First time brewer...High Final Gravity?

[sevinup]

I just brewed my first ever batch, the starter chinook extract kit from Northern Brewer. I believe I did something incorrectly and I'm trying to figure out where I went wrong. I didn't have a hydrometer initially, so I didn't take an original gravity reading. The kit says it should be around 1.050. After 2 weeks in a primary and 2 in a secondary, I went to bottle it and got a gravity reading. It is now reading at 1.035. Barely any change at all. I had good fermentation activity going for about a week in the primary, and saw no more activity in the secondary. I thought I was pretty meticulous about cleaning and sanitizing, but I'm not sure what could be wrong with what I did. Any ideas? Is it also possible I'm using the hydrometer incorrectly?

 

[Yooper]

Check the hydrometer in plain water, to make sure it's accurate. It should read 1.000.

 

[sevinup]

Check the hydrometer in plain water, to make sure it's accurate. It should read 1.000.

I did calibrate it before doing my reading, and it was at 1.000.

 

[thekraken]

After 2 weeks in a primary and 2 in a secondary,

In the future you can usually just skip the transfer to secondary step and let it sit in the primary for the whole 4 weeks instead.

I went to bottle it and got a gravity reading. It is now reading at 1.035. Barely any change at all. I had good fermentation activity going for about a week in the primary, and saw no more activity in the secondary. I thought I was pretty meticulous about cleaning and sanitizing

For the record meticulous cleaning and sanitizing, or lack thereof, wouldn't cause your stall. If anything if you were to not clean your gear and get an infection I'd think you would "overferment".

What strain of yeast did you use and what temp room was your fermenter sitting in?

 

[sevinup]

In the future you can usually just skip the transfer to secondary step and let it sit in the primary for the whole 4 weeks instead. For the record meticulous cleaning and sanitizing, or lack thereof, wouldn't cause your stall. If anything if you were to not clean your gear and get an infection I'd think you would "overferment".

What strain of yeast did you use and what temp room was your fermenter sitting in?

Do you not usually use a secondary? I've seen a lot of mixed opinions about that. I think I have the yeast strain written down somewhere but I don't remember off the top of my head. It was a dry yeast that came default with the extract kit. I didn't make a starter or anything. The temperature could be an issue now that I think of it. I originally had it at about 64F for the first several days of fermentation. I talked to my LHBS and they suggested I find a way to increase it. I moved it and was sitting at 67-68F for the rest of the 3.5 weeks or so. They thought that it wouldn't be an issue but it may very well have effected it. Either way fermentation started when it was at 64F and continued after I moved it to a warmer location, so I was hopin it would be ok.

 

[bpgreen]

I've been brewing for almost 10 years and haven't done a secondary. I don't think many people use a secondary these days except for really big beers and/or bears that need a really long time to ferment.

I'm pretty sure the default dry yeast for that is US-05. US-05 usually does a pretty decent job.

My first thought was that you pitched it while the wort was too hot and killed it, but if that happened, you wouldn't have gotten any fermentation, so I don't think that's it.

I wonder if you may have misread the hydrometer for the FG reading. Can you post a picture?

 

[thekraken]

Also, what did you do to oxygenate the wort before pitching?

 

[Brownalemikie]

I'll only add that you want to spin the hydrometer while submersed in your beer to ensure that there's no air bubbles attached to hydrometer.

 

[RM-MN]

Make sure your sample is large enough that the hydrometer is free floating and not touching the bottom of the sample tube and not touching the side of the tube when you go to read it. If it still reads high, gently swirl the carboy to put more yeast into suspension.

 

[Saboral]

I know this sounds crazy obvious, but you did take that gravity reading before adding the priming sugar correct? Your post didn't say. Based on your description I have a hard time seeing how it stalled that high. Did you have a gravity reading at transfer to the secondary?

 

[eric19312]

Did you adjust the hydrometer reading for the temperature of the beer? Can you post a picture of the gravity reading?

 

[Shepington]

I brewed this kit and had no method of taking readings. I will say from experience this beer turned out around a 4 to 4.5% final ABV and alot of comments on NB website reviews say the same thing. I also did the secondary but it was my first brew and it turned out drinkable even good.

 

[NGD]

Do you not usually use a secondary? I've seen a lot of mixed opinions about that. I think I have the yeast strain written down somewhere but I don't remember off the top of my head. It was a dry yeast that came default with the extract kit. I didn't make a starter or anything. The temperature could be an issue now that I think of it. I originally had it at about 64F for the first several days of fermentation. I talked to my LHBS and they suggested I find a way to increase it. I moved it and was sitting at 67-68F for the rest of the 3.5 weeks or so. They thought that it wouldn't be an issue but it may very well have effected it. Either way fermentation started when it was at 64F and continued after I moved it to a warmer location, so I was hopin it would be ok.

Regarding transfer to secondary, its purely personal choice. I think the current general consensus is the increased risk of infection and oxidation isnt worth the decreased chance of off flavors caused yeast lysis and and increase of clarity.