why is my abv so low?

Ive done 3 batches of beer now, a blonde ale, english pale ale, and fat tire clone. Each of my batches has had a lower abv than intended. For example the fat tire clone was right around 4.0% abv at bottling, and i waited an extra week and a half to see if i could get anymore out of it. Not sure what the issue is, it had an excellent primary ferment, the best ive gotten yet. Because of this im reluctant to try a jeremiah red or rogue hazelnut clone because the abv in those are even higher.

How many pounds of grain did you use and how many gallons did you make?
What temp did you mash at?

If you used extract did you end up with the correct volume?

What was your OG and FG did you calculate it correctly?

What yeast did you use?

Lots of little variables can come into play.

What temp did you take your OG at?

I'll add to the above questions:
- Are you certain that you're reading your hydrometer correctly. To calculate ABV you need both your OG and FG readings. The hydrometer itself will not show ABV - so ignore those % markings.

Vicissitude said:

For example the fat tire clone was right around 4.0% abv at bottling, and i waited an extra week and a half to see if i could get anymore out of it.

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All those are good questions and once you answer we can help you better. And I'm not sure what you mean here, how long did you let the beer stay in primary?

Post bottling you aren't going to see an increase(if you did let primary finish) in ABV except a fraction of a percent from the priming sugar.


- ISM NRP

prpromin said:

I'll add to the above questions:
- Are you certain that you're reading your hydrometer correctly. To calculate ABV you need both your OG and FG readings. The hydrometer itself will not show ABV - so ignore those % markings.

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Yeah there is an equation i used with the fg and og readings.

IvanTheTerribrew said:

All those are good questions and once you answer we can help you better. And I'm not sure what you mean here, how long did you let the beer stay in primary?

Post bottling you aren't going to see an increase(if you did let primary finish) in ABV except a fraction of a percent from the priming sugar.


- ISM NRP

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It was in primary for a week, i moved it to a seconday and left it there for almost 3 weeks. Usually i do 1 week primary 1 week secondary 2 weeks in the bottle. I also poured a glass a few days ago and its really cloud, i think refridgeration should help clear it up. Otherwise it tastes like fat tire (not as biscuty), and is 4% abv. I will get the recipe if i still have it, the guy that runs the brew shop close by helped me get everything, hes a pretty knowledgeable guy.

Were you in the target OG range?

Did you adjust your reading for temperature according to the directions that came with your hydrometer?

Assuming this is extract and that you didn't do a full boil
Did you take a gravity reading before (and while) adding your top off water? It is possible you added to much water and dropped your OG to much.

Abv is not a function of time in the fermenter. It's based on the Original gravity, and how well your yeast can eat (attenuation = the percentage of sugars a given yeast can consume, reference this chart: http://byo.com/resources/yeast). Did you hit the Expected OG from your recipe? If no, add more grain to your mash or use some DME to get to the right OG. If you did hit your OG, what type of yeast did you use? Please post some numbers/more detail so we can help you better

this is for 5 gallons:
5 lbs briess pilsen dme
.5 lb crystal malt 15
.5 lb crystal malt 40
.5 lb carapils malt
.5 lb munich malt
.5 lb biscut malt
.5 lb .25 pale chocolate
3 aaus willamette
3.33 aaus fuggle
1 tsp irish moss
wyeast 1056

steeping was 154F for 45 min
og was 1.04 fg was 1.011
looking at it now my og was supposed to be 1.05 not sure why its .01 off, i did what the recipe called for.

Also as i understand it, it takes time for yeast to convert sugars to alchohol, and because they are bacteria im guessing the alchohol levels mimic logarithmic growth, meaning that if i waited longer the yeast would convert a little more alchohol, limitied by their alchohol tolerance and the amount of convertible sugars from the dme or what have you

That DME alone should be giving you ~1.043 (Briess pils DME is 43 points per gallon compared to many other at 45) I'm seeing a max of about ~1.046 after steeping the grains, so maybe this recipe started a little lower than you expected.

But where did the rest go?



I'm betting on the hop bags or a combination of the two things.

I hope this helps!

Did you do a full boil or did you have to add top off water? If you added water there is a chance you didn't get it mixed all the way which could lower your SG

blaster_54738 said:

Did you do a full boil or did you have to add top off water? If you added water there is a chance you didn't get it mixed all the way which could lower your SG

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Ive thought about this before, i literally shook the thing before i pitched the yeast. Yes it was a partial boil.

pablosbrewing said:

That DME alone should be giving you ~1.043 (Briess pils DME is 43 points per gallon compared to many other at 45) I'm seeing a max of about ~1.046 after steeping the grains, so maybe this recipe started a little lower than you expected.

But where did the rest go?

