What did i do wrong???

First off, only my second batch ever.
OK, I began to worry that my latest batch hasn't been fermenting due to lack of signs (has been almost 4 weeks now). I checked the gravity reading, which came up 1.01. I looked back at my original reading I wrote down and it was 1.01. The 2 obvious items here are that my readings are the same, thus no fermentation, and also, my original reading should have told me that there was nearly no sugar in the wort (didnt' think about it at the time). Now the recipe I used called for 1 lb each of pale crystal malt, and aromatic male, and 4.5 lbs of dry extract. I used a Wyeast Belgian Abbey II Activator.
I know I didnt' get what I should have from my malt, but the 4.5 lbs of extract alone should have given me a higher reading than 1.01.
I'm not sure if I should assume the first reading was wrong, and either get more yeast, or go ahead and bottle. Or scrap the whole thing .

According to beersmith, your OG (assuming you used pale malt extract and crystal 20) should have been around 1.042.. It would be almost impossible to miss your OG by that much with an extract brew. Your hydrometer is not reading correctly, or you are not reading it correctly.. Either way, it's got to be a problem with the hydrometer. At what temp did you take your OG reading?

I'm pretty sure my hydrometer is reading correctly. I just checked it, and it reads 1.00 in tap water. I believe the temp reading at the time i measured the OG was around 80F. It's possible I wrote the original reading down incorrectly, but like I said, I saw no signs that any fermentation occured. The float in the air lock never lifted off the bottom.

When you say no signs of fermentation, do you only mean from your gravity readings, or has there been no visible sign, eg. bubbling from fermentation lock? 4.5 lbs of extract is going to give you about 1.040 in a 5 gallon volume of water. Calibrate the hydrometer in some distilled water and see what it reads....it should read 1.000 or slightly off (+/- 0.001). At what temp was the wort when you pitched the yeast? If you saw activity, and if your hydrometer sample tasted like really flat beer and not like sweet wort, then perhaps just your initial reading was incorrect but your beer is okay. I'd assume your final gravity would be around 1.010.

Sorry to have asked some questions you answered in your previous post, I was typing!

Did you taste it?

Because if it tastes like good, uncarbonated beer, then I'd say go for it.

Yes, it was brought to my attention at work today about the tast of the beer. When i tasted it last night it wasn't sweet at all. I never saw any visible signs of fermentation (bubble in the air lock), like I did in my first attempt. I'm going to attempt to bottle this weekend as the beer is now. I'm guessing the reading i wrote down must have been wrong, and must have had a calm fermenation. There really is no other explanation.

I agree, the first reading couldn't have been correct and your beer is ready to bottle. If you topped off the fermenter, 99% chance you just didn't stir enough.

something still sounds off if there were no visible signs of fermentation. no kroesen? no bubble at airlock?

Something doesnt seem right.

I've never brewed with extract but has anyone ever had a botched extract from somewhere with no sugar in it?

Either way, does it taste good or just not sweet?

Ive done an all grain batch a while back before I had my own mill. The brew shop gave me a horrid crush and I only had 1.020 points after mash. The thing still fermented strong but tasted like hop water when I finally bottled it and tried it.

If yours tastes like bitter water I would say there was never fermentation and for some crazy reason no sugar in the wort.

As a follow up, I bottled this batch yesterday. Dustin asked if there was kroesen, there was. When i finished transferring my beer to the bottling bucket, I was able to see that there was a layer of yeast sludge on the bottom of the bucket. This was a relief, as I took this as a sure sign of fermentation. I'll repost in a couple weeks with my opinion of how it turned out.