FG Higher than expected... thoughts?

Hello All,

My friends and I recently brewed a cherry brown ale. The recipe we used was suppose to be Original Gravity:1.066 and Final Gravity:1.019. After 2 weeks in the primary we took a sample and then we transferred the beer to the secondary and poured in our cherry puree. The problem we are having is that the FG is actually 1.037... We have found out that this was caused because we mashed at too high of a temperature.

We are now torn... do we go with a low-alcohol (3.5%) and possibly really sweet beer? or do we use an amylase enzyme to convert the remaining sugar/carbs to fermentable sugars and risk a beer with a 1.000 FG (super dry) or attempt to pasteurize when we like the FG?

Any advice?

How high a temp did you mash at? That's a pretty big miss to just be temp related.

Temp was suppose to be 155, but we were closer to 162. What else do you think could have caused it?

the recipe: http://hopville.com/recipe/581065/american-brown-ale-recipes/cherry-brown

We did have a stuck sparge in the beginning and had to dump the whole mash to a kettle, clean the FB, and dump it back in.

Not really sure. Yeah that is on the high side and has something to do with it. If it got off to a slow start initially, there is a good chance it simply isn't done fermenting yet.

What was you OG? Did you pitch a starter? If not, how many packs did you use?

And you aren't using a refractometer are you?

adding beano will land you around 1.00 unless you stop it, but adding amylase from a LHBS won't get you that low. theres a few threads going around about people using it with good results

Will the bean help with the beer flatulence?

OG was 1.063, we used a starter, and yes we used a refractometer...

Antifreze said:

OG was 1.063, we used a starter, and yes we used a refractometer...

Click to expand...

ahhhhhhh........did you calculate your refractometer reading for fermented beer? Double check with a hydrometer. I think we might have found your problem and it has nothing to do with your beer.

BendBrewer said:

ahhhhhhh........did you calculate your refractometer reading for fermented beer? Double check with a hydrometer.

Click to expand...

So I thought that a refractometer measured it perfectly, but it seems like I was wrong...

I used this chart to look up the BRIX equivalent:
http://www.winning-homebrew.com/specific-gravity-to-brix.html

And then used this calculator on it:
http://onebeer.net/refractometer.shtml

This results in:
FG : 1.020
Alc by Vol is 5.7%


Which means we are pretty close to what was expected... Does this sound right?

BendBrewer said:

ahhhhhhh........did you calculate your refractometer reading for fermented beer? Double check with a hydrometer. I think we might have found your problem and it has nothing to do with your beer.

Click to expand...

Good call bend - basically consider your refractometer your measurement device for brew day, and your hydrometer your measuring device after fermentation. Reftractometers suck pretty bad at FG readings due to the alc. I would say even with the math they are more of a rough estimation.

I take it you had a reading of ~9.25 on the brix scale. Using your OG and a calculator I am glad to report to you that your current gravity is 1.020. Enjoy your beer!

Oh, you already did too. Yep. That's right.

Feel better now?

I feel 110% better.

Big sigh of relief.

BendBrewer said:

And you aren't using a refractometer are you?

Click to expand...

Nice, Sherlock! (this refractometer problem seems to be a recurring theme... just saw a nearly identical thread a week ago).

CidahMastah said:

Good call bend - basically consider your refractometer your measurement device for brew day, and your hydrometer your measuring device after fermentation. Reftractometers suck pretty bad at FG readings due to the alc. I would say even with the math they are more of a rough estimation.

Click to expand...

+1
As soon as alcohol is present a refractometer is only capable of giving a rough idea of the SG, even with the proper calculated corrections. A hydrometer really should be the only thing used for any measurements after fermentation has started.

Yeah, first time I used a refractometer on fermented beer it was 25 points off. Process of elimination.