If you are using a hop bag and doing a concentrated boil, that is where I used to lose some sugars. Before I went to full boils I used to rinse (and squeeze) the hop bags with some of the cold top up water, to help with that.​

Also, I found it helpful to measure exactly where 5 gallons is on my fermenters, because you won't always need the same exact amount of top up water. At the gravity of this beer - just 1 quart of water yields about .002 gravity, or about .2% ABV difference.​

I'm betting on the hop bags or a combination of the two things.

I hope this helps!

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The way i did it was when i bought the carboys i bought 5 gallons of water and filled the carboy, i then marked the water line. When i add water i fill to this line. This is by eye though so i could be off by virtue of human error.

So youre saying i should squeeze the wheat bags water into the wort? I dont do this, im not sure what you mean by hop bag. When i do my hops i just throw the pellets in and let them stay.

If you measured OG after the shake up then it seems we are missing something.

Grain holds some wort - but the gravity of the wort at that point should be quite low and squeezing should make close to zero difference.

Hops hold some wort, and since the DME is now in and the wort concentrated by boiling, that loss will be more significant. I'm assuming you are dumping the entire pot into the fermentor so there should be no lost sugar.

If you want to post a complete "step by step" of your process we might be able to spot it.


Also - if you have access to a refractometer (local shop or brewing friend) to measure your beer - the refractometer reading along with the hydrometer reading can be used to calculate OG and ABV as a confirmation step.

pablosbrewing said:

If you measured OG after the shake up then it seems we are missing something.

Grain holds some wort - but the gravity of the wort at that point should be quite low and squeezing should make close to zero difference.

Hops hold some wort, and since the DME is now in and the wort concentrated by boiling, that loss will be more significant. I'm assuming you are dumping the entire pot into the fermentor so there should be no lost sugar.

If you want to post a complete "step by step" of your process we might be able to spot it.


Also - if you have access to a refractometer (local shop or brewing friend) to measure your beer - the refractometer reading along with the hydrometer reading can be used to calculate OG and ABV as a confirmation step.

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3 gallons in the pot. I was a retard and decided to boil it first to sanatize then i remembered it would boil when i did the hops anyways. It was around 180f at that point so i let it cool to 154f. Then i put the grains in for 45 mins, the temperature stayed within 4 degrees either direction. After that i took the grain bags out, did not strain. Heated to a boil and added .66 oz willamette for 60 min, then added irish moss, boiled for 10 min, then added .5 oz fuggle, boiled for 20 mins, then added the .33 oz fuggle and removed from heat. I added the cooling coil 30 mins before that probably, cooled it. Put it in the carboy, added water to the 5 gal line. shook it to oxygenate, took a gravity reading, then pitched the wort. Because of the half-pre-boil almost a whole gallon evaporated. Let it sit in primary for a week, moved to secondary and let it sit for 2.5 weeks, bottled with 2.5 oz priming sugar. temperature was right around 60-64, i had a little bit of what looked like fungal or bacterial growth on the top, which was dissapointing because the wort pitched very nicely. Overall it came out nice, but doesnt taste like fat tire. It tastes more like a boston lager with a little less hoppyness.

I found the recipe online. Between your notes and that I hope I have something for you:



Fermenter (krausen) should look pretty grungy during primary (see below), but mostly that settles out. If you still had something very noticeable in the secondary then you may have a worry (only used bottled or preboiled and cooled water to top off a fermenter).

But seriously, if it tastes good, RDWHAHB (Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Home Brew)

yeah im not as worried now that i did the actual calculations based on the dme. My local brew shop reccomended the pilsen dme, because he didnt have the laaglander or because he thought it would be closer to the taste i dont really know. He has a degree in brewing though so i trust him, and i try to support him as much as possible. Honestly when i tried it i thought "milder hops and almost lager-like, like a tamer boston lager" what you just said about the briess pilsen makes sense. I dont mind the beer, im not picky except for when it comes to pale ales.

Number one I wouldn't even bother making homebrew that was 4%abv. You should just drink a blue light if ur gunna do that. You want more abv. Then u need to make bigger beers. Blonde ales aren't gunna get it done. Try a IPA. U could easily find a recipe above 6%abv


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Garagebrewski said:

Number one I wouldn't even bother making homebrew that was 4%abv. You should just drink a blue light if ur gunna do that. You want more abv. Then u need to make bigger beers. Blonde ales aren't gunna get it done. Try a IPA. U could easily find a recipe above 6%abv

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You might not bother with low ABV beers, but plenty of us do. I brew a variety of beers, big and small. Small ABV session beers are great on hot Summer days. I like Scotch Wee Heavies in the Fall, and Barleywines or Double IPAs in the Winter. I brew a 4.5 - 5% Brown ale I drink year round.

I think most homebrewers aren't specifically in the hobby to make high ABV beer, we do it because making any style of beer is FUN, challenging, and rewarding.

