Final Gravity Question

I brewed my first beer about fifteen days ago. My initial gravity reading was 1.045. Today was supposed to be my bottling day, but I tested and have a gravity of 1.02. The beer I brewed was this kitWILLIAM'S SUMMER ALE @ Williams Brewing.

The directions said my final gravity should be 1.014 or lower. I stirred the beer and now letting it sit. I'm assuming my fermentation became stuck at some point during the process. So is stirring the beer and waiting a few days to check again the correct action or is there something else I should be doing instead? And before anyone says it, no I'm not going to send it to anyone on this board for proper disposal. I'm going to chance it myself.

Welcome to HBT!! Time is a healer of many woes. Give it this, and see what happens. Not all beers behave just as the recipe calls. This is o.k. This is an organic living science. Yeasts can cop attitudes with you. Don't piss 'em off and give it more of the afore mentioned remedy. Cheers!!

Hey, welcome. Why do you say fermentation is stuck? A one time gravity doesnt tell you that. What temp is it fermenting at? You will find that there are not a lot of absolutes in this hobby, just because your kit instructions say it is time to bottle....the yeast have other ideas. Stirring is probably not a good idea either. You really dont want to aerate the beer at this point. Maybe warm it up a bit and give it a gentle swirl. Anyway, check a gravity in a few days a see where it is.

If my OG came out to be .005 higher than what the kit says what should I expect for my FG if they recommend 1.014?

+1 for not stirring, or is that -1 for stirring...

Oh well, next time just rock the fermenter a little, no sloshing, and raise the temp to see if you can get a little more out of the yeast. This time, RDWHAHB. There are a lot of questions on this site concerning not hitting the OG and FG specified in a kit or recipe. Be aware that many times those are either values that were obtained by someone else brewing the beer on their equipment, or the resulting calculation of some brewing software. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary.

Beer styles have a range for there OG and FG. Brewers should be aware that the recipe's OG and FG are guidelines and vary from brewhouse to brewhouse. If you are with in ±0.005, I wouldn't worry too much.

Also, you must remember that your fermometer is calibrated at 60deg F. You may be taking readings at a higher or lower temp than that and you must mathmatically adjust.

phatuna said:

Also, you must remember that your fermometer is calibrated at 60deg F. You may be taking readings at a higher or lower temp than that and you must mathmatically adjust.

Click to expand...

The fermometer is not calibrated at any temperature. It is designed to read temperature.

I believe phatuna meant to say most hydrometers are calibrated at 60 degrees.

Unfortunately reading at a higher temperature involves correcting the reading up which would mean the gravity is higher. The correction is + .001 per 10 degrees F over 60 so the correction is usually negligeable.

jesutton3 said:

If my OG came out to be .005 higher than what the kit says what should I expect for my FG if they recommend 1.014?

Click to expand...

If it was an extract kit, I'd say that your OG wasn't likely to be much different from the expected. You probably just didn't get the top up water totally mixed with your boiled wort. Don't worry, it's really hard to get them to mix completely. I usually take my sample while my assistant is vigorously stirring at the same time just to make sure.

If your OG actually was 5 points higher, then you could expect your FG to possibly come out a point or few higher as well, but not always.

I did correct for the temp difference per the directions with the hydrometer.

Guess I'll check the gravity again in a few days from my last check and see how it is.

Hey, just saw your question regarding predicted Fg . Tough to say. You can predict Og pretty well, especially extracts but Fg is dependent on...you got it, those pesty yeast and how well they attenuate the wort sugars. The very small difference in your OG wont translate into a very different Fg. It should be right around 1.014. Its been 72 hours, its your 1st batch and you are excited.... check today, just be clean.

I think your ok. The kit discription says that the original gravity is 1.039 and the alcohol is 3.8%. Your OG is higher, so a higher FG isn't unusual. Your alcohol will be about 3.8% once you add the priming sugar. It's probably done now, but you should give it a full week in the primary.

Sorry just reread what I had in the earlier posts and I typoed the predicted FG. The kit predicted 1.018 not 1.014. Guess I'll check it again tonight and see how its going.