer is reading 1.000 in distilled water, then move on. I agree that tripels are supposed to be as dry as you can get them.

Also, I'm pretty sure that Duvel is technically a Belgian Golden Strong (I always think that it's a tripel, too).

nediver said:

Sorry I gave u that impression. I use secondary to clear up beers and to free up my 6.5 for the next batch, they usually get moved while there is still some fermenting to be done. Wouldn't u want this to be the case since it helps to push out any O2 that is picked up during the transfer. I think my problems stem from perhaps mash temp, residual sugars or lack there of contributing to mouthfeel, and carbonation problems as I am new to kegging. The hydro was replaced the day it broke. The confusion was whether the new one was accurate.

Of course I am just guessing at those things, and would appreciate advice attached to the criticism on techniques as I am a new brewer.

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A lot of people on here are going to tell you that youll be better off waiting at least till fermentation is done before racking. Better yet wait a couple weeks before racking or just skip a secondary all together. Leaving the beer on the yeast gives it a little time clean up fermentation byproducts and off flavors.

devilishprune said:

What temps have you been mashing at? You don't use a hydro until after you collect at least a little bit of wort. If you have been having problems, then you should calibrate your thermometer and see what that thing says in a cup of ice water and some boiling water.

If your new hydrometer is reading 1.000 in distilled water, then move on. I agree that tripels are supposed to be as dry as you can get them.

Also, I'm pretty sure that Duvel is technically a Belgian Golden Strong (I always think that it's a tripel, too).

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The triple was 149. Belgian blonde was 153. IPA was 156.

Duvel is def a golden strong. Agreed there.

Triple and many Belgians are bone dry. However, I brewed a Tripel IPA and with a lot of hops you want to have some sweetness leftover. Think about those chewy west coast IPA. So the challenge is marrying the two styles, perhaps ambitious for a beginning brewer but I got into this to make beers I enjoy. It's cooling and dry hopping right now will know how it tastes and its mouthfeel when I carb it in a few days.

Sorry, correct, it's a golden strong. I love Belgians and I love IPA's, and I've had what others consider a great hybrid beer, but I didn't care for it and prefer to keep them separate. To each his own.

Had a similar problem, broke my hydrometer while sanitizing, just after I closed up my mash tun. Luckily I work in a lab, and have lab equipment in my truck. Didn't have a hydrometer but I had a good scale, so I weighed a hundred mls of wort and figured my og off of the weight. May continue to do that along with a hydrometer reading to have a way to double check I am at the point I want to be. So if you have a scale (although it has to read into the thousandth of a gram) you can get by without a hydrometer in a pinch. But most people wouldn't have a scale most likely, maybe though.

nediver said:

Ok so my belgian blonde on tap reads 1.011 on the new hydro and 10 ptnts higher on the old one. So the ten ptnts is due to the hydro breaking and in fact my readings were probably accurate.

New problem. My Tripel Ipa now over attenuated. OG was 1.082 and now is 1.011, target was in the 1.018 to 1.1021 range. Hard to judge the taste from hydro sample. Its very hoppy and needs to clear.

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If your belgian blonde is on tap and carbonated you cant take a hydro reading the co2 will throw it off.