But you are correct, if you want a specific brew to be higher in alcohol, you'll need to add more extract or more grain to increase your OG.

Cheers, and Brew On!

Garagebrewski said:

Number one I wouldn't even bother making homebrew that was 4%abv. You should just drink a blue light if ur gunna do that. You want more abv. Then u need to make bigger beers. Blonde ales aren't gunna get it done. Try a IPA. U could easily find a recipe above 6%abv


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Well damn, what am I going to do with those 6 cases of session beers I brewed...

I kind of feel the same way, the reason im into home brewing is to make a strong beer with a rich flavor that is hard to get at any normal grocery store. The blonde ale came with the kit that was given to me as a birthday present. I made the Epa because i dont enjoy the hoppyness that ipas have and it was warm (i live in southern california) so i needed something more heat tolerant. The fat tire was the first beer that i actually wanted to make. I didnt really think about the dme content and the abv i just followed the recipe.

Vicissitude said:

I kind of feel the same way, the reason im into home brewing is to make a strong beer with a rich flavor that is hard to get at any normal grocery store. The blonde ale came with the kit that was given to me as a birthday present. I made the Epa because i dont enjoy the hoppyness that ipas have and it was warm (i live in southern california) so i needed something more heat tolerant. The fat tire was the first beer that i actually wanted to make. I didnt really think about the dme content and the abv i just followed the recipe.

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You live in so California and you can't get good beer at a grocery store?

When you pulled the grain bag did you at least let it drain into the pot mostly or did you just pull it straight out and discard it? There is some pretty sweet juice in that bag. I will hang the bag from the side of the pot, gently squeeze my bag or pour a few cups of preheated water over the bag to get the good stuff out. Maybe you didn't boil off as much as you thought but pitched .25 gallon of sweet wort instead.


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Vicissitude said:

Ive thought about this before, i literally shook the thing before i pitched the yeast. Yes it was a partial boil.

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I just want to point out that from experience no matter how well you shook the container you still won't get it fully mixed together, so that would account for some of the points being off. If your pulling your samples from the top of the wort your OG will read lower than it acctually is which would lead to you believing your ABV is lower than expected.

Steeping grains really don't add much in the way of fermentable sugars; they are mainly used for flavor, color, and body, so anything you did or didn't do with them won't really affect your OG that much (maybe 0.01-0.02 points if that much).

In the end it is very difficult to not hit the proper OG when using extract as long as you are using the correct amount of water (and here it would take about a half gallon or more before oyu would really notice a difference). So I would say everythign is right where it is supoosed to be so relax and enjoy your homebrews.

One other thing that I don't recall being asked in the thread is have you calibrated your hydrometer? To do so just fill your testing tube full of tap water, put your hydrometer in, correct for temp, and it should read 1.000. If it off then you'll need to remeber to adust all future readings to be accurate. I know mine reads .004 on the low side so need to account for that when taking readings.

Garagebrewski said:

Number one I wouldn't even bother making homebrew that was 4%abv. You should just drink a blue light if ur gunna do that. You want more abv. Then u need to make bigger beers. Blonde ales aren't gunna get it done. Try a IPA. U could easily find a recipe above 6%abv


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Ignorance

The op steeped the grains at 154 degrees for 45 minutes. I know it's only 3lbs of grain but wouldn't that add some sugars? And if the bag wasn't squeezed, drained or sparged wouldn't the grains and bag retain a fair amount of sugary wort that had to be replaced with water later? Maybe it doesn't account for total loss of efficiency but could have contributed?


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They will add a little bit, but not enough to make an overall difference because the grains he steeped are specialty grains and not base malts. In extract brewing the steeping grains are only for color, flavor, and body. All sparging or squeezing the bag does is gets more of those 3 qualities out, not fermentable sugars. Even when doing full grain batches those grains aren't going to give you much in the way of fermentable sugars; that mostly comes from the base malts (2-row, 6-row, ect.). In the end they might contribute .001-.003 to the final OG. Not at home right now so can't plug it into Beersmith to see what it comes up as, but I know for my recipes the specialty grain didn't add enough to the OG for it to really register, and I've used around 3lbs before.

Ahaaa! Thanks for explaining that.


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Just as an FYI I plugged his recipe into Beersmith and the specialty grains only gave a bump of .002.

The reason specialty grains don't contribute gravity points in extract brewing is that specialty grains have been malted longer than base malt grains. This denatures the enzymes requires to convert starch in the grain to fermentable sugars. Specialty grains will add some fermentable sugars in all grain brewing, but this is because the base grains have a surplus of the required enzymes, allowing then to convert some of the starches in the specialty grains.



Keep in mind, the specialty grains still have some enzymes that remain intact, but not enough to fully covert the starches. This is why the grains only contribute .002 in the above recipe.