high final gravity

I tested my stout tonight in anticipation of bottling on Monday. The numbers are about 1.020 which is high. Should be about 1.016. It has been in secondary for a couple weeks now and I racked it to early off of the primary. The beer should still be good, just not as strong. It is kind of a dissapointment though. Oh well bottling day is almost here and that means in a couple weeks I have homebrew to drink.

here to hoping it gets better with time

The beer should be good just not have as high of an abv right? should I be worried about the brew?

All grain or extract?
Recipe?

extract

Here is the recipe.

Here are the ingredients,
8 lbs. dark malt extract
1/2 lb crystal malt
3/4 lb roasted barley
1/4 lb chocalte malt.
Northern brewer hops 1.5 at 60 minutes, .5 at 10 minutes
white labs yeast ale
1 tsp Irish moss
1 tsp gypsum both at 30 minutes

I've bottled a couple brews with high FG and they've turned out fine. Make absolutely sure your gravity is steady and give it at least three weeks in bottles.

HOOTER said:

I've bottled a couple brews with high FG and they've turned out fine. Make absolutely sure your gravity is steady and give it at least three weeks in bottles.

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+1 Once you open one it is it carbed right, I would make sure all of the beers are chilled. I had one beer that finished high and after a couple of months in the bottle, it strated gushing. No off taste really, just overcarbed.

+1 on what was already said.
Also store your bottles in in a safe place. If fermentation jump starts in the bottles and the yeast eat the priming sugar and finish up what may not have been eaten in the primary...bottle bombs. I would test a bottle at 1 week, then 2, and then 3. The first 1 or 2 might be under carbed. But you will see how beer can change ovedr the course of a week and if it takes off they will be carbed sooner.

Having had high-FG beers turn into gushers on several occasions, I would advocate another path altogether. Using some carb tabs and a sanitized turkey baster or thief, bottle one or two test bottles. If, after 2 weeks, they're perfectly carbonated, then go ahead and bottle the whole batch. However, if they're overcarbed, then you know that the rest of the batch will probably do the same thing. To prevent that, your only recourse, really, is this.