ABV concern

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hsmith80

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I racked my White House Honey Porter to secondary on Sunday. I kept it at 68 degrees Fahrenheit in primary for two entire weeks as instructed. When I racked to secondary I took a hydrometer reading and it read as not even 5% ABV. This is my second brew. I first brewed Northern Brewer's Caribou Slobber and it came out at almost 4% ABV. That brew had its own problems though. I have a few questions. 1. There is an entire pound of honey in this brew. Could that have slowed fermentation possibly? Like settled at the bottom and sunk the yeast? The yeast at the bottom of primary was sort of bubbly looking but there had been no airlock activity in a week. 2. I forgot to measure gravity at the start of the brew, but using northern brewer's given o.g. For this brew and my hydrometer reading, I keep getting weird numbers. So I have been just reading the ABV reading on the hydrometer itself. Is that accurate?
 
Are your reading the ABV scale on your hygrometer? That scale really does not work well with brewing since we don't normally finish at 1.000. That is a scale for wine making. To find your ABV you need to know your Original Gravity and your Final Gravity then you can plug that into any one of a number of online websites and they will tell you what your ABV is.
 
Yeah I've been using that scale. Maybe I plugged it in wrong, but I tried an online one and it was weird. It said I had -299% ABV or something. Northern brewer gave me 1.054 as my o.g. I forgot to measure myself. But I finished at 1.25ish
 
An OG of 1.054 should finish well below 1.025. More like 1.012 or so. And read the scale that reads 10,20,30,40,etc. To get specific gravity.
 
Maybe I'm reading the wrong scale. I'm really new at this and 1.25 doesn't really make sense
 
I'll read it again when I get home. Because this is really bugging me. But assuming 1.025 is right, do you have any ideas of why it may be so low?
 
You read the scale with 1.000 being water at 66F. Then the numbers read as 1.010,1.020,1.030,etc. So I guessed you meant "1.025". Not low enough for a stable FG with an OG of 1.054. It should be lower,like 1.012 or so. The less sugar that's left in suspension,the lighter the gravity will get till the sugars are all gone.
 
So would it be advisable to double check my reading and if it is in fact 1.025, just wait a while and take another reading in a week or so? My only concern is that not a lot of the yeast or fermentables left since I racked to secondary already. Should this make a difference in the sugar thing you were talking about?
 
It would def reduce the amount of available yeast to finish the job. Never rack out of primary till FG is reached. then wait another 3-7 days for the yeast to clean things up & settle out clear.
 
Damn. Well that kinda sucks. But at least now I know! It's only my second batch so I'm hoping to get a lot better at this. Thanks for your help though. I just thought that since I saw no active fermentation (or at least I thought), I was safe to go ahead and put it on into secondary. One thing I was wondering that is kind of unrelated, is there really that much of a difference as far as taste and quality in leaving a brew in primary the whole month or so, as opposed to splitting it into primary and secondary?
 
Also, this may be a totally absurd notion, but do you think I could maybe add a little more yeast? I mean I know I could add more but I don't know if it would do anything. Because I don't have as much solids to ferment now that it is in secondary already.
 
Okay I will. If I need to add more yeast will I need to add more stuff to ferment as well or since it hasn't finished fermenting could I simply add yeast. I just wonder since there is no longer a yeast cake
 
Thanks! Should I perhaps increase the temp to Low 70s to encourage the yeast? Also I double checked and yes, it was around 1.020-1.025
 
Ok awesome! Thanks so much for the help and hopefully I can salvage this brew! Worst case scenario, it's just a weak porter, but still beer haha. Just wondering, have you ever done anything like this before?
 
I've had issues with batches using dark extracts finishing in the 1.020 range. I wasn't able to get them down any lower. I feel like they have more unfermentables from the extract making process because I've had no trouble with grain batches finishing on target. Not sure there's any truth to that though.
 
There is a phenomenon in extract brewing and it pertains to fermentation stopping in the 1.020 range.

It has to do with the extract used and the amount of less fermentable malts it has in it like crystals, caramels, and darker malts. If their percentages are high fermentation will appear not to finish when in fact it did.

In addition many new brewers do not use starters, pitch too warm and do not adequately aerate the wort and then ferment too warm, which tends to create less than ideal fermentation and stressed yeast.
 
So you're saying my brew might just be stuck at that gravity indefinitely because it may actually be done? Because I don't want to waste money, but if there is a way to fix it and finalize the brew at the correct gravity, I would much rather do that
 
hsmith80 said:
So you're saying my brew might just be stuck at that gravity indefinitely because it may actually be done? Because I don't want to waste money, but if there is a way to fix it and finalize the brew at the correct gravity, I would much rather do that

You can try and raise temp and rouse yeast but yes, it may just be done.
 

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