Too Low of Specific Gravity

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Brewkowski

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So, I'm pretty new to brewing, just put my third batch into secondary. I'm using extract kits so far I've done a California Common, Belgian Ale,and currently working on a Oberon clone from my local store. I did some experimenting and I added about a 1cup of brown sugar to the wort, just to test on alcohol% and effects on the body of the beer. It spent two weeks in primary and everything looked good, lasted almost a week (I suspect because of the added sugar). Well I just went to put it into secondary and my readings don't look good right. At 70 degrees the specific gravity reading is 1.020 with an alc% around 3 and balling around 5. I've checked it twice with about the same results. What might have caused this, and is ther anything that can be done to repair it. So far it tastes OK.
 
What was the starting gravity reading? and what was the recipes's expected OG?
 
Well without knowing the FG of the recipe we can't help, or the ingredients...to me 1.020 seems fine...I mean that is the absolute top end of my bottling range...

Oh, and the estimated Alcohol scale on a hydro, doesn't work for beer....It's used for either wine or distilling (I forget which) but not for beer....on triple scale hydro's we only really use the specific gravity side...
 
Well, the recipe from the brew store doesn't state the estimated FG, and I had a critical error while I was cooling the wort and didn't get a starting gravity, so I guess I'm flying blind here. I read on the posts that adding sugar can thin out the body of the brew, would that be reflected by the gravity or is that strictly a taste/mouthfeel issue?
 
Well, unfortunately being a beginning brewer has taught me a valuable lesson, Write Down Everything!!!. The recipe I got from the brew shop didn't list the amount of the ingredients, it just said when to add what, and I not really thinking about it threw out the boxes without writing down what they had given me. Well, at least now I know for next time. Always write down the ingredients and always get an OG. Thanks.
 
So how did the beer turn out? I know it was a long time ago, but when I see these messages abruptly end, I still wonder if the person got a decent batch.
 

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