Low Alcohol %??

Just got done botteling. Took a hydrometer reading right before I started botteling and it came out around 1.7% alcohol. It's always had a really low gravity. My starting gravity was around 1.011. Is this typical for wheat beers? I'm just wondering if there is anything I could have done wrong?

Here's the ingredient kit that I used:
http://www.homebrewers.com/product/AMERICANWHEATBEERKIT


Also, after I put the priming sugar before botteling... will this help to raise the alcohol content? Sorry for basic newbie questions but this is my first brew.

-Tom

That seems amiss, 1011 is more like a final gravity than a start gravity.
If 1011 was the start gravity what was the final gravity?
What figures did you use to get the 1.7% and when did you take the readings?

This doesn't make any sense. A gravity of 1.011 = potential alcohol of 1.7% Your OG & FG are the same?

Original gravity % - final gravity % Not final gravity alone.

orfy - isn't your turkey getting cold?

Your starting gravity was 1.011? Are you certain you took the reading correctly? That's really really low. An average beer has a starting gravity around 1.045 or so. What was your final gravity?

Also, can you list the actual ingredients in the kit? That link didn't really list anything. We could plug them into a program and see what SG to expect.

wheela426 said:

Just got done botteling. Took a hydrometer reading right before I started botteling and it came out around 1.7% alcohol. It's always had a really low gravity. My starting gravity was around 1.011. Is this typical for wheat beers? I'm just wondering if there is anything I could have done wrong?

Here's the ingredient kit that I used:
http://www.homebrewers.com/product/AMERICANWHEATBEERKIT


Also, after I put the priming sugar before botteling... will this help to raise the alcohol content? Sorry for basic newbie questions but this is my first brew.

-Tom

Click to expand...

So what was your final gravity reading?

Subtract that from your initial and THAT is your alcohol, NOT the number that you get straight off the hydrometer. Hydrometers measure POTENTIAL alcohol- how much sugar you've got. They do not measure the amount of alcohol, just the remaining potential. In other words, if you take a grav reading and it says 6% alcohol, that means, after fermentation, you can get up to 6%. If your final gravity says 2%, then that means you've got 4% actual alcohol and 2% of fermentable sugar remaining.

As a practical matter, you don't typically get the final gravity down to zero. There will typically be a little bit of sugar remaining, but as long as it isn't too high, you'll be ok to bottle it.

If your final gravity says 2%, then that means you've got 4% actual alcohol and 2% of fermentable sugar remaining.


I think Toot meant to say unfermentable sugar remaining rather than "fermentable". Let's also not forget just regular unfermentable "stuff" like protein, oils, pieces of hops, dirt, etc. These also contribute to density.

At what temperature did you take your original gravity reading?

A liquid's density is lower at higher temperatures. If you took your initial reading near the boiling point, you'd be off by about .035 putting your initial gravity at about 1.046.

Unless you bought a kit for a 3 gallon batch and made 5 gallons, I doubt you were really at 1.011. If you had formulated the recipe yourself that would be a different question.

Don't worry about it. Wait 2 weeks and drink some beer.