First brew fg reading high

[ghynes440]

Hey guys,

So I'm brewing my first beer which is a wheat beer, it's been fermenting for 5 days now. The instructions say to switch to secondary between 4-6 I took a fg reading just to see what it reads and it read 1.028 seems a little high? Maybe I'm just worried I'll ruin the first beer. it looks like the Krausen has dropped down and only a very slight foam on top. Any suggestions or comments on the reading would be much appreciated! Thanks!

 

[jro238]

I'm assuming this is an extract batch. What was the OG and what is the fermentation temperature? If it was extract/kit then what is the expected final gravity?

This is nowhere near done fermenting (assuming it is a regular wheat beer and not some crazy imperial mutant thing) so I would give it another 7-10 days then measure the gravity again. I would also just skip the secondary.

 

[jekeane]

Skip the secondary unless your adding something special and let it sit at least 2 weeks from the day you brewed.

 

[Dryhops]

It is almost certain that fermentation is incomplete and the gravity will continue to drop. Unless you're making a massive barley wine, 1028 won't be your FG.

You're thinking about this backwards (probably due to the misleading instructions). It's not a matter of how many days its been fermenting; variables like the fermentation temp, the yeast health, the available nutrients, fermentor dimensions will all change how quickly the yeast will ferment the beer. I could brew the exact beer that you did and would likely have a different fermentation schedule due to equipment and environmental differences.

Instead rely on your hydrometer as an measure of fermentation activity. The krausen, airlock activity, heat output, etc are helpful tools to monitor fermentation, but are only a small part of the picture. Measure your gravity in a day or two - I'll bet it dropped a few points, indicating that sugar is being consumed by (probably) your yeast.

Also, don't bother with the secondary unless you have special circumstances where it would be helpful (adding fruit for instance). There is a general consensus that using a secondary on the homebrewing scale is unnecessary for most beers.