what is the secreat to hitting a target starting gravity and final gravity?

Im not sure what went wrong with my vienna loger? I was supposed to have a starting gravity of 1.049 to 1.050. i wound up with 1.060. I was supposed to have a finished gravity of 1.013-1.014 but im at 1.010 right now. the abv is strong any ideas HBT? The beer taste good it was in the primary for 10 days then its been in the secondary for 6 days now. Im wandering if there are any boiling techniques to control the starting and finishing gravity.
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too much boil off, unexpectedly high efficiency? there are no secrets, not really.

extract or all grain?

And when did you take the gravity measurements? For me, as a less than full volume extract brewer, if im not careful to take measurements in a clear, well siphoned wort, after dillution, then my OG readings are often skewed between .004-.010 points. It surprises me to see you have an 'over-attentuation' issue though. normally you see FG's that are a bit higher than anticipated.

Yea it was an extract recipe.7.3# lme i also used german light crystal malt and german cara vienne malt 6 oz a piece steeped at 140 deg for 30 min. i took the gravity measurement after the wort chilled to 70 deg.

i did take the measurement after dillution. and from the spout on my fermenter bucket/bottling bucket. should i take it from the top?

crookedibrews said:

Yea it was an extract recipe.7.3# lme i also used german light crystal malt and german cara vienne malt 6 oz a piece steeped at 140 deg for 30 min. i took the gravity measurement after the wort chilled to 70 deg.

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For extract batches, assuming your volume is accurate, your going to pretty much hit your OG - you're basically dissolving a known quantity of sugar into a known quantity of water. Measured gravities are usually off because when you top off with fresh water (I assume you are not doing a full boil). It is VERY hard to effectively mix the dense wort with the fresh water, no matter how much you think you mixed you end up with a stratified solution and your hydrometer reading will depend on where you took your sample from. Another issue is that your volumes may not be accurate - if you are using the demarcations on the sides of a plastic "ale pail", you could be up to a half gallon off in either direction (the demarcations are not particularly accurate).

Low FGs are harder to explain. Have you checked your hydrometer in plain water? Also wild yeasts and bacteria can "over-ferment" your beer, giving your low FGs, but if they have taken a hold on one of your batches, you would be able to taste something off/funky.

crookedibrews said:

i did take the measurement after dillution. and from the spout on my fermenter bucket/bottling bucket. should i take it from the top?

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This would explain the high OG - the dense, sugary wort will be on the bottom. Like I said above, you can pretty much assume your OG was very close to the expected on an extract batch. If you were to take a sample from the top, you would find that your measured OG was lower than expected.

JLem said:

This would explain the high OG - the dense, sugary wort will be on the bottom. Like I said above, you can pretty much assume your OG was very close to the expected on an extract batch. If you were to take a sample from the top, you would find that your measured OG was lower than expected.

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thanks very helpful.

phase of the moon.....

did you pour the water in aggressively? and then aerate somehow before you pitched the yeast? i would expect it would be fairly well mixed for a proper gravity sample... but not sure exactly how you did it. did you end up with a full five gallons?

what kind of yeast did you use?