wondering if og is WAY too low

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
B

bagpiperjosh

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2012
Messages
343
Reaction score
1
Location
Plum
i'm wondering if this beer will turn out well.. i suppose time will tell, but i wanted to see what everyone else's thoughts were.

i made a 5lb batch of cream ale based on a recipe on here by someone else.

it was

8lbs of 2 row
2lbs of flaked corn
.5 lb of instant rice

i tried to shoot for 152 deg mash but i think i was under by about 2 degrees which may be part of my problem

my pre-boil gravity was 1.02
and my post boil gravity was 1.032 @78 deg

so you think it will turn out ok? i imagine it will be VERY low in abv
 
You may have had some issues while mashing. Did you do an iodine test to see if starch conversion was complete? The beer will still turn out fine, but will have a lower ABV and maybe a sweeter taste. Since your brewing a cream ale, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
 
jkbachman said:
You may have had some issues while mashing. Did you do an iodine test to see if starch conversion was complete? The beer will still turn out fine, but will have a lower ABV and maybe a sweeter taste. Since your brewing a cream ale, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Click to expand...

No i dont have the stuff to do the iodine test. But after that batch. I may have to pick that stuff up
 
Just pick up a bottle of iodine from Walmart or any kind of grocery store/pharmacy. Iodine turns the starch in your mash a blackish color so if the iodine stays the same reddish rust color you know starch conversion is complete. Just make sure you do this test on a white colored surface away from the sweet wort...I can't imagine iodine adding good flavors to beer.
 
bwinnie said:
^^^ and it's poisonous.
Click to expand...

If you're using that much iodine to test that it's a safety concern then you're doing it wrong. Iodine isn't poisonous unless it's in huge concentrations. It's just fine to use in low quantities, which is why your LHBS likely sells Iodophor...an iodine solution that you mix to a 12-15ppm solution with water to sanitize brewing equipment.

That's not to say that I wouldn't do my conversion test away from my open mash tun, but unless you accidentally dump a whole bottle in the mash you'd likely be OK (depending on the size of the bottle...).
 
Yeah, it'd take a lot of iodine to be poisonous. Considering folks use it to treat drinking water (tastes nasty, but it sure as hell beats getting disentery), gonna go with not a poison under normal circumstances. ;)

As for the OP - that sounds very similar to a recipe I just did... Except I used 7lbs of base malt and a full 11oz box of minute rice. And I wound up on the other end of the scale; I was expecting around 1.040-ish, and hit nearly 1.050...

Now... What OG were you expecting? Doing a temp correction, and assuming your hydrometer is calibrated for 60F like most are, that 1.032 translates to 1.034... So yes, you're a bit on the low side - if your yeast (what yeast are you using, BTW?) attenuates around 70%, you're looking at about a 3% ABV... Should be a pretty friendly summertime beer, if nothing else.
 
stratslinger said:
Yeah, it'd take a lot of iodine to be poisonous. Considering folks use it to treat drinking water (tastes nasty, but it sure as hell beats getting disentery), gonna go with not a poison under normal circumstances. ;)

As for the OP - that sounds very similar to a recipe I just did... Except I used 7lbs of base malt and a full 11oz box of minute rice. And I wound up on the other end of the scale; I was expecting around 1.040-ish, and hit nearly 1.050...

Now... What OG were you expecting? Doing a temp correction, and assuming your hydrometer is calibrated for 60F like most are, that 1.032 translates to 1.034... So yes, you're a bit on the low side - if your yeast (what yeast are you using, BTW?) attenuates around 70%, you're looking at about a 3% ABV... Should be a pretty friendly summertime beer, if nothing else.
Click to expand...

According to my programs i should be getting somewhere between 1043 and 1046 post boil. As for yeast im using safale us-05
 
bagpiperjosh said:
According to my programs i should be getting somewhere between 1043 and 1046 post boil. As for yeast im using safale us-05
Click to expand...

I was mistaken. I used 6 lbs of two row not 8. Sorry
 
What program are you using? If its not the mash you could of had some bad yeast, but my experience has never involved bad yeast. Is it liquid or dry yeast? I've always hit final gravity marks with liquid yeast but dry yeast has been fickle at times. Also, it could have to do with temp at fermentation and time you had it fermenting.
 
My cream ale did about the same, but was awsome!!! Got 3.2% all my friends love it!!

ForumRunner_20120508_225447.jpg
 
i just checked my gravity after 9 days and its 1.000 which tells me i got 4.46%abv. does that seem right?? given what i said in the original post??

i also plan to bottle today and its really cloudy, should i try to chill it first to get some of that haze out of there??

thanks
 
bagpiperjosh said:
i just checked my gravity after 9 days and its 1.000 which tells me i got 4.46%abv. does that seem right?? given what i said in the original post??

i also plan to bottle today and its really cloudy, should i try to chill it first to get some of that haze out of there??

thanks
Click to expand...

1.000 is the gravity of water, you are not reading your hydrometer properly
 
duboman said:
1.000 is the gravity of water, you are not reading your hydrometer properly
Click to expand...

Actually, it is possible to hit 1.00 with a beer. Remember that alcohol has a lower SG than water... if the residual sugars are low enough and the alcohol content high enough, it can bring the FG to that level.
 
wailingguitar said:
Actually, it is possible to hit 1.00 with a beer. Remember that alcohol has a lower SG than water... if the residual sugars are low enough and the alcohol content high enough, it can bring the FG to that level.
Click to expand...

i actually wasnt expecting such a high alcohol content. i hope it still tastes ok. its really light in color and smelled pretty strong
 
It sounds like the beer is going to be lighter in body but higher in alcohol content. Have you also made sure that the hygrometer you use is correctly calibrated for the temperature?
 

Similar threads

N
Stuck recirculation BM’s Cream of 3 Crops
Replies
10
Views
1K
Niatras
N
Clint Yeastwood
Best Way to Move Hot Wort to Fermenting Keg?
Replies
6
Views
568
Clint Yeastwood
Clint Yeastwood
Gadjobrinus
First one down - Coniston Blue Birdesque
Replies
8
Views
569
Gadjobrinus
Gadjobrinus
M
Hazy IPA brewing:Something happened it's my numbers. Picking your brain
Replies
6
Views
587
VTMongoose
VTMongoose
J
Low Gravity and ABV
2
Replies
40
Views
3K
BrewZer
BrewZer
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top