Why is my final gravity so low?

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VTHokie92

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I brewed a honey ale last weekend. I took it out of the primary tonight after 9days.

The ingredients were:

8 oz Carapils steeped at about 155 for 20 minutes
3.3 lbs Gold liquid malt extract
3 lbs honey
Wyeast Activator #1056

The original gravity was projected to be between 1.044 and 1.048. Mine was 1.046.

Projected final gravity was 1.012 to 1.016. When I tested tonight gravity was at 1.002.

It fermented at 68-72 degrees.

What went wrong?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and help.
 
I don't know a lot about honey, but I've heard that honey can vary greatly in amount of sugar. Unless you taste something funny or alcoholic in your brew, I'd say whoohoo! Extra alcohol is normally a good thing. :mug:
 
VTHokie92 said:
What went wrong?

Nut n' Honey.


:fro:



Seriously though, it was the honey, meads can finish very dry because honey is almost completely fermentable. If you want a higher FG, use less honey IMHO. Or your hydrometer is off, check water at 60F and it should be 1.000.

Also, to the last poster, its not just about extra ABV. The problem is that 1.002 is too dry for most styles of ale and thus can taste very different/weird/unpleasant if that's not what you want.
 
This is why I do not like honey in my beer. There is a reason the Germans have a purity law. They like good beer. :)
 
Yep, it's the honey. It will ferment completely out. If that recipe included those estimated stats, then the recipe was flawed.

If you made up that recipe with brewing software, the software will not take into account what your ingredients are when calculating estimated FG. It does it purely on estimated apparent attenuation of the yeast, as provided by the yeast supplier. Since the estimated AA is based on a brewer using 100% malted grains, anything else in a recipe will alter your actual AA. That includes very fermentable ingredients, such as honey and rice sugars, and it also includes unfermentables, such as crystal malts and dark roasted grains.


TL
 
If the taste is too dry, add a small amount (1-2 ounces) of lactose. The slight sweetness will also bring out the honey flavor.
 
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