Muntons Irish Stout - Final Gravity advice

Hi All,

On my second brew now using the muntons irish stout kit and need bit of help with the Final Gravity reading

My first attempt was the Muntons connoisseurs wheat beer. It turned out ok but was extremely weak alcohol wise due to me rehydrating the yeast at way to high a temp

My second attempt seemed to be going fine only for the slight blip of dropping the hydrometer on the floor at the start of the process. I left it aside, re-sterilised it, and promptly forgot to take the OG reading.

I used the Muntons kit and 1Kg of Muntons Dark Malt Extract instead of suger

I took a reading yesterday (Stout been in fermentor for 7 days at that stage) of the stout and the FG reading wasn't near the "bottling point" on the hydrometer (apologies I don't have the exact reading but I'll update the post later with it)

During the Fermentation process all seemed to be going well with it bubbling constantly for 4 days.

My question(s) are:

1. Does Stout read differently from a normal beer or lager due to the density of the liquid ? (thought I read this somewhere)

2. If the gravity reading is to low and there was a problem with fermentation is there anything I can do? I really don't want another weak beer !!!

1. no
2. give it atlest 2 weeks in primary to let it do its thing. Take the hydro reading 3 days in a row and if it is the same then it is done.

What did the directions on the kit say the og was going to be?

Will double check the kit again but I don't think it gives an OG rating

Will wait it out for longer so. Do I need to give it a stir or anything like that? Kept the temp at 19 C and the kit reccomends between 18-20 C so I can't work out what has gone wrong here

Thanks for the feeddback

Checked the kit again and apparently OG should be between 1.036 and 1.040
FG should be around 1.008

Took another reading tonight and it looks to be around 1.018 - 1.020 after 8 days in the fermenter

It hasnt been bubbling the last few days and I took a peek inside and there seemed to be a small amount of bubbles on the top. I've kept it at approx 19c as per the kits instructions

By the kits instructions it should be out of the fermenter now but obviously the FG reading isnt where it should be

Is it just a case of leaving it longer? Is there anything further I can do??

Sometimes with extract brews the Specific Gravity tends to get stuck around the 1.020 mark. Most people on here will advocate that you chill out and have a beer, step away from the fermenter, in other words don't start mucking around with making additions now as you might just make things worse, and let the yeast carry on doing their job for a minimum of three weeks from initialising the batch. Might also be a good idea to get another batch started if you have a spare bucket, or something else, to ferment in as this'll make it easier for you to just leave the first batch alone 'til it's time to bottle.

If it does finish off with an FG of around 1.020 it just means that it might be a little sweeter, full bodied, flavoursome than you'd anticipated or hoped and possibly a little weaker in ABV. I know I was really hoping for a decent ABV in my first brew but it really isn't as important as having a beer that just tastes good that you, and some of your chosen friends, can enjoy

Thanks for the reply, I'll wait it out and see how it goes over the next couple of weeks. Why do the Kit manufacturers not include info like this in the instructions??

For this kit the guideline is put it in the fermenter for 6-8 days, bottle and leave it for approx 3 weeks. It really is quite misleading

Took another gravity reading yesterday and it seems to be 1.015 so leaving it alone again for the moment. Its been in the primary now for over 2 weeks. Thats ok isn't it, theres no problem in leaving it there for approx 3 weeks or so?

Nope - a good portion of the folks here say leave it in primary for at least 3 weeks - then bottle and leave it there at room temp for at least 3 weeks, then put in the fridge for a couple of days and try it out....so you're well within that timeline.

Cheers!

jmprdood said:

Nope - a good portion of the folks here say leave it in primary for at least 3 weeks - then bottle and leave it there at room temp for at least 3 weeks, then put in the fridge for a couple of days and try it out....so you're well within that timeline.

Cheers!

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Excellent, thanks for that, I'll do that so as slowly but surely I think its getting there. I'd be more then happy with a stout of final alcohol content approx 4%