My First Gravity Reading Question

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NFamato

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This is my first brew and my first gravity reading. I need some help. I'm brewing Irish Red Ale and had it fermenting for 12 days now. I took my first gravity reading today and results are: 1.020 gravity, 2.4% alcohol, 5 balling percent sugar. My alcohol level seems low. What should I do? Should I ferment longer? If so for how long? Is this gravity level normal at this duration of fermenting? Look forward to some help.
 
Take another gravity reading in three days. If its the same, you are done. 1.02 is high, but this can happen with extract brews. My guess is that you are not quite done yet, but close.

The take away is that your beer is finished when you have the same gravity readings (taken three days apart) and you are at 1.02 or lower.

As a rule, I do not take a gravity reading untill:

Two weeks have passed
Visible signs of active fermentation have ceased

Pez.


Edit - Just looked at my old notebook. My extract Red Ales with Wyeast Irish ale finished around 1.016, with one at 1.018.

Re-edit - Forgot my very first brew! Irish Red, finished 1.014
 
As I looked through my old notes, I saw that my Irish Red at 1.08 was the highest finisher of any of my beers. No tasting notes, but I don't remember any of my Reds being particularly sweet.
Pez.
 
I think you might be reading your hydrometer wrong. 2.4%ABV would mean you started with an OG of 1.039 or so. The Potential ABV is of your OG reading, not your FG reading.

I've got an Irish Red going that's stopped at about 1.016-1.018 (My hydrometer seems to be a bit off, based on calibrations.) So far, everyone's told me that, for an extract brew and for an irish red, that's probably just fine if it's actually finished fermenting.
 
Hi NFamato,

It sounds like you have only taken the 1 gravity reading 12 days into fermentation - is that correct?

In order to calculate an estimated alcohol content, you need to take a gravity reading before you pitch your yeast and again once when fermentation is done. The difference between the first gravity reading (the original gravity, OG) and the gravity reading taken after fermentation is complete (final gravity, FG) can be used to estimate alcohol content. You can search the web for a calculator, but an estimation you can use is ABV = (OG - FG)*131.25.

I think the alcohol percentage of 2.4% you are getting is potential alcohol based upon the sugar currently in solution in you beer. This scale on the hydrometer can give you an idea of your alcohol percentage if you take an OG and FG reading. When using this scale make note of the potential alcohol before you pitch your yeast, and again when fermentation is done. (for example, if you get a potential alcohol reading of 6% before you pitch and 2.4% after fermentation is done your estimated alcohol percentage is 6% - 2.4% = 3.6%)

So, if this is the only reading you have taken you will not be able to determine the alcohol percentage of this brew. However, as Pezman1 mentioned, you will be able to tell if fermentation is done... if you hydrometer readings do not change over a few (3-4) days, fermentation is done.

Hope this helps,

-Schmutzie
 
Yes, I never took an initial reading before the yeast. Thanks so much for making sense of this for me.
 
Always always ALWAYS take your first gravity reading before pitching. Chant it the whole time you're brewing, if you need to.

But, for now, take another reading in a couple of days. Then a day or 2 after that. Once it's stable for 3 days or so, you should be good. But, it won't hurt to leave it a little longer just to make sure. Could even help.
 
What was the recipe. With Beersmith, based on your recipe, we can estimate what the Original Gravity was supposed to be. With, what I am assuming is an extract kit, it is usually pretty damn close.
 
The recipe kit was from Midwest. It's an Irish red ale. I guess I learned my lesson here. Thanks again for everyone's help.
 
The OG for that kit should come in at abou 1.042-1.046. It's actually the same kit I'm doing my first batch on.

You should be fine with a 1.020 FG. Just check it for a couple more days to make sure it's not still going down.
 
According to the instructions on the Midwest site your OG should have been 1.042-1.046 and your FG should be 1.010-1.012.

Give it a few days and see what happens.

edit: raven beat me to it
 
Well a couple days have past and my reading is still 1.020. So I decided to bottle. I did taste it and it's hard to tell because this is my first batch, but it seemed fine in taste.

Because I never took an OG reading and my FG is 1.020, what do you think my estimated alcohol level is?

Looking forward to a couple weeks to give my first beer a test.
 
BTW, have you done a test to verify your hydrometer? After testing mine I found out that it's about .004 off. Doesn't seem like much until you think about a gravity reading being at 1.020 or 1.016.
 
Well, I'm a complete geek so I did a spent a bunch of time doing a multipoint check.

1. Take a gravity reading in distilled water at 60F. It should be 1.000
2. Make a 10% sugar solution. I did this with 3.6 oz of water by weight and added .4 oz of sugar by weight. The gravity reading should be 1.039 but my hydrometer has a Percent Sugar reading which shows 10%.

Doing both let me know a) my hydrometer was off by .0004 and b) it was off consistently, which means I can just compensate for the variance.
 
Thanks raven1a for your help. I did test my gravity reading and it is working properly.
 
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