Hydrometer Readings

Hi guys, hope you can help me with a hydrometer question and hopefully avoid some bottle bombs!

My latest batch is a John Bull Master Class - India Pale Ale. This is a 3kg all malt exctact kit that you do not need to add any extra sugars or anything too.

My O.G. was 1.040, which i thought seemed a little low (though I still cant figure the readings out all that well) after a week in primary the gravity reading is showing up as 1.010 and holding very steady. This is outside the range acceptable to bottle according to the hydrometer, have I a stuck fermentation or is the markings on the Hydrometer missleading? (It has a coloured band to show normal OG level and another for acceptable bottling level.)

I have racked this to secondary (first time using a secondary) but there is no noticable airlock activity. What do you guys think?

You have 75% attenuation, which is about as good as it gets. (40-10)/40 * 100 = 75%

Homebrew can run from 1.035 to 1.120 for OGs and 1.006 to 1.035 for FG.

Let it clear for 2 weeks & bottle.

Sounds like you're right where you should be to me. I don't think you'll have any trouble bottle conditioning (just curious, what does your hydrometer consider "acceptable"?).

TheJadedDog said:

Sounds like you're right where you should be to me. I don't think you'll have any trouble bottle conditioning (just curious, what does your hydrometer consider "acceptable"?).

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I think he just means that his kit came with an estimated FG reading that would indicate that it is ready to bottle. He's still above that... according to his hydrometer.

The hydrometer has 2 coloured bars marked on it, the first is marked for Beer Start and is from 1.03-1.06.

The other is for Bottle and it is from 0.996-1.006. Obviously this new beer being outwith this zone I was a bit worried that it had not fully fermented, it did not react as much as my previous batches and all those before have finished in the 'Bottle' range. I used the 2 coloured zones to check previous batches without really checking the value, but am trying to keep a closer check on it now.

Thanks for all the input!

I've never seen a hydrometer with those markings on it. Quite frankly, they seem useless. Do what you're doing now, which is comparing the actual numbers to those specified in the recipe.

Ignore the colored bars. For an ale to get down to 1.006, it would have to start at 1.025 and you would end up with 3.2 beer, if you were lucky.

Thanks again guys!

Great to have the benefit of all your knowledge!

Plus I am now happy my latest batch isn't borked!

God, I love when people say "borked". Right on, brewer-man, right on.

You didin't say at which temperature your readings were taken.

The numbers will change at different temps.

I have the same type of hydro and the markings are for wine and not beer.

Just to be on the safe side, drop your hydrometer into a glass of plain old tap water and take a reading. What does it say?

Will the gravity reading change any in secondary? I'm doing my second batch right now. It's an oktoberfest and the recipe called for a FG of 1.015. I wound up with a FG of 1.018 when I racked into secondary just a few minutes ago. The original was supposed to be 1.055 and I got a 1.054 at 68 degrees. The FG was taken at the same temp, by the way.