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toestothesun

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Hello, I made a mistake and racked to the secondary before taking my FG (I know from reading I shouldn't do this but I got too excited and racked to secondary). After doing so, I got a final gravity reading of 1.014. According to the recipe (Honey wheat/extract/got it from this site), the FG should be 1.009. I added a little extra honey that the recipe didn't call for so I'm assuming that could be accounting for the difference.

Did I really screw up here or will this beer turn out ok? Also, I know the recipe said this was an easy drinking beer, but should I expect my ABV to be 2% as my hydrometer is suggesting? When I was playing around with calculators before I brewed it, they were suggesting approximately 5% ABV.

Any help/insight would be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
 
Let it sit... You'll be fine. There are probably be enough yeast still in suspension that they'll finish off what needs to be done, it might just take longer than expected.

Sent from my iPad using HB Talk
 
Let it sit... You'll be fine. There are probably be enough yeast still in suspension that they'll finish off what needs to be done, it might just take longer than expected.

Sent from my iPad using HB Talk

You think? How long do you think I should let it sit?
 
as stated, should be ok with a little extra time. what was the og for it to end at 2% with fg of 1.014? that would be an og of 1.030.
 
I don't think I ever had an extract batch finish at 1.009 (1.014 doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility for a FG to me). Just take a couple hydro readings on consecutive days and see if the gravity is stable. As for the 2% ABV my guess is that your are looking at the potential alcohol scale on you triple scale hydrometer... hopefully you checked your OG (if ABV is important to you). Use that and your FG to determine alcohol. An easy ABV approximation OG-FGx131.

Hope that helps
 
Do you know what your OG was?

How long did you leave it in the primary before racking to secondary?

OG was in the neighborhood of 1.052 but I don't remember exactly. I wrote it down but don't remember exactly where. I had it in the primary for 17 days.
 
'if' you racked it to your secondary too soon, it will continue to ferment until it is done. you can tell if it's done by taking readings over the course of a few days. if the readings stay the same, you can consider it done. what you DON'T want to do is bottle before initial fermentation is complete. you could wind up with bottle bombs... :)

in regards to using a secondary, there's a lot of debate. personally, if i'm trying to brew a 'clear' beer, i'll use one. if i'm brewing a stout, nope. you could rack to a secondary when adding different flavors, i.e. fruit or dry hopping. but, if you do, again, initial fermentation should be complete.

as far as your particular recipe goes, dunno... post the recipe and your notes and see what others say....
 
I don't think I ever had an extract batch finish at 1.009 (1.014 doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility for a FG to me). Just take a couple hydro readings on consecutive days and see if the gravity is stable. As for the 2% ABV my guess is that your are looking at the potential alcohol scale on you triple scale hydrometer... hopefully you checked your OG (if ABV is important to you). Use that and your FG to determine alcohol. An easy ABV approximation OG-FGx131.

Hope that helps

Yes I am looking at the potential alcohol scale. I believe the OG was close to 1.052 (as the recipe suggests) but I don't recall exactly. I wrote it down someplace but don't know exactly where.
 
Here's the recipe I used

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: US-05
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.009
IBU: 29.2
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 5
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7
Tasting Notes: Awesome beer for the warmer months

This is an American Wheat Ale that I love. It resembles a hefe-weizen, but it tastes nothing like one. It's easy-drinking, with an evident sweetness from the honey and honey malt. The hops, especially the late addition Centennials, balances out the sweetness and gives it a nice subtle aroma. I brew this in the Spring typically, but it can easily be a refreshing summer beer.

Fermentables
6lbs Wheat LME
1lb Orange Blossom Honey
.5lb Honey Malt

Hops
.75oz Mt. Hood (6 AAU) @ 60 min
.75oz Mt. Hood (6 AAU) @ 20 min
1oz Centennial @ 1 min

Yeast
US-05

Add half the extract at the beginning of the boil, then add the remaining in the final 10-15 minutes. This will increase the bitterness a little bit while also keeping the beer lighter. If you want the beer to be cloudy, take a cup of regular wheat flour and add it to some water to create a slurry. Add the slurry to the boil with around 15-20 minutes left. Add the honey with about 3 minutes left in the boil.

You can easily sub the Centennials with Amarillos or possibly even Cascades.

This is one of my favorite beers.
 
Like stated above... Take a few hydrometer readings over a few days. That's the only way to tell when fermentation is done. How long can depend on too many variables, but the numbers will stay the same when it's reached FG.

Sent from my iPad using HB Talk
 
Also, this is going to completely sound like a noob question but I do not rely upon the potential alcohol volume scale on the hydrometer to determine my ABV?
 
That's more of a rough estimate assuming everything fully ferments out. If you search the forums or online you can find calculators where you plug in your original gravity and final gravity and it'll tell you your alcohol content. There is a math equation that will tell you how much alcohol you have: starting gravity minus final gravity divided by .0074

So 1.052-1.014= .038. .038/.0074=5.13% if your gravity is finished right now as is.

Sent from my iPad using HB Talk
 
Also, this is going to completely sound like a noob question but I do not rely upon the potential alcohol volume scale on the hydrometer to determine my ABV?

You could but you need to look at the initial potential alcohol and then subtract the final potential alcohol to get a figure
 
The only "damage" you could do by transferring early is there will be more yeast to settle out and the beer might not be as clear. There should be plenty of yeast in suspension. They are the ones doing the bulk of the "work" anyway. Those that have settled out don't do much.

The big danger is bottling too early as that can result in bottle bombs.
 
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