Didn't hit FG...why?

I just bottled my second brew last night. I took a reading before I bottled and it wasn't really close. Recipe said OG of 1.072, I was 1.073 and FG of 1.010, I was 1.020. The brew smells fantastic and tasted good (as good as it can be w/out conditioning). By the way the beer is a stout, called Shot in the Dark. Just curious on why my FG is off.

how long in primary/secondary? what kind of kit, out of curiosity?
what kind of temp did you have during ferment?

There are many factors that lead up to you getting to final gravity. Can you post your recipe? What type of yeast did you use, did you use a starter, and did you check the date it was manufactured (for viability)?

The kit was put together by my LHBS, so I don't know what the date was on it. Here is the recipe for a 5 gallon batch......

1/2 pound DME (for starter)
7 pounds Dark DME
1/2 pound U.S. Crystal 20
1/2 pound U.K. Chocolate Malt
1/2 pound U.K. Roasted Barley
1/4 pound Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa
1/2 pound Brown Sugar
1/2 pound Dark Roast Coffee
16 HBU Perle Hops (Bittering Hops)

Yeast WLP 001 (California Ale)

O.G. 1.073-77
F.G. 1.010-22

I did the starter just like they said. I started 2-3 days before my brew. I followed my brew schedule to the t. They said to ferment for 1 week in primary, I actually did 2 wks because of work and a death in the family. One day before I racked to secondary I made a cold extraction with the coffee and added it to my carboy before a siphoned the beer. They said to leave in secondary for 2wks, then prime, bottle and age for 2 or more wks.

Here are my numbers through the process....
1-22-12 SG 1.074 @ 70 degrees
2-8-12 transfer to carboy
3-10-12 FG 1.020 @ 68 degrees

I just noticed that I was in the ballpark with my FG. I'm still curious to know why it was high, a couple more points then I would of missed my FG. Call me anal but the more I do this new found hobby the more I get into the particulars of why things do what they do.

1/4 of 1.074 is 1.018 so you are not far off your FG. You might have gone another week in primary to see if it came down. Check it in secodary after 2 weeks and see if it dropped at all. Since you are not doing any fermentation in secondary, it's a time for clearing and picking up the coffee flavors. I would taste it weekly to see how the coffee is coming along. Bottle it once you are happy with the proper level of coffee flavor.

Extract recipes seem to finish off at the higher end of the FG range, 1.020 is fairly typical for a recipe where most of the fermentables are from malt extract.

Search 1.020 and you'll find tons of threads very similar to yours.

I use extracts most of the time, and the higher FG hasn't caused any problems for me. It still tastes good.

Thanks a lot guys.

tellish33, I would like to give this recipe a try. Would you mind giving me the amount of hops and addition schedule? When is the cocoa and brown sugar added? Any other instructions I need to know?

Thanks for your help. Dave