Is it possible to have a higher gravity reading after three weeks

I have a larger I brewed and the first gravity reading was 1.07 (or at least that's what I wrote down) three weeks later after a very active fermentation process my reading is now 1.12.

Is this even possible? The only thing I can think is my first ready was actually 1.17 but I remember taking the reading twice. It's been bottled since and taste great, but I swear the gravity readings drive me nuts.

I think you are missing a decimal point.

1.012

I think you are reading the hydrometer wrong. 1.120 would be a huge beer, are you sure it really didn't finish at 1.012

I must have read it wrong, I guess that would have meant my original reading was 1.017 and my final was 1.012, making my alcohol content around 5%?

krc333 said:

I must have read it wrong, I guess that would have meant my original reading was 1.017 and my final was 1.012, making my alcohol content around 5%?

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Negative. Just enjoy it and pay better attention on your next brew.

Here's the recipe I used, just something I made up. One of these days I'm going to conquer the hydrometer. I was very active at about 50-55 degrees for three weeks and turned out great. It's a light looking beer, which was what I wanted. I might try and do the same recipe with all grain and compare the two.

3/4 grain light munich
7.5 lb's pale ale extract
2 ounces of mt hood for 30 minutes at boil
1 oz of vangaurd with 30 minutes left in boil
1 irish moss tablet 10 minutes at the end of boil
South German Larger Yeast, white lab liquid
5 gallon batch

You can assume that your OG was 1.056 - 1.058.

FG = 1.012

BendBrewer said:

You can assume that your OG was 1.056 - 1.058.

FG = 1.012

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can you assume my starting gravity from my recipe?

krc333 said:

can you assume my starting gravity from my recipe?

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An extract recipe? Yes.

krc333 said:

can you assume my starting gravity from my recipe?

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Software exists (and other formulas) that you can use to calculate the gravity of liquid if you know how much extract and the quantity of water is in the wort.

You can get an approximate estimate of OG by recipe. Extract being easier to estimate than grain.

At what temperature did you get the OG at? Did you use top-off water? Was it well mixed?

If your extract was LME, then your OG would have been about 1.058.
If it was DME, your OG would have been about 1.070

-